Levining box lower fork material

bcny · Mar 30, 2020

What material are the lower forks of 3pt leveling boxes typically made of?
I have Ford 3000. Want to spread the slot width to fit .71 thick arm. It was made for .50 thick lift arms.
If cast iron I think I am out of luck, cast or forged steel should be ok to bend.
Thanks

Texasmark1 · Mar 30, 2020

I'm going to say "cast" as there isn't all that much weight associated with the lift arms/functions/stresses when you are talking about metal and it's types of processing. Take the level box as an example. Mighty puny if you ask me but I'm in my 42nd year of running tractors with the Ferguson system and Never have I had to replace any part of the lift system, other than changing the category or length of the arms proper on a couple for a reason other than failure.

Mike(NEOhio) · Mar 30, 2020

Probably cast steel. File a corner and if the filings are shiny it's steel. Cast iron will be gray. The lower fork broke off on our 2000. It's still laying around, I'll look at it tomorrow and post back.

37 chief · Mar 30, 2020

I think they are made of cast steel, as all the abuse they take bouncing around on the threaded portion, behind my tractor, and not stripping out the threads. Stan

Bob · Mar 30, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:26:35 03/30/20) What material are the lower forks of 3pt leveling boxes typically made of?
I have Ford 3000. Want to spread the slot width to fit .71 thick arm. It was made for .50 thick lift arms.
If cast iron I think I am out of luck, cast or forged steel should be ok to bend.
Thanks

My GUESS would be forged steel.

If you touch it to a grinding wheel (in an area where that won't hurt it's function) and look at the sparks you can determine if it's cast iron or not. (If you don't know what the difference is in the appearance of the sparks produced GOOGLE has looks of info/photos.)

Also, you could hang the part from a wire and rap it with a rod or a wrench and note the sound.

If cast iron it will give a sort of dull "thud", if steel it will "ring".

Mike(NEOhio) · Mar 31, 2020

Found the old one, forged steel. Just be careful. If you spread the fork you will probably shorten it some and it may not reach the hole. And when you put it back on be sure to have the angled groove turned the right way. Long side down to clear the lower arm.

Leroy · Apr 1, 2020

You spread it and the holes will not alighn up. Might be better to if an aftermarket part not made correctly just grind off untill all parts fit together.

bcny · Apr 3, 2020

Ok it is cast steel.
Cast- due to shape, obvious mold parting line, surface texture, large raised part number ID.

Spark test= not cast iron. Lots of You Tube info out there.
filings clean not smudging white paper
Drill point dimple, chips shiny,and curly chips, not crumbs.
Ring test-"rung like a bell" or tuning fork, which it is. Cast iron would dampen quickly.

So I cold straightened it just enough to fit the thicker arm. Easy as can be. And bolt still fits.

Also found out it was an I&A third party- beefy compared to originals.

Levining box lower fork material

bcny

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Texasmark1

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Mike(NEOhio)

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37 chief

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Bob

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Mike(NEOhio)

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Leroy

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bcny

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