1955 860 Pitman Arm Rubbing Bell Housing

ROADMAN

Member
Just finished painting the cast parts on my 1955 850. I never noticed that the Pitman Arms are rubbing against the bell housing because of the dirt and grease and old paint. With the new paint, you can tell the the bottom ball joint bolt on the Pitman Arm is now rubbing against the bell housing. I didn"t remove the Pitman Arm but I did replace the Ball Joints with new ones from this site. Can a spacer be placed on the upper bolt on the Pitman Arm to move it out and eliminate this rubbing?

Thanks

Clay
 
No spacers. The bolt is tapered.

Perhaps you can cut or grind the end off of the bolt?

Dean
 
look to see if the sector arm is sliding pretty far onto the steering gearbox sector shaft.

if it is. pull the arm of lay it on an anvil and take a maul or sledge and hit it open face of the splined sector shaft hole a fet times around the circumference. flip over and do it again.

not try th fit. you should have succeeded in shrinking the ID of the splined hole a bit..

once it sets farther out.. it will space the head of the pin from the bellhousing out.

ps. do check that the arm itself is simply not bent or anything.

and don't shring the hole so much that you can't get full spline engagement of arm to shaft.

sometimes they get sloppy and slide on too far and rub.
 
There should be a 1/4" (or more) gap between the pitman arm and the steering box housing where the sector shaft exits the steering box. Originally there was a felt dust seal filling that gap. I have seen steering boxes where the pitman arm was rubbing on the steering box housing because someone vastly over torqued the nut and actually pushed the pitman arm too far onto the splines and it finally rubbed against the steering box.

If it's only the threaded stud on the tie rod end that's rubbing do as Dean says and cut it off if it's protruding through the nut too far.
 
Thanks for the advice. I have "mission creep" on this project. I started out replacing the rubber fuel line with a 1/4" break line and now I'm into painting the whole tractor and replacing anything that may not look good. This is my work tractor but I want it to look good. I will post pictures when I get finished if I ever do.

Thanks:
Clay
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top