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To replace a bent leveling shaft: 1) grind off the rivet head from the pin retaining the leveling box handle. 2) Drive out the rivet and remove the handle and drive gear. 3) If the shaft is badly bent, use a sawzall or torch or hacksaw to cut off the bent part, leaving the driven gear and a shorter (and reasonably straight) shaft. Otherwise, you can't get the shaft out the top of the leveling box. 4) Clamp the leveling box in a vice (lightly). Tap the level box shaft towards the top of the leveling box. This will drive the soft plug out from the bottom. 5) Remove the stub of the shaft. Clean out the greasy center of the box with your favorite solvent or parts washer. 6) The lower bearing is just a thrust bearing, like the lower spindle bearing. Unless the leveling box has been cranked a lot in its lifetime, with a hefty load on the three point, the bearing is probably fine. I think you can just lift it out through the top of the box (no snap ring -- nothing but the gear on the top of the shaft to hold it in place from the top). I don't remember if I pulled it out or not. Clean it up with solvent in any event. 7) Make sure the drive gear you have will mesh with and drive against the driven gear of the new shaft. There were changes made during production, and you might need a new drive gear to go with your new shaft. 8) Lightly grease the thrust bearing with wheel bearing grease. Not strictly necessary -- just something I like to do. 9) Install the new shaft through the top of the leveling box. 10) Install driven gear and drive handle through side of box. 11) Re-rivet the drive handle to the driven gear, or use a roll pin of a suitable diameter. (Ace hardware has a good selection of roll pins). 12) Test the assembly. Does it spin freely as you turn the handle? 13) Press the expansion top back into the top of the leveling box. A few taps with a mallet or soft faced hammer should be all you need. You can use a board and a regular hammer if that's all you have available. 14) Assemble the leveling box to the three point hitch (screwing the new shaft into the lower fork a few turns to get it started). 15) Crank the handle to level out the lift arms to be equal to each other, and test the box while you are at it. 16) If all looks good, pump the leveling box full of grease from a grease gun, grease the lower fork, and you are done.
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