1250 Axle Play
 

Working on tightening the steering up on my 1250, the front axle had quite a bit of slop back and forth. I have squeezed the channel together and reduced the amount of slop but the axle still has a slight amount of movement. The axle is slightly dragging on the channel when I slide it in. If I tighten the channel any more the axle will likely not fit. I was assuming it would tighten up solid with no slop at all. Pin doesn't look worn, I have a new pin that I put in and it has the same amount of wiggle. Pivot hole in the axle looks good.

Probably the bushings that are welded into the frame are worn,

I just added a oil bearing bronze bushing to take up the front to back play on mine
Ace hardware had a drawer of them with the right size

The pin and bushings show very little to no wear. I have a set of new bushings and pin. The play is the same with the new pin. The pin was stuck in the bushings when I removed it, took a few good taps with a 2lb sledge to get it broke free. I saw a write up where someone had replaced the pin with a 3/4" fine thread grade 8 bolt. I'm considering doing that and tightening the bolt to pinch the axle until the wiggle is gone. Axle hole might have a little wear.

Where did you put the bronze bushing? In the axle itself?

if you put the bolt head on the back side it might clear the oil pan , but i think the nut will keep the quick attach pin from latching in.

It will work if you can find a guy to machine the bolt head down. BTDT

The writeup I was looking at says to grind the bolt head down to 3/16" thick and use a 1/2 height locking nut for the nut. I'm assuming the shorter nut is used so it will clear the QA pin.