Too much "play" or looseness in steering for 312-8??

[RedRover 27]

Newly acquired 312-8 has too much "play" or looseness for steering.  The connectors for front wheels appear to be okay.  I am guessing the problem may be at the bottom of the steering column.  My original 312-8 purchased new in 1988 and has 1800+ hours steering still feels snug.  Any thoughts here will be appreciated.

[Duckfather 1]

I would check from the steering wheel down to the tires...leave the tractor with the tires straight and turn the wheel a little bit left, right, left right and then see what is moving...you might be right with the steering column, can lift it a bit?

[ebinmaine 68,874]

Degrease it and give it a close visual.

Very likely it's a combination of several spots that are loose... not just one area.

 

[Pullstart 63,201]

Yeah, it should be fairly easy to find the spot(s) that are loose if you work your way through the system.

 

Steering wheel to shaft (not likely), shaft to pinion gear, pinion to fan gear, fan gear to shaft, shaft to steering arm, steering arm to tie rods, tie rods to spindles.... all have points or pivots that can wear.

[darren 49]

I had excessive steering play in a project tractor I picked up - it turned out to be a fracture in the rear mounting block for the steering shafts: not easy to spot unless you knew it was there! I ended up tracking that down by slowly and methodically working my way through the steering system, checking everything.

I think this is an unlikely failure mode - the previous owner must've dealt the steering a serious whack on mine to achieve this. Worth checking though. The mount lies on top of the horizontal chassis members and is at the end of the steering wheel shaft(19 in the pic). It kind of fits your first instinct in the post. It could also be that the mount has come loose.

 

The second time I saw excessive play that was easily solvable was when the front support mount (part 12 in the pic) for the horizontal steering shaft was loose: both nuts had backed off and moving the steering wheel allowed the end of the steering rod to float about. My fault for forgetting to torque them! Nipping those up instantly restored everything. It's worth checking for a quick win. The nuts can be quite difficult to get to - it's a little easier with the hood off.

 

To be honest, as pullstart says, there aren't too many places in the system to check so it should be quite easy to find - start at one end and watch the system with a torch, whilst you or a helper apply some rocking input to the steering wheel.

 

Good luck!

Edited March 25, 2018 by darren

[pfrederi 17,986]

Pull the cotter pin from the steering shaft  (#34) and add a 3/4 " machinery bushing in where 35 and 36 are located ...(or a thin washer) and replace cotter pin you do not want front to rear play in the shaft.

[953 nut 56,165]

5 hours ago, darren said:

excessive steering play in a project tractor I picked up - it turned out to be a fracture in the rear mounting block for the steering shafts: not easy to spot unless you knew it was there! I ended up tracking that down by slowly and methodically working my way through the steering system, checking everything.

I think this is an unlikely failure mode

Not all that uncommon, I've had a couple with that problem.