steering gear end float

[aldo]

I just overhauled the steering gear. When I removed the rocker shaft housing water came out! No oil at all, just some grease, mainly on the worm shaft and bearings. There were no shims on the rocker shaft housing, just a gasket. I've cleaned everything up, new seals, all looks good with surprisingly little wear, now how do I adjust the rocker shaft end float? With no shim, and one gasket thickness of about 0.3 mm, there's an end float of about 1.2-1.5 mm. Tommorrow I'll try with no gasket, just some sealant, and would guess the end float will be about 1mm. That feels a bit too much for me, or is it acceptable? Could I reduce it further by making a shim to go inside the rocker housing, between the shaft and housing? I would make it out of stainless steel sheet we have at work, about 0.8-0.9 mm I think it is. Thanks for any suggestions.

[terry274]

Aldo, how did this project turn out? I wish I could offer some help, but I don't have an answer to your question. I will be attempting to tighten the steering on my Dexta in a few weeks. Too many other things to work on right now. Do you have the downloads from Stephen Riegels site? I am talking about the PDF service guides. I may have spelled the name wrong, but there is a link to the downloads somewhere on this site. The service guides are very helpful and might shed some light on you problem. Let me know if you have trouble finding them, I will try to get you clearer directions.
Terry

[aldo]

Thanks Terry,
I downloaded the workshop manual a couple of years ago. Tightening up the end float on the rockers should be easy if you have some shims to remove -I had none to remove, don't know why, but there was no signs of wear on rocker housing nor on the mating facing of the rockers. Maybe its been machined down in the past.

My idea of using a shim inside the housing worked well. End float reduced to less than half a mm. I had the advantage that my dexta only uses one rocker shaft (its connected to a power steering ram) - the other rocker is unused, and was good as new, so was its corresponding socket in the worm shaft, so I swapped over the rockers, and turned the worm shaft 180 degrees. Steering gear is relatively tight now -steering wheel has less that quarter turn play in it now (maybe about 1/8th of turn), before the overhaul it had about 1/2 turn play in it!

Topping up the oil in the steering box, I did it a different way compared to the manual. I topped up the the oil before putting in the worm nut and bearings (I has earlier worked out how much shimming was need for the worm nut bearings). Then i put in the worm nut and bearings and tightened it all up, but left the worm nut oil seal to very last. That way I could see exactly how much oil was needed to keep the bearings lubricated. Finished topping up through the bleed screw, and also put some down the worm nut -actually I intentionally overfilled with oil. Made sure no air was trapped in the lower parts, moved the steering from full lock to full lock a few times, which made the oil rise and fall in the column. So the excess oil came out the bearings, and out the worm nut. Cleaned that oil up, then finally put in the worm nut seal, letting the pressure out the bleed screw.

Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but what I figured from that exercise is that the worm nut bearings are not constantly immersed in oil - you have to turn fully to the left, (or is it to the right), which makes the oil rise up the column and wet the bearings. And you don't have to lose much oil, before the worm nut bearings never get wet.

Hope that all makes sense - don't want to make the steering box seem complicated, its actually very simple, 4 moving parts and some bearings.

[Lesfen]

Aldo,

I am interested in how your power steering works.

What equipment was the ram originally on?
And did you add another pump for the hydraulics or tap into the Dexta's system?

Have a '62 Super Dexta with a one armed loader that I seem to need a bit of steering help with lately or maybe just a much larger steering wheel!

Thanks,
Les

[aldo]

Hi Les,
I could imagine your steering is quite hard with no power assist. My tractor was professionally fitted with a front end loader and power-steering in the 1960's (I bought it about 4 years ago). I heard it did much shovelling of manure in its hey day! The hydraulic pump that drives the loader and steering is fitted to the front and driven straight off the main shaft.
I've intended to post some pictures for quite some time, and your question has prompted me to go and take a few photos. The two photos below should give you some idea of the setup. The ram steers the left wheel, and this tranferred to the right wheel via a connecting rod.

I will start another thread to post a few more pictures of 'her'.

[Jos Cuypers]

Hard steering can have several causes :
- Worn roller-bearing in the front axle (CONN 3123-B)
- Worn bushings in the front axle (partnumber 957E-3109-B and 3110-B)
- Insufficient grease in the front axle (spindle)
- Worn spindle rod.
- Worn steeringball-assies (Partnumber 957E-3290B and 3307-B)
- Is the TOE-In correct ?

I drove a Dexta with front loader and no steering-assist, and steering was just fine, but the front axle was very well maintained and greased.

If the shimms are all removed and still having play, you can machine down the flange of the removable rocker-shaft housing.

[aldo]

I drove a Dexta with front loader and no steering-assist, and steering was just fine, but the front axle was very well maintained and greased.

If the shimms are all removed and still having play, you can machine down the flange of the removable rocker-shaft housing.

Your right Jos, but it can get quite hard to turn the wheel from a standing start with a heavy load.

By the flange do you mean where the bolt holes are on the housing? I figured that, but it must be a very slow process to accurately machine around the odd shaped curve, at least on the mill we have at work.

[Lesfen]

Thanks Aldo,

For for the photos and description!

In the early '70s when we had our first large round bales (1200#) on the back, the steering was really easy!
Dad had to use the wheel brakes to steer!
Even put fluid in the front tires to help keep the front end down!

Les

[Jos Cuypers]

By the flange do you mean where the bolt holes are on the housing? I figured that, but it must be a very slow process to accurately machine around the odd shaped curve, at least on the mill we have at work.

yes, that's the one. an yes, it is a slow process.