MF150 Steering

I am working on a MF150 for my father in law. The front end goes into a "death wobble" while driving with much speed. The tie rods seem to be fine, and tires are 80%. From what we can see there seems to be slop in the pedestal shaft and controls arms attach. You can get side to side play in the arms on the shaft when you pry lightly against them. Is it likely that the bushings could be worn?

Also has anyone removed one of the pedestals? I have everything unbolted , but the thing will not budge at all. My guess is the shoulder on the bottom of the pedestal is seized into the hole in the frame.

Severely worn bushings and vertical shaft wear, along with worn valve actuator link ends and pins on the cylinder valve are the most common. Getting everything back to like new will correct the wobble..

Adjusting the toe-in would probably net a "band aid" fix for your "death wobble". However, addressing any slop in the system is the right thing to do.

I rebuilt the pedestal on a MF 65 several years ago. I am not sure if is the same as a 150. I do not remember any issues in removal of the pedestal from the tractor.

The main issue that I wanted to share here is my bushings needed to be resized after installation in the pedestal. I took my pedestal with the new bushings installed to a MF dealer who had a tool to line bore the bushings. I suspect finding a dealer with that tool today may be difficult to do. You may have to resort to a machine shop.

A brake cylinder hone and some patients will work too. Just did that with my lift arm bushing.

A brake cylinder hone and some patients will work too. Just did that with my lift

Hello, As has been mentioned everything need to have any play eliminated for the system to work 100%. Starting at the bottom first;
A recent overhaul on a 175 with a pedestal left the heavy front wheels shimmying after going over a pothole. Even though play/wear in the complete system was negligible we still had the problem. MF brought out anti-shimmy kits to replace the existing kingpin thrust bearings. These kits which consist of metal washers and/or a friction disc transformed the tractor steering. They will undoubtedley wear quicker than the thrust bearings but it is a reasonable price to pay for a stable steering.

Moving upwards there a number of areas to look at. Firstly where the steering cylinder rod is anchored in the casting bracket. There MUST BE NO play axially in the rod/pin assembly and likewise NO up and down movement of the rod in the bracket. If you have movement here a washer can be bent and filed down to act as a shim to make the rod a neat fit.
Next, check for any clearance between the underside face at the top of the pedestal housing and the top of the steering arms. End-float here can cause the steering to wobble. To counteract this I turned up a wide section but very thin brass ring. The clearance was measured with a feeler gauge and the ring machined accordingly. May not be possible now but have an assistant rock the steering wheel back and forth while you examine closely all components for play or wear. Ideally the only play should be that which actuates the spool valve on the cylinder and nothing more.
Let us know how you get on.
DavidP, South Wales

Well we made some progress today. The cast pedestal is still stuck, but with some work we were able to remove the lower control arm that runs back to the tie rods. Once we had it out we were able to pull The Who.e shaft out. Someone in the past removed the grease zerk on the bottom of the shaft and replaced it with a bolt and washer, which caused the extra wear and slop. Hopefully we can get the pedestal out this weekend, and get the bushings ordered. Luckily it seems that everything is is tight and will take little work to improve the wobble.

Thanks for the insight from everyone!