In the beginning...
Before photos. Left: far-away view of drag links and radius rods.
RIght: Steering wheel and instrument panel. Bucket contains old leather steering wheel wrap. Sent steering wheel away for restoration.
Stubborn: that's the word. These steering wheels get exposed to rain and grit over the years turning the mixture into a tight gripping agent. Be careful; once it does pop free - I have heard of others tumbling backward off the seat! I didn't: I let the pulley puller tug at it over a period of a couple of days. Tightened and lubed it every so often until one morning I came into the shop and it broke free.
The image on the right: it was all worth the effort!
Steering Column. I recall being very apprehensive about popping off the patent plate: the rivets had threads on them and had to be drilled/popped out of the casting. Leave the patent plate to one of the very last things you put on the tractor: treat it like a decal. It is very thin and easily damaged during efforts such as getting the hood to fit (taking it on/off can scratch the patent plate).
The starter switch was restored: I made my own gasket and repainted everything. Adding components back to the instrument panel really made it start to look like a tractor again. Red tape on ground strap is to remind me of the 6V positive ground system.
Drag links. I ended up not taking these apart, but just in case I did, these were the rough measurements to match upon reassembly.
The right image shows a cleaned up end; ready for additional degreasing and ultimately some glass-bead blasting.
Here are some key components degreased and ready for glass-bead blasting in the left image.
The right image shows the rear view of the hubs: yes - the axle bearing was that bad!
Hubs. The left image shows a rear-view of the painted hub with bearing installed.
The right image is the front-view of the hub with bearing, grease, washer, and locking nut installed. Has to be tight enough to keep the hub to the axel spindle but not too tight to prevent free turning.
Another view of the spindle and front bearing, washer, and nut with cotter pin. The right image shows new spindle bushings. A couple at the top and the bottom will take out a lot of play and wobble in front tire tracking and performance.
Steering Sectors. The left image shows he degreased internal sector gears. Parts like this then received a "carb-cleaner" spray before going into the glass-bead blaster.
The right image shows initial assembly onto the shifter plate including new gaskets. Note the pre-greased sector gears.
The devil is shown in the top left: yes - the front axle pin was the MOST difficult part to remove from the tractor. Pounding and cursing went on for hours/days until he came free. Front axle mount shown in bottom left image. Right image is with new bushing and all parts painted. I made sure to provide an ample amount of grease to help minimize any future painful disassembly.
Big pieces. The left image shows he front axle glass-bead blasted down to bare metal - just waiting for primer.
The radius rods are shown in the left: the top one has been blasted down to bare metal with the bottom one clean and ready for glass-bead blasting.
Here is the front axle, pivot pin, brass bushing, and mount shown before assembly. Note the nut retainers which will receive the bolt to mount the hood. I had to tack-weld the U-shaped clips in place. Not mandatory but it is convenient.
A view of all the steering components minus the sector gears. It's a bigger job than I thought taking care of the steering. Putting new drag-link leather/rubber mounts really made it look new (aside from the fresh paint). A lot more components to the system than I initially thought and this portion of the tractor restoration really caught me by surprise: took much longer than I thought but it was worth it!
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