Author

[Modern View]

Jetbird 01-12-2013 21:33:06 68.191.76.117 Report to Moderator

Craig, I rebuilt the steering box on my 68 3400. Mine had a broken washer under the nut that is staked to the shaft (#20 in nh parts drawing, they call it a "control valve bearing preload spring"). I think the nut was loose also. You can look up my post on the subject, it may help. My steering wheel had a lot of free play in it, and if I turned the wheel left I think the wheel lifted up towards me. Let the wheel go and it would spin the other way and fall back down on its own. It seems to me that the control valve bearing preload spring is the weak link in this steering box once power assist is lost. The spring is certainly weaker than the tapered roller bearings that stabilize the steering shaft axially (up and down) in the manual steering box. If the power assist is working, the spring doesn't endure much load since the pistons are pushing the wheels back and forth. Once assist is lost, the washer takes a lot of axial force. If yours is broken, the pieces could be loose in your system and could kill your ps pump. I think that is what gouged the body of my ps pump and rendered it useless. Good luck and post back. Oh, and by the way I sympathize. I bought my 3400 for $2600 last July and thought I stole it. Now I have put about $1500 in parts and many many hours into it. Strained relations with the wife, but the tractor finally works and I learned a lot and feel good about bringing it back to life. Don't despair. But if I may suggest, you may want to do something nice for your wife, she probably envies all the attention the "other woman" is getting. :wink: [Reply]   [No Email]