Manual steering upgrade

[john hall]

I'm finally back on upgrading the manual steering in my 982. Basically I am adding a thrust bearing like on the manual steering upgrade for everything else that uses a normal steering box (there were 2 styles on the 982 and the one on mine is larger, can't say about the other version). While it is apart I am changing the seal, wear plate and cam follower. I noticed a bit of bad engineering that I assume is the same on the "usual" steering gearbox. The wear plate with the seal is off to one side of the shaft that the is welded to the plate you hook the steering rod to. When you tighten all this up, there is an air gap between this plate and the gearbox. The wear plate serves as a thrustwasher, but it is way to one side. This is (to me) going to create all sorts of binding and uneven wear. Anyone ever added a shim around the shaft to help compensate for this? The problem is you can't exactly use a washer because the wear plate is very close to the shaft. I am thinking about cutting a large shim but am afraid it will try to rotate and go in behind the wear plate and jam the steering, maybe I could make some tabs on it that would lock on the steering box? Anyone ever contemplated this? I know the design has worked for 40 years, but thats not to say it was done right to start with. If it works I'll post the bearing number, just trying to figure this shim out first. Oh yeah, some machining required.

[Oak]

John, I remember reading somewhere when they welded the later steering boxes on the 82 series the plate warped causing a gap. I did an upgrade to an 1811 I had and I tried to straighten the plate in a vice but it was hard to do. Can you post some pictures of yours?

[john hall]

My plate is a little bit warped. I thought about trying to face it off in a lathe but the boss for the cam follower prevents you from being able to do that. I agree that these plates were probably not flat from the factory due to the welding. Combine that with what I see as an air gap around the shaft with the wear plate being on one side, things can't help but bind up when the shaft is tightened. I'll try to post a pic soon. I was hoping this would be a quick rebuild so I'm doing it with the steering still in the tractor.

[dbuck]

When I rebuild a steering box, I use a press to bring the plate back to straight.

[john hall]

I may put mine in a press before final assembly although it looked pretty good to begin with. Wouldn't hurt to chuck it in the lathe so I can put an indicator on it and know how bad it really is. It still irritates me that the seal retainer wasn't made to cover the whole face of the gear box and serve as a true thrust washer instead of only holding on one side. One thing I noticed is that it appears the shaft has been chromed, I didn't try a file to check for hardness but it looks to have been.

[john hall]

Got my 982 steering gearbox back together this afternoon. Chucked up the plate in the lathe so I could put an indicator on it, maybe .010-.015 total, that's probably some warp and the rest pulled from welding the shaft in. To make room for the new bearing I had to pull the gearbox mount off the frame and bore it out. I had to take it to the point that the lockwashers on the bolts holding the gearbox on are basically tangent to the hole for the shaft--I probably removed 1/8-3/16 from the hole. I discovered the air gap when I began dry fitting the gearbox together. Double checked the parts book and it even shows it that way (it's an assembled drawing, not an exploded view) so I know nothing is missing. The seal retainer measured about .030" thick. I had some .025" shim so I decided to try my luck with making a shim big enough to fill the void. My concern is with 2 different pieces and the seal retainer being the only one in a fixed position that the one I made could possibly rotate and get under the seal retainer causing it to rise up and create a tight spot. I drilled the new shim--had to be VERY close to the edge then dry fit it all together. Next I got dad to hold a tire iron against the plate, holding it tight against the gear box. I left the shim fairly oversize so I was able to take a second tire iron and large ball peen and bend the ends of it around the gearbox to create 2 tabs to lock it in place. Pulled it back apart and trimmed the sharp edges and coated everything with a film of grease. Slid it all back together and installed the bearing. I had to put a washer between the bearing and the gearbox, otherwise the bearing did not want to seat properly. I used the metal lock nuts that have been slit on one end (resembling a castle nut).
Tightned it down till I had no in and out motion. I can grab the ears on the shim I made and get a slight bit of wiggle, it feels like there may be a bit of load on it. Considering I have 2 pcs in there I feel it is better this way. Hooked the tie rod up and while the steering box feels fine, the cast piece it hooks to has a lot of flop in it. Hopefully I can get the front end dropped out in the morning.

I had already put the shim on the plate and greased it before I took the photo, but you can get the idea of the tabs I bent on it. Yes I know, I put grease on the side that won't have anything rubbing over it, I had already grease the other side.

[john hall]

here is a pic of the type lock nut I used.