Uh, oh. My 'M' quit steering!

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Fortunately, I was almost done cultivating the garden. And, aimed right at the gate. So I steered it up to the shop via the brakes. Sorta crawler like! Well, like my old Terratrac crawler without steering clutches, anyway.

The sun is beating down on the front of the shop this afternoon, so I will wait until morning to tear into it. Nice and cool and shady in front of the shop until 1 PM or so.

Any guesses what happened? The steering went rather 'mushy' then the wheel just spins. No jerks or bangs and I was in soft dirt, so nothing run into besides weeds. Nothing is visibly wrong, but the hood and nosecone are still on, so all I can readily see is the tie rods are all still OK.

Personally, I am thinking the pin which follows the worm gear pulled out of the yoke inside the steering box.

Further bulletins as events warrant!

Stan

[Lavoy]

My guess is that the key in the coupling on the steering shaft into the pedestal sheared off, or the coupling just wore out, common problem.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I had thought of that first. Looking up under the hood as best I could with a light, it looked like that was still together. So, I figured on it being something else. Something not quite so easy to fix.

Alas, after removing the hood and nose, the input shaft is still turning. After removing the top of the steering box, the end of the cam, or yoke, has cracked and pulled loose on the front side, and is hanging by a thread on the back side. Right at the pin which follows the worm gear.

I suspect this was cracked way back in the early 80s when the dweebs which owned it before me yanked the front end completely off trying to pull start it with a 4x4 truck. It was locked up because water had frozen in the number 1 cylinder. Because they left it outside with no can on the exhaust. Sigh.

Well, time to file, weld and grind it all back into place. This thing should be repainted Italian Racing Red, and I should be renamed Tony. You know. Fix It Again Tony!

Stan

[Scottyb]

never give up

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Nope. I never do. If ever a machine ought to have gone to the scrap yard, it was this one. But, I will keep on fixing it. It has been a long time since the last thing broke on it, and as far as the fixes go, this is the most minor. I get the biggest kick every time she fires up.

Stan

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Update time. My puny wire welder put it together. Did not hold for long, though. Fortunately, I have a buddy that is a real welder, and I took it to him last evening to take into his shop today and get it done properly.

Say, anyone ever mount a later steering box and shaft onto an M? The later ones have two pins following the worm gear instead of only one.

Stan

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

All fixed and everything greased up. Steers nicely now. Back to cultivating work she goes.

Stan

[Lavoy]

Sounds like an excuse to buy a bigger welder!
Lavoy

[oldtanker]

Sounds like an excuse to buy a "back up tractor"! They really are like potato chips, one is never enough! I'm trying to convince my wife that I need (as in have to have) one tractor for each implement! So I need 8 more utility sized tractors, 4 more 40-50 HP tractors (one should be a crawler), and 4 more tractors 70 HP or bigger up to 125 HP! . So far she ain't buying off on it . haven't told her that once I have those then I nee a backup for each !

Rick

[Tigerhaze]

Backups are a little overrated- I have three crawlers, four skid steer loaders, three roller compactors, and two wheel tractors and all are repair projects to some degree. I am excluding other equipment that are "singles"

I am now looking to "thin the herd" some as it is not good to keep that stuff idle with little to no use.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I used to have back ups. A 420 and a 430 to go with the M. But, odd thing, none would ever have a battery with enough charge to start, or decent gas, or a whole host of other things, to actually be useful. It was always 'fix it', then use it!

So, back off to one main tractor (the 2008 5103) and one secondary tractor (the 1950 M). The M was so secondary, it really only saw use with a fertilizer spreader and the disc hillers.

Until I picked up enough parts to make up an M10A cultivator, that is. It has had work every week since we planted the garden with those on. We planted every other row, so I can run alongside the hills once stuff grew too tall to straddle.

Then, of course, I bust the steering. All fixed up now that I took the busted piece to a pro welder buddy of mine.

Stan

[oldtanker]

LOL I do that too sometimes. I can weld but with a critical part I take it to a pro. If I did more welding I'd be ok with doing most stuff myself. I may not have to touch my welder for 6 months or so.


Rick