Early 1948 8N too much play in steering

JGroenjes · Sep 22, 2015

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.

JGroenjes · Sep 22, 2015

I agree that the rest of the steering linkage has wear and is probably part of the problem but in this case I am watching for the pitman arms to move even the slightest bit and they are not until the steering wheel travels 10-12 inches. The travel in that 10-12 inches is loose with no resistance until at the very end when the pitman arms start to move. Same when turning back the other way.
However, if I raise the front of the tractor off the ground and turn the steering wheel the pitman arms start to turn with only 3-4 inches of steering wheel travel.
I know that there is also wear in the rest of the steering linkage because when the front wheels hit a hole or bump it can cause the tractor to dodge right or left even though the steering wheel was not turned. So I know I have other repairs to make but am trying to understand why the pitman arms are not even trying to move with 10-12 inches of turning the steering wheel.
There did not appear to be any wear or play in the sector shafts/gears or the ball nut but I am wondering if the steering gear box might still be bad.

souNdguy · Sep 23, 2015

lets celar up a few things.

when you say pitman arms are you talking about the ones up on the front spindles? ( the ones at the steering box are sector arms )

If you are referring to the front ones, then each side has a draglink and a tie rod to go thru before the arm. thus my comment on slack multiplying.

the reason it is easier when jacked up is because some of that slack might still have resistance. IE.. the ball ends in the tie rod and draglinks still have some internal resistance, and under no load they don't take up all their slack before moving. with the tire planted in the ground, they take up all their slack to move.

now. if you are instead refering to the sector arms ont he steering box, then you failed to adequately address the wear uissues of the sector gears to the ballnut, bushings, or backlash.

JGroenjes · Sep 23, 2015

(quoted from post at 06:49:12 09/23/15) lets celar up a few things.

when you say pitman arms are you talking about the ones up on the front spindles? ( the ones at the steering box are sector arms )

If you are referring to the front ones, then each side has a draglink and a tie rod to go thru before the arm. thus my comment on slack multiplying.

the reason it is easier when jacked up is because some of that slack might still have resistance. IE.. the ball ends in the tie rod and draglinks still have some internal resistance, and under no load they don't take up all their slack before moving. with the tire planted in the ground, they take up all their slack to move.

now. if you are instead refering to the sector arms ont he steering box, then you failed to adequately address the wear uissues of the sector gears to the ballnut, bushings, or backlash.

The pitman arms I am referring to are on the steering gear box. So I think you answered my question and that although I could not detect wear on the sector gears or ball nut they must be bad. Looks like time to get a rebuilt later year gear box and make the modifications needed. Will be earlier to adjust backlash later as it wears.

souNdguy · Sep 23, 2015

steering box has sector gears and shafts, the arms on those shafts are sector arms.

and yes.. if you have 10-12" of steer wheel movement before a shaft moves, you have un-adressed wear in that box.

specific wear can be determined by testing.

steer wheel turning before double sector moves can be ballnut wear, internal or teeth, and or forward gear tooth wear: almost no way to fix this without replacement parts.

double gear moves before single gear:

this could be a backlash issue and bushings, or this could be a gear tooth wear on rear gear face of double, or on face of single.

if gear wear that you can't backlash out.. repalce parts.

( or replace box )

Early 1948 8N too much play in steering

JGroenjes

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JGroenjes

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souNdguy

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JGroenjes

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souNdguy

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