Official front end repair thread

[drglinski]

Next came the steering column. Gross! The foam seal is completely gone (which I figured) and I opted to paint the column while I had it out even though I'm not restoring cosmetically at this point.

[drglinski]

I tried tightening up the channel that the axle sits in but it didn't make any difference...apart from pulling the axle pin and putting a grade 8 bolt in, what else can I do?

Thanks

[clay1811/44c]

Keep up the good work. Glad to see you have a helper.

[CadetTommy]

My 126 has a lot of play and most of it is front channel play. Interested to see how you do this.

[johncub7172]

I use a long 5/8ths bolt with a few big washers, and a good nut and squeezed the channel together. My experience is that the narrow frame are the easiest to squeeze. Then it’s a rascal to get the axel back in if you over squeeze. But that channel will stay put and the axel won’t move back and forth. Any and all steering play you can remove will impress you when you notice how much better you done with your tractor. I reused my old pivot pin since it was still in decent shape and even the old coil keeper pin went right back and stayed.

[drglinski]

Do I have to pull the engine again to do that? Is it easier to do with the axle removed? Never pulled the pin...how's that work?

Thanks

[darkminion_17]

It would have been easier, but you can still do it.
There is a spirol pin up front that holds it in. Hopefully it has been greased so it will come out easy.

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by drglinski

Yesterday I did some wrenching on the tin. I pulled the motor with the aid of my brother's engine hoist (because he's got it so why not use it). The engine didn't come out too bad- the front motor bolts are in a really dumb spot but I got em out (and back in.) Even my little girl got in on the action- she's shoving a wrench into the flywheel opening. The worst part was trying to get the four phillips screws out of the screen. Lots of heat and they finally broke free. Everything went back together with anti-seize for when I rebuild the motor (next project) it'll come apart better-hopefully.


I like the location of the coil mount much better now. It's no longer tucked up against the sediment bowl with the spark plug wire in a weird location.

Enjoy the little ones while they are young, all too soon they are grown up and have their own families.
She just might turn out to be a "Delta cub"---- not a bad thing

[drglinski]

Did some mulling over it today, and as much as I'd like to just keep plugging on (and didn't want to pull the engine again) I didn't want to work on the axle but decided if I'm doing it I should do it right. I removed the bolts on the engine and lifted it up slightly allowing me access to work on the pivot bolt.

I followed the specs by this thread: https://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/...ad.php?t=18991 and chose a bolt that matched it (Local hardware store didn't have a fine grade bolt this size grade 8 so I went with coarse) I picked up some GUNK and tried it out on the front axle (it worked great!) Mocked it up in the frame and it eliminated ALL of the sideways slop. I have to cut down the head of the bolt so it clears the oil pan better, but so far, I like what I see.

[MikeMasheris]

Be careful on the front nut end if its sticks out too far it can get in the way of the mule drive socket if you have one with a pin all the way across it.