300u Steering geometry problems

Long time member of tractorbynet.com and not much IHC knowledge there so I hope you all can help.

I have an IHC 300U that I a restoring. Having issues getting the steering dialed in. Not sure if it is just the way it is supposed to be, or if something is incorrect.

When aligning all of the marks (putting the steering wheel @ middle of travel) and setting toe, all looks well. But when turning the steering wheel hard each direction, it seems I hit the stops at the spindles before the steeringbox is out of travel. Thats fine when everything is level, but the when you try to pivot the axle, the side going down is trying to lengthen the draglink, and the side coming up is trying to become shorter. They cant cause the spindles are into the mechanical stops. So it makes the steering wheel move to correct. I am afraid when in the field, and the weight on the tractor, the steering wheel isnt simply going to move, rather it will bend or break something.

I may be wrong, but it seems the steering box should run out of travel before the stops are hit at the spindle, to allow the axle to pivot if needed without binding.

Now this steering box does have the longer 11" pitman arms like the 350u. SO my first thought was that the front arms were still the short ones, but they are the longer 8-15/16" arms as well.

So now I am stumped. It seems a shorter pitman arm would solve the issue. That would make the draglink travel less from hard left to hard right, and keep the spindle off the stops to allow it to pivot. Problem is obviously much worse when the axle is set wider.

I do believe the steering box is indeed off a 350 also, cause the sector shaft that is driven by the worm gear (the one that drives the left tire), only has 3 teeth. And according to the online IH parts diagram, the 300 had 4 teeth and the 350 had 3. But I dont understand how that is a problem since it has the longer arms up front.

So before I do something stupid like cutting and shortening the pitman arms, I am looking for some feedback as to why this is binding against the stops when hard left or hard right and the axle tries to pivot? Infact, with the tractor setting on jackstands and the front free to pivot, when turning hard one direction or another, the draglink that is pulling back actually pulls the front axle up on that side, and the link pushing away, actually pushes the axle down. Again, seems like the gearbox is traveling more than the spindles will permit.

Need HELP

I own a 350U it rides against the stops when at either full lock left or right. I have had no broken parts form that situation. Mine is power steering, and it reacts by turning the wheel back a few degrees when the axle tilts. You definitely want the spindles to hit the stops or you will have even wider turning radius. Jim

Well, if that is the way it is supposed to be I'll leave it be then. Just seems odd to be at the stops when level, and let the steering wheel jerk around if the front needs to pivot.

Well frankly, if you've got enough strength to hold the wheel from moving when that happens so it breaks the steering mechanism, you are far stronger than any normal human being.

Well, I am certainly not super human.

It just didnt seem right that it should bind like that. And I have read other posts about the steering being weak on these. I have no clue how it acted before, cause I bought this tractor to restore. So I didnt use it before hand, just made sure it ran and that was it.

I started off re-assembling with the front axle turned upside down. Cause on my axle, installed correctly, it is upswept a few degrees. I have oversized tires on the back, and upside down (downswept) gives about 3.5" more lift in the front. And was going to modify the axle stop to keep the same range of motion.

I thought this was causing the binding before, so flipped the axle back around and same deal. IF this is just the way it is, I may put the axle back on upside down again.

With the axle up-swept, it seems to experience the bump steer a little worse than downswept anyway. Cause with the axle on right, and the steering straight ahead, the tierods/draglinks are actually slightly uphill. being downswept, lowering the spindle a bit, and the draglinks are level and dont bump seer as bad. And it only throws the camber off just a tad.

Any reasons not to do this to get a little more lift up front...

I would say mine has no bend in it, yours might be bent! Running upside down is no issue as far as I know. It isn't a ferarri. and won't care unless on the road. The toein should be about 1/8 to 3/16 at the tread. Jim

I decided to leave the axle the right way. IF I decide later I want the front raised, I'll either get taller tires, or get the outer axle tubes from a hi-clearance tractor.

slight upward sweep of the front axle is very small. With tractor level, its 1 degree upsweep on each side. Not even noticable, but when I had the front wishbone off and rolling around on the floor, it was noticable. With the outers flat on the concrete, the center part was about 1.5" off the floor when it was "upside down". With it the right way, it would rock back and forth on the center and the outer part was off the floor.

I dont think its bent. IT is built heavy and there is no signs of this tractor ever having a loader or anything. IF it was perfectly level, I dont know why they would go to the trouble to mark TOP on one side.

And when I had it upside down, the axle tubes didnt hit the stop above where they were supposed to. They hit the bottom casting, the saddle piece that houses the front pivot pin.