Farall M steering

oldtanker · Aug 29, 2012

OK in a couple of weeks the M will be ready to be put up for the year. I figure it's time to go through the steering. I know the U Joint inthe shaft is bad and is the support block. But I've never been in the steering gear of the letter series tractors. Anything of note in there?

Thnaks

Rick

David G · Aug 29, 2012

It will probably all be shot.

oldtanker · Aug 29, 2012

David I don't know. It has very little free play. I know it needs work on the drag link and tie rod ends but the gear seems to be pretty good. Just figured I'd open it up, cleand it up and put fresh lube in it. Gotta pick up th IT manual for it next week.

Rick

David G · Aug 29, 2012

There are no adjustments that I know of. You are lucky if
there is no slop. I ended up putting $400 in the box on my
H. I think the wide fronts put less stress on than the narrow
ones do.

mkirsch · Aug 29, 2012

There's really not much to see in there. You take the four bolts out, lift the lid, and there's a worm gear and a sector gear.

It's probably packed with grease, but it's supposed to have heavy gear oil in it. Usually, the bottom seal is shot and all the oil leaks out, so they pack them with grease.

Changing the seal is a pain in the arse because the whole front end has to come off, and the big heavy vertical steering shaft has to drop out the bottom to get at it.

Greg K · Aug 29, 2012

This months Red Power magazine had an aticle on helping the front ends. The way they described is less expensive than rebuilding it, but it doesn't last as long either. If you won't use it much I would outline it to you, but if you're going to be using it, then I would do it "right". My M has what I call the "death" wobble in it when in road gear going down hill. The reason I call it that is because you are sure you are going to die! It needs re-built but since I only take it on the road once a year I have been putting it off.

Zachary Hoyt · Aug 29, 2012

I fixed my H's sloppy steering by putting a washer between the
pipe cap and the bearing on the end of the worm gear. It was free
and the steering has been good for over two years now. The
reason it was loose was because the worm gear was moving back
and forth and the washer filled the space back up and prevented
that from happening.
Zach

Brownie 450 · Aug 29, 2012

Take the cover off & check the nut holding the sector on the bolster shaft. If it is loose, take the cotter pin out & tighten the castle nut to take up any looseness between the sector gear & the splines.

Wayne in MN · Aug 29, 2012

When you replace the lube in the steering gearbox, use "corn head grease". It is like a cross between gear oil & chassis grease. Case-IH & JD dealers have the product in tubes.
It will resist leaking.

DK44H · Aug 29, 2012

If it's wobbling, you can take the sector gear off and give it a
half a turn. It worked on my SMTA. the opposite side of the
gear shouldnt have as much wear since your tractor spends
most it's life driving fairly straight. DK

Anonymous-0 · Aug 29, 2012

Got my red power magazine yesterday,there was an excellent
article on this subject.

Farall M steering

oldtanker

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David G

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oldtanker

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David G

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mkirsch

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Greg K

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Zachary Hoyt

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Brownie 450

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Wayne in MN

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DK44H

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Anonymous-0

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