I have an early 1948 8N with 10-12 inches of play in the steering wheel before you see the pitman arms move and start to turn the wheels. After rebuilding the steering gear box and reinstalling I have the same amount of play.
It has the 4 bolt sectors on the steering gear box. I found there was some up/down play in the steering wheel so I took the steering gear box out and found the upper and lower thrust bearings were bad and replaced them. Everything else seemed good. The sector shaft bushings were tight and did not seem to be any noticeable wear on the sector shaft teeth or the ball nut.
On the bench with steering wheel on the shaft, prior to rebuilding I could turn 10-12 inches before the sector shafts moved. After rebuilding it was only about 1-2 inches before them moved. I believe I adjusted the backlash properly and it turns freely from stop to stop and it seems centered. I was sure I had solved the loose steering problem but after reinstalling on the tractor it seemed as if I had done nothing to fix the problem. Any ideas on what could be wrong.
It has the 4 bolt sectors on the steering gear box. I found there was some up/down play in the steering wheel so I took the steering gear box out and found the upper and lower thrust bearings were bad and replaced them. Everything else seemed good. The sector shaft bushings were tight and did not seem to be any noticeable wear on the sector shaft teeth or the ball nut.
On the bench with steering wheel on the shaft, prior to rebuilding I could turn 10-12 inches before the sector shafts moved. After rebuilding it was only about 1-2 inches before them moved. I believe I adjusted the backlash properly and it turns freely from stop to stop and it seems centered. I was sure I had solved the loose steering problem but after reinstalling on the tractor it seemed as if I had done nothing to fix the problem. Any ideas on what could be wrong.