53' Jubilee steering hard in both directions

Hard to turn when frontend on ground only and turns like power steering when raised up on jack. Whether frontend raised up on jack or down on the ground: have 1/8-1/4 steering wheel turn play before sector shafts start to engage; sector shafts/pitman arms/drag links/tie rods/spindles all connected together without looseness and movement is smooth. Replaced upper steering shaft bearing 9 years ago because steering shaft was moving up/down in column tube when turned. The play seems to be between the double sector shaft and ballnut and/or inside the ballnut. Has anyone got different ideas on something like this or how to isolate what the problem source is? Any help would be appreciated.

i would first disconect the tie rods at the box and determine weather the stifness is in the box or the spindle bushings on the front axle then go from there

Thanks Eric. Will try in next few days and post results back.

Turn the slack play in the steering wheel and observe if the hub of the steering wheel rises and falls. If it does it's the steering sector shaft thrust bearings shot and the whole hood and dash must come off to fix. Be sure to get all the loose metal out of the box before you re-assemble it.

Zane

Zane - I don't see any lowering/raising of steering wheel shaft at any time. I bought the upper bearing assy & felt seal to install just under the steering wheel after this hard turning problem is solved. The tractor is stored outside under a tarp carport in northern Fla where temp sometimes gets down to lower 20's and up to around 100. It has a zerk fitting on the front of the flange at bottom of steering column tube. I put Red-n-tacky grease in it until it could take no more and I poured some 90w oil in under the steering wheel into tube thinking there could be some air pockets in upper shaft bearing and the oil started leaking out where the column tube and gear case connect. Besides Eric's suggestion, I also need to find the exact location of oil leakage. Any ideas...

(quoted from post at 11:55:26 08/17/14) i would first disconect the tie rods at the box and determine weather the stifness is in the box or the spindle bushings on the front axle then go from there

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me too, easy things first.
badly worn spindle bushings will put everything in a bind.
watch as you are very slowly lowering the tractor off the jack to see what the fronts are doing...tilting when weight applied?
Take a walk far out in front of the tractor and take a look.
Toe-in look right?
Tires have a lot of negative camber? bad bushings.

a badly worn front axle pin that allows the whole axle to tilt as weight is applied will make hard steering too, as it changes angles everywhere.

if no thrust play, then deffinately look at spindle bushings!

if the ballnut or the wormshaft is excessively worn, the ballnut can set at an angle ont he wormshaft and cause issues.

.. excessively worn sector to ballnut teeth ( ie, worn thin and sharp ), can also cause some problems with non adjustable backlash.

There could be some problem with the ball nut if all else checks out???
May require taking it apart before it's solved???

Zane

SG, thanks for responding. I"ve been following your replies to other problems and they really make good sense. What you say here I tend to agree with. I believe I have a two-fold problem: first being hard steering when front wheels are on the ground and tractor is moving/standing still (obviously)and the Swheel has been turned past the slop. I too think the thrust bearing at the bottom of the spindles may be the culprit. When the weather cools alittle I was thinking of lifting one front wheel at a time to see if one or both have the problem.
And secondly the slop (1/8th turn) in the steering wheel whether the tractor is moving/standing still. I feel the slop has got to be the mating between double sector shaft and ball-nut. There's no up/down/side-side of steering shaft so I think thrust bearings for ball-nut may be okay. I have found source for balls inside nut and the 2 external tubes. Could also be the source of the slop and hard steering do you think?
One question - what is your take on using Lucas Oil "Red-N-Tacky" grease in the box? It got mixed with dark greyish-black grease still in box. If I have to disassemble & clean I know that corn head grease is a good choice from what a read. Do you think it would be all right to use here year round in northeast Florida temp range 20 - 100 degrees?
Thank you all for responses. I bought a pitman arm puller day before yesterday to separate linkage from box to help isolate. Been too d--- hot here lately to work outside when I get home. One other question - I have the FO-19 manual for Jub/NAA. Is there any reason to get the FO-4 manual. I do know the 49-52 do share common things. Just thinking about getting it.
Thanks again for the help.

Check spindle bushings

If no worm thrust, then adjust sector backlash studs, don't over tighten.

0 or 00 ep grease can be added to the steering box to help with worn sector diameters that cause weeping leaks even on new seals, etc

SG, when you say spindle bushings, do you mean instead the spindle bearings (thrust)? Would not the bushings cause the Swheel slop to be hard to turn? With the Swheel at any position (stop-to-stop) I can (with my little finger) move the front wheel and see all the linkage move all the way back to the suspect ball-nut (no movement). This of course is with front end off ground as before. I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right page here with what you mean.

I did adjust the sector studs (about 1 & 1/2 turns in) each at the beginning of troubleshooting. At that point the studs seemed to stop turning, so I backed out about 1/4 turn. All during this adj I was hard pressed to see any movement of the sectors caused by adj of the studs OR any change in hardness of steering wheel movement. Good thing I got the pitman arm puller. I'll back out the turns I did already, pull the P arms, and then try and adjust the sector backlash again.

Get back in a few days.

You are not understanding the relationship of all the moving parts.

Worm gear thrust an caus hard turning, usually in one direction, at least until both thrust bearings go.

Sector to sector or sector to ball it play is backlash usually, it causes rotational slop in the steering wheel, but not hard turning unless one of the thrust bearings is gone and the top of the column bushing is gone so that when turning, the fore sectors is pushing the ball it and worm away. Wear in tie rod and drag kink ends add to rotational play, but not usually hard steering, unless enough play exists that tire toe in changes drastically, and one tire is either towed in too much and trying to cut in, or the opposite, cut out, both make for hard steering.

Next wear part for steering is the front hub. If excessively loose hub cocks, binds, wears quickly and can caus hard steering due to slop, bind and toe issues.

Lastly, worn spindle bushings allow the spindle to bind, making turning the steering wheel very difficult to front tire to spindle geometry, this can effect things like camber

SoundGuy - I just reread what I sent this a.m. and I'm sorry. It sorta didn't read right. Thank you for putting it all together.



Please clarify, you say: "Lastly, worn spindle bushings allow the spindle to bind, making turning the steering wheel very difficult...". On all the diagrams of the parts that shows what makes up the front end, I see a spindle thrust bearing on the spindle below the lowest bushing. It looks to be the lowest item on the spindle. Could a worn spindle thrust bearing also cause the same symptoms as a worn spindle bushing? Thank you

all wear is addative. Personally i would worry more about the bushings and what they are doing to camber.. as that will for sure make it hard to turn the wheel from anything but straight ahead.