Need guidance on Super A steering box

The steering on this S/A has a half turn or more, of slop. I first opened the drain plug of the steering gear box and half gallon of water ran out from where rain hits the steering shaft and runs down into the box...needs a new seal there. Then I disconnected the tie rods at the center point, and I can wiggle the center pitman back and forth...alot. I checked the archives and there is mention of two keys, upper and lower, on that shat, so I went on to check that out.

My question is does anyone have an exploded view of the steering gear box, and how do you remove it from the tractor? Does the axle need to comne off? It appears to me, before committing to this repair, that there is a large bolt on top and into the governor case area, one behind and below into the side of the block, then one underneath in the front. Are there any more, and are they tough to get to? I locked the sector shaft in place with a screw driver, and the pitman key seems to be where all of the slop is occuring. No in/out play from the shaft end bearings.

On the tie rods at the center, there is a 1"x18 pitch wide slotted nut with a concave dish that contacts the RH tie rod ball, pushing it into the center, double sided concave spacer, then the LH tie rod ball, with a single concave sided spacer. Problem #1 is, this nut is shot. Someone treated it very badly before, and almost stripped out the center pitman, so I need a new nut at minimum. I'm sure that this will work as I am able to get one of the good nuts from an outer tie rod end to thread in well enough, so I need to buy one, and I would really like two of these nuts. I have no idea of a part number or a source. Perhaps it is a dealer only item. Can you buy those after-market?

On the outer tie rod ends, there is the nut for adjustment, but it looks as though the ball pivots against the threaded portion of the tie rod, that is, there is no concave spacer in there, on either side. Is this normal? Or is it missing those single dished spacers, one on each side that would ride on the inside surface between the spindle ball and the tie rod threaded end? If they are missing, I need a part number and a source for those.

So, I need a source for the nuts, single sided concave spacers if required, steering shaft seal, maybe top and bottom, part numbers, and some advice on the steering gear box dissassembly.

Not asking for much, huh?

Thanks as always.

Frank-in-Tallahassee

So I am looking at the diagrams now. Is the steering box not separate? Integral to the entire front casting? S/N 264,000

Thanks, Frank! I was wondering' what F-I-T was for!

What you're looking for, at least on the outside ends, are ball seats. The inner one that floats is just a ball seat. The threaded one on the outside, that takes the big drag-link socket is an adjustable ball seat. GeneB will be one of the best guys on here for tightening them up and, if everything is there, he can tell ya how to dress them up to get them back tight -- I'd suspect some work with a die grinder.

If they can still be had new, the part number for the 1" screw with ball seat (center or outside) was 57875D and interchangeable with 43470D. Try those numbers with a dealer, but I'd expect you're going to wind up looking for salvage parts.

OEM has some new front steering parts, too, that may be worth checking out.

HTH

Integral is right.

Aha! So I was right! The seats, # 43468D are missing from the inner ends of the tie rods! Any good ideas of IH dealers who do ups shipping?

Try Bermuda Ken at Carter and Gruenewald.

external_link

(608)455-2411

If he doesn't have/can't get it, he'll tell you where you can.

That's a good number for the inner seats at the outer ends of the tie rods.

As far as the center arm/pitman goes, the cup in the outer side of the left end of the arm appears to be machined right into the arm, and the cupped screw on the right end is interchangeable with the ones on the tie rod ends. It appears to be two floating seats back to back between the two balls into the arm, rather than a single piece with two cups in the middle. Part numbers are 57874D for the left side and 57873D for the right. No idea what the difference might be between them.

Again, Gene B has put up some of the best advice on tightening these things up. He can tell ya how to use a grinder to dress the balls, but also can share a lot on little things you can do in the steering box, as well.

About 6 months ago I did an A for a neighbor. I lifted the weight of the tractor off the front axle, removed the axle pivot shaft. with the front axle resting on jack stands I was able to lift the front of the tractor further up. remove the tie rods. there are about 6-8 bolts going up through the bottom of the base of the steering box. remove the bolt in pt arm and remove the base and arm together. I put seals and a new base gasket in because they were leaking bad. I found that the sloop in the pt shaft was because of wear on the clamping bolt. One new grade 8 bolt and locking nut sloop gone. I hope this helps

Yeah, I like that approach. By reomving the axle pivot pin and the tie rods from the pitman, I can just move the axle out of the way, too.