The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

About 4 or 5 years ago I replaced my front wheel spindles. I had some trouble with them then. The first ones where 10 mm to long. The second delivery were a left and right spindle from a different brand, but from one supplier. Since then my left front tire is worn out. All of the profile is gone. The other tire is also wearing out.
Yesterday I have measured the wheel lining and between the back and front of the tire is a difference from about 3 cm (more than 1"). There is no way to adjust the lining.
Has anyone had the problem before?
How can I salve it?
I'm thinking of cutting the cross rod in two, remove about 30 mm, make threat inside. Than make a threaded peace from about 100 mm long and two nuts. Screw it together. The cross rod can then be adjusted by half the pitch of the threat.
Any other ideas?

How's the spindle bushings? Did you replace them when you replaced the spindles? Also, look to see if one of the arms is bent that the tie rod is attached to. Other than that, it could be just pooly machined repo parts.Dandy Dave!

Everything is correct. Nothing is bended. I have a second set with arms and cross rod and that's the same.
New bushes went in and there’s no free play.
I also think the spline is machined wrong at least on one spindle.
It needs about 6 mm adjustment.

HI Henk
I had the same problem about 5 years ago as well here in Canada. Does one of your spindles have Ebro made in Spain stamped on it buy any chance. This was on a customer tractor and used the original top arms as I could not get the replacements easy. the lining was out about as much as you say. so we heated the arms and re set the tracking.
I know every body and there dog will say heating the steering component was wrong and dangerous , But being 5000 miles from the correct part and the guy needing to feed cattle I had no choice . having said that the tractor is still running like this 5 years later with no problem .
I hope this helps and is whats wrong.
Regards Robert

Hiya Henk.

I don't know if this will help but could you try slackening the bolt on one of the spindle top arms and lifting the arm off and sit it back down on the next spline in whichever direction you think is correct? I hope this makes sense as you read it. Moving the arm one or two splines should bring things back in line. I think!!!
Pat.

Hi Henk.

A while ago I bought a replacement spindle for one of my tractors and found that the spline was machined different to the original. It seemed to have the the valey where the peak should be so was half a spline out. That was an Ebro part. I suspect that if you replace all the spindles and steering arms with Ebro parts the steering will line up, but mix and match and you will have problems.

I am sure you have already thought of this but my advice would be to put the thread right near one of the ends to minimise bending loads and make sure the thread is nice and long as you said (100 mm) and all welds high quality as this is your steering you are messing with. I would turn threads onto the parts rather than cut and weld bolts or threaded sections on if possible.

Not realy original but given that original steering spindles are almost impossible to find your idea is a good work around.

Regards, Frank.

Wonder if the simplest way would be to machine more grooves in the track rods to allow the bolts to be put between the existing ones. The groove position could be the reason that Ebro ones set the track differently.



You could measure your trackwidth with no bolts in, mark it and then add another groove. Nuffields have grooves about 10mm apart in a similar shaft and these do not break due to weakness. I would be concerned if it came to bending the cast "Y" or the other end.

The first replacement were two Ebro spindles who were 10 mm to long and the splines were half a teeth out of line. At that time I wrote about it on the board, but no one was heaving the problem. Later on there were more posts on this subject.
I send them back and bought at old20 two other ones. These were two different brands. I don't know witch, but I could see the difference in the way they were machined. I did not realize that it would make any difference in outlining. I was a greenhorn at that time.
I was not planning to weld on the rod, just make it adjustable with the threat and lock it with two nuts.
I am also thinking on bending the steering arm on the right side, but what will it do to the structure of the metal. I will ask my college tomorrow. He's an expert on these subjects. Bending it the right size is also tricky.
Making a double set of splines is not a good solution in my opion, because the force on that part of the steering is rather large and it could mean that the height of the spline teeth is too small. Also machining that part is not an easy job. One needs a special cutter and a device to turn it over exactly.

Hi Henk,

Looking at the photo Brian posted maybe there is an esier way. Just undo the clamp, lengthen the slot in the tube about 10 mm, position the wheels so that the toe in is right and then file a new grove for the clamping bolt to line up with the new position. clamp it back up and job is done.

Regards, Frank.

The other way would be to just move the arms around on the splines then grind a slightly longer groove in the stub to fit the clamp bolt. The bolt is only a clamping device, it does not locate the arm like a cotter would.

My college tells me that cast steel has a needle structure. When heated it becomes a bal structure and the ferrite is in a much better position. That means that the place that is heated becomes stronger.
I'm going for the option of heating the right steering arm and bend it about 6 mm. Problem will be to measure the distance when moving it. I have to make something to control this.

Jaap bedankt. (thank you Jaap)

A while back, at least several years ago, I had to heat and bend the arm on a Farmall Cub for a local organic farmer as the alinement was out. The little tractor has a weeder on it. The wheels now trac properly and it has not been a problem since. Dandy Dave!

Job done.

I took a square peace from 30 x 30 mm made it 24 x 30 mm and that fitted right in the splined hole. Lay a peace against it and measured the distance to the pin hole. Heated the arm over a long distance to get a large bend. Gave it a few hits with a sledge hammer until it moved 5 mm.
Now the wheels are perfectly in line.

Thanks for all the help.

Congratulations, Henk!
That's great news!

Yup, sounds like you are on the right... ummmm....track. Dandy Dave!

Hi,

warming an old thread up ... I have the same problem. I got new spindles on both sides and now this:



In this picture the wheels are parallel (more or less within 2mm) and the track is about 18mm to short. I'm thinking of putting a new groove in the track, but is it safe? Are the original grooves cut or forged? If cut I see no problem to cut one more.

I got the left arm new, too, but the old one is exactly the same as the new. Seems that the splines turned a few degrees on the spindles.

Setting the arm one hop to the next spline does not solve the problem, it only changes the direction of the problem (track to long) and opens another one at the bolt (not fitting the hole).

Peter

If there is room for another cut, it's no problem I think, but mine was 9 mm so that was half a cut.
Keep the rears of the wheel half a centimeter closer than the front. It steers a lot lighter and the wheel will keep straight while driving.

Hi,

henk wrote:Keep the rears of the wheel half a centimeter closer than the front. It steers a lot lighter and the wheel will keep straight while driving.

That's called "toe out". All articles I find recommend "toe in" (the shorter distance on the front of the wheels) or a neutral position on a non driven axle. Is there any recommendation by Fordson?

Peter

Hi,

we cut a new groove today. I'll see tomorrow, how it fits. Pictures follow ...

Peter

Sorry. I discribed it wrong.

Hi Henk,

no problem. Due to my not so perfect measurement I now have 3mm "toe out", but I think, that's ok.

Here is the picture of the new groove:



Before mounting I removed the color on the part where it is clamped and tightened the bolts very heavy.
Next is the steering box. Too much play in there ...

Peter

Yes, Should have been toe in. Unless you are doing a lot of running on hard paved roads in high gear it most likely will not matter that much. Dandy Dave!

Nice cut, will fit nicely.
You can adjust the steering box with the shim plates, but opening the box to clean it and maybe renew the bushes might be good.
Finding new parts could be hard. They sell a seal for the rocker arm, but you should use grease cord to seal it.