122 tie rods
 

I'm fairly new to this site and figured I might as well ask for assistance with my old beauty. I found my IH 122 sitting behind a local church 2 years ago, love at first sight, I only paid $50 dollars for it. I got it running in a day with a new muffler and sediment bowl. Since then I've added spring assist, three point, I just picked up a snow thrower for it today. That church just didn't know this tractors potential. She just needed love.

Anyway now my question:

My tie rod ball joints were cobbled together with fence wire so I went to tractor supply and bought a new pair, put them on and now the front wheels are "wall eyed". Unscrewing them to there maximum length the tie rod appears to be too short. It appears to be the correct rod for this tractor but, just too short. I thought about buying a double ended nut to make up the difference in length but, really wanna keep it original.

Any suggestions? Is it the tie rod or are the newer ball joints shorter. Stupid me threw the old ones away.

More questions as I go along slowly restoring her.

Curious, did it seem "wall eyed" before you changed them? New ends should be the same as the old ones, otherwise there would be a lot of angry people looking for longer rods...

If it is too short it must be from a different tractor.

If you want to keep it original, check with our sponsors I'm sure they should all have one as the rods were all the same from 1963 till 1971.

We are talking about the rod between the front spindles aren't we and not the one from the left spindle to the gear box?

Is the new joint shorter than the old joint?

Did you just change the tie rod (between the front spindles) or did you change drag link and tie rod joints?

You may have the drag link and tie rod on the opposite area if you did both.

My manual, he he he, says toe in is suposed to be one thirty second to one eigth. Not farmilliar with walleyed :)
Jason

1\32" more like 1 1\2" I only replaced the ball joint and yes this is the one between the spindles, not the drag link. I called it walled eye because it looks kind of like this I / or \ I. That's dramatic though. I don't think it was this bad before I changed them, but they were in bad shape.

Sir, on my 123 the tie rod measures 16 1/4 from nut to nut, the drag link measures 14 inches from nut to nut. Merk said maybe you have the drag. And tie rods reversed but you say you only changed the. Tie rod joints, maybe the previous owner switched up the two rods by accident, that would explain the walleyed condition BEFORE you changed the joints like sam mentioned, if it wasn't walleryed BEFORE rhe change ??????? Lol but the diffrent lengths sound like the rods are switched up if that's possible, that woukd give you the about 2 inches walleyed
Good luck
Jason

I'm bad at punctuation but not this bad. I'm on a cell phone and for some reason my browser will only give me the first line of text then its blank. So no proof reading, lol, I see I got periods all over and backwards lettering
Again sorry lol, can't even see this one lol

Jason

ok the drag link and tie rod are definately in spec and are not switched. I think the problem is more toe-out not toe in. The nuts are to there max outer position and still give me toe- out. This tractor never has turned properly to the right either. It turns sharply left but not right. I can try to post a picture of what I'm talking about. :BangPC:

If it turns "sharper" one way than the other, the drag link needs to be adjusted or the steering gear needs some attention.

Pictures would be great.

I've never adressed my steering issues on my 123, and would like to hear about this centering also. As mine turns on a dime goin right but barly turns left lol, been usin it like that for a couple years. Even got a new steering gear that I never put on

Wild Bill, is "dead on" with his description of steering repair.

The only thing I do differently is I set my cam follower just a little (tiny bit) tight, otherwise it seems to be a little loose once I get it in the tractor and get everything hooked up (not saying this is better... it's just the way I do it).

Thank you Wild Bill
Another bit of priceless info from Richard Christensen.

Thanks!

I may not be able to get a pic on here till this weekend. I will get it on as soon as possible though. There are pictures of my 122 on my profile in an album. The cover picture shows it head on and you can tell it is toe-out. This week end will be the fastest I can get more on. Also How do I post a picture to a post?

Pictures is so easy even a knucklehead like me can do it.

Click on "Post Reply" near the top on the Left of the page.

A new page will come up, scroll down to "Manage Attachments" and click on it.

A new Window will come up, click on "Browse".

A "file upload" window will come up, find your picture, click it twice. The "file upload" window goes away and the "path" to the picture will now be in the "Manage Attachments" slot. Click "upload" and the link for the picture will appear on the "Reply to Thread" page.

If you want to add another picture, go back to the "Manage Attachments" window and click "Browse" again.

I'm guessing that there is more than one way to post pictures, but this is how I do it.

Try this pic, Toe out for sure.

Awww, gravest you sure are cute...But who's that big ugly fella standing next to you???
Okayyy, I'm just kiddin around...

That is pretty bad toe out... How long is that rod? I should have half a dozen of those laying around, Ill go measure and see what what the ones here are.

When i measured it I got 16 1\4 from nut to nut. I measured it after the suggestion someone switched the tie rod for the drag link. Not the case, drag link 14 1|2 tie rod 16 1\4. What is the length on the ball joints themselves. Maybe they are too short. I don't know I figured they should be pretty standard. After work tonight 5am EST I will go out and measure mine. This 16 1\4 seems to be standard length. I almost think it must be the ball joints.

I found one on the shelf with no ends and it measured right at 17" end to end. However I did find several others that had ends, the ends varied some were 1 5/8" and others were nearly 2" the ends may just be where your difference is.

That's almost what I'm thinking, I may go get some different ones. I wish I would of looked at the originals.