Re: (ET) New tires for steering

[Tim Humphrey <hump evgrin com>]

Pay Attention to Bob's last line!!

I had almost the exact same steering problem symptoms. I then followed 
Bob's directions almost to the "T". But without his instruction, I just 
instinctively did it. I found the thrust washers/shims had worn and I 
added one to fix the problem.

BUT!!, onto the important part. My steering started skipping because my 
steering spindles were BONE DRY and starting to gall!!  When I had the 
front jacked up, I still couldn't turn the wheels. I'm not exactly weak 
either, those steering spindles were BAD. I consider myself extremely 
lucky that I was able to free them up.

 MAKE SURE YOU GREASE THESE TRACTORS AT LEAST ANNUALLY. Maybe even more. 
My tractor see's heavy use, often 2 - 3 times perweek, between the mowing, 
plowing(dirt and snow), blowing, logging, and running the sawmill. So now 
I check it quarterly.

Stay Charged!

Hump




Original Message -----------------------


-----Original Message-----
From: elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu
[mailto:elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu] On Behalf Of Klein Robert W
NPRI
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 8:30 AM
To: 'Chris Zach'; Elec-trak list
Subject: Re: (ET) New tires for steering

Chris,  I had this problem myself.  Problem was with the for/aft steering
shaft adjustment.  If it's not set right there's to much gap between the
sector gear and the steering wheel shaft pinion gear.  As long as these
gears aren't completely worn (requiring replacement) you can to fix it as
follow:

Jack up the front end as high as possible to work underneath.  Use jack
stands under the front end so the wheels are free to turn completely from
right to left.

The sector gear is mounted on the horizontal shaft.  Make sure the roll pin
is still  present.  Years of bashing the wheels into stuff causes this roll
pin to get loose and sometimes fall out completely loosing steering.  Mine
did!

Once you know the sector gear is affixed to the shaft, remove the cotter 
pin
at the rear of the horizontal shaft.  Carefully remove the stack of thin
shim washers from the shaft.  Note the order that there are in.  Write it
down and draw pics.  This is where the steering adjustments happen.

Clean the washers and set aside.

Clean and degrease the sector gear AND the pinion gear.  When clean finger
coat both gears with axel grease.

Take a 6" C-clamp and clamp the sector gear snug to the pinion gear.
Slightly wiggle the steering wheel to make sure the pinion gear is seated 
in
the sector gear.

Replace the stack of washers onto the shaft.  You need to make up a ship
washer to make up the gap between the end of the stack of washers and the
cotter pin hole.  I used a couple of appropriately sized SS washers so the
new cotter pin snugly compressed the washer stack forward.

Remove the C-clamp and try turning the wheels lock to lock.  It may take a
few tries to get it right but when done you'll be good for another 20 
years!

Remember to lubricate ALL zerk fittings.

Good luck.

Bob Klein



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