Ford 1700 Tractor Steering Upgrade (Part 2) - Installing Jackson Power Steering Kit 

The only issue with it has been the bracket to attach the steering cylinder to the tractor frame. The one with the kit wasn’t real heavy. I had to get it welded as bolting wasn’t sufficient. Then this last winter the steel failed around the attachment hole for the steering cylinder, so I had my neighbor weld in a chunk of 1/2 inch thick steel and we threaded it for the cylinder bolt. Granted, I use my 1700 HARD on rough ground in the woods. Otherwise, the steering system itself is flawless over 200+ machine hours, as long as you don’t try to do lots of other hydraulic functions at once. That’s based on the pump flow though and not the steering components. Roland Jackson was pretty responsive, and things came pretty quick all things considered. I even sent a couple things back for him to modify, as my 1700 is a bit of a unicorn and had a different attachment point for the dash (it was power assisted recirculating ball steering as opposed to full manual). I think Jackson has done kits for the 1300 so it should just “drop in.”

It was around $1700 for the kit in early spring, 2022. Add in miscellaneous fittings and the bracket I had welded and it came to about $2000 all in.