There can be a number of reasons for sloppy steering and quite often it is a combination of worn parts.
For example, there are ball-type ends on the drag link and the tie rod that can not be greased, so in time they wear badly and eventually allow the rod to drop off. These can be purchased from several sources OTHER than the dealer for a lot less money. A second problem lies with the wheel bearings because even though their are grease fittings, many owners don't even own a grease gun. Once again, these are very common ball bearing races that can be found from suppliers other than OEM dealers.
Originally, CASE used cast steel quadrant gears as part of the "steering box" on the tractors and they had very long lives but then some bean counting genius decided to use stamped steel quadrant gears instead but only for a few years. That was because it took that long for the stamped steel versions to demonstrate just how worthless they were so the decision was made to go back to the cast steel gears once more. I suggest that you remove the quadrant gear, wash it clean and then inspect the teeth from one side to the other. Obviously, the teeth at the extreme ends of the gear get the least amount of wear so those teeth should be your benchmark when examining the teeth closer to the middle portion of the gear. You will also be able to quickly determine if your gear is cast steel or stamped steel.
Eastman Industries, the current owner of the Ingersoll line has jacked the price of this gear into the stratosphere. If you need a new gear, then I suggest that you check on e-Bay and see if you can find a good, serviceable used gear in cast steel from a parted out tractor.
Two other wear issues concern the front axle. The first is the pivot shaft. It too has a grease nipple but is often ignored or neglected so the shaft wears and becomes sloppy. New pivots are available from the dealer listed below.
The second issue comes from owners smacking the front tires into immovable objects from time to time. The front axle is actually supported by the two cross-member plates that also hold the centre pivot for the axle. These plates get splayed outward, thus allowing the axle to swing forward and rearward as you drive and manifests itself as sloppy steering. You can use a long bolt, two flat washers and a nut to pull the plates back together once you have removed the pivot pin and dropped the axle out of that slot. Large C-clamps will pull the ends of the plates back into spec. If you look at the axle itself, your will see the raised portions that are supposed to gently rub against the inside of the two cross member plates. The maximum free play should be held to 1/16 of an inch.
Rarely do the king pin holes have excess wear but do not overlook them. Once you get all of the free play out of the steering, then do a front end alignment. Begin by lengthening or shortening the drag link so that the pinion gear is in the middle of the quadrant gear when the front wheels are pointed dead ahead. Then follow the instructions in the OP manual to set the Toe in/ Toe out. As long as the axle is not twisted or bent, the tractor should steer very easily. Make sure when swapping shims from top to bottom on the quadrant gear that you can rotate the steering wheel from lock to lock with no binding of the pinion teeth with the quadrant teeth..
Case parts on line
