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As I mentioned above I was not happy with the lash adjuster shim kit that came in that kit which was basically 4 0.001" thick shim washers.
I took a bit of 4140 and indicated that in on my Samson lathe.
After turning the OD and drilling and reaming the ID to size I chucked it up and squared off the end on my B&S surface grinder. This gave me a perfectly flat surface on that end.
I cut off about 0.0125" which allowed me plenty of material to remove the saw marks when grinding the cut side
Lastly I ground the cut side down to about 0.005" thicker than I needed and stepped down 0.0005" for each test fit.
And no I didn't put that divot in the magnetic chuck someone before me did that.
The final fit gave me < 0.0015" of clearance which is well withing the service manual spec of < 0.002"
Getting close to assembly, the lash adjusting bolt shim has a perfect fit now.
Next up is to take apart the worm gear assembly and clean and inspect.
Cleaned and inspected the worm gear assembly and everything was fine so I put new ***** in. You feed the ***** in from the end holes (with grease) until they come out of the middle holes. Rock it back and forth a bit while pushing on the high ***** until you're sure there is no gap between the *****. Then put the remaining ***** in each tube half (with grease) and insert them into the housing. Rotate back and forth to make sure you have glass smooth movement. I used John Deere Corn Head Grease which is a #0 grease.
I would have taken photos of the assembly but I had greasy fingers...
After polishing any remaining stuff from the bores with my dremel and a wire wheel it's time to press in the plain bearings.
I made an adapter to press in the bearings with about 1/2" of it fitting inside the bearing so you can wiggle it a bit to get it centered perfectly before pressing it in. There's some parts that are higher than the flat face so be careful setting it on the backup bar.
Pressing the upper bearing in and make sure it's square to the bore before you apply any pressure. It does not take much pressure to press them in, I assume with the tool and a plastic hammer you could knock them in easy enough.
Just test fit the shaft and the fit is perfect... now on the pressing in the ball bearing races after making a tool to press them in.
Yes my welding bench has an assortment of angle grinders lined up on the side.
The service manual says tighten the cover bolts to spec... but it doesn't list the spec for the 3 cover bolts for the pitman shaft. Anyone know what the torque is?
Assembling the gearbox, the first thing I did was make a press adapter for the ball bearing race. I probably could have found a socket to press it in but I had the material and my old Samson lathe to make one.
Test fit the old bearing race
Pressing the new race into the cover
Seems I didn't get a photo of pressing the other race into the housing...
Make sure you have the gear facing the correct way, on my gear there was two Y stamps on the top with the gear facing right and the ball return on the left... it's important to get that correct.
First thing to do after cleaning all the parts is to divide up the ***** into 4 groups, two groups of 8 ***** for the return tubes and two groups of 20 for the inside passages.
I loaded the ***** with grease into the hole near the end of the gear and pushed them in with a slight turning of the shaft until all 20 ***** were in. Be careful not to allow one to go the wrong way. Next I put some grease on the return tube and loaded the other 8 ***** for that circuit.
Next I put the other half of the return tube on and inserted into the gear fully. Now you have one circuit complete.
Repeat for the second circuit.
Next I fastened the return tube strap and the ball assembly is done.
The gears have a taper cut into them so you can adjust the lash.
Here you can see what it should look like and you can see the two stamped Y's on top of the gear.
Just to show you what it would look like if the gear was on backwards I turned the worm gear around and you can see sector gear does not fit down as far into the worm gear. You can see the gap between the crest of the worm gear tooth and the valley of the sector gear is much greater when the worm gear is backwards.
Place the worm shaft bearing in the housing, slide the other bearing and adjuster assembly over the upper end of the worm shaft.
Insert the worm gear assembly, nut and adjuster assembly into the housing.
Thread the adjuster assembly in until almost all of the end play is removed.
Lubricate the steering gear with lubricant # 1052084 or equivalent. (I used John Deere Corn Head Grease which is a #0 grease)
Rotate the worm gear until the ball nut is at the end of it's travel and pack with grease, repeat for the other side.
Rotate the worm shaft until the ball nut is in the center.
This is what it looks like with the center of the ball nut lined up with the screw hole and packed full of grease.
Are you using full synthetic grease? Probably not necessary, but it will not 'melt' under the heat of exhaust system near it and it won't turn to wax in a few years. Be sure to leave an "air gap" at the top of the chamber to allow for grease expansion when it heats up. (1/4" about)
I think the "pebbled" effect on the cover is to help it get a good grip on the gasket and seal better (something of a labyrinth-seal system). If you put a gasket sealer on the surface, just snug bolts down firmly and allow to set up overnight before applying final torque. That will prevent the gasket from creeping on you.
If the cover bolts are 5/16-18, they take 13 ft-lbs; if 3/8-16, 23 ft-lbs.
Are you using full synthetic grease? Probably not necessary, but it will not 'melt' under the heat of exhaust system near it and it won't turn to wax in a few years. Be sure to leave an "air gap" at the top of the chamber to allow for grease expansion when it heats up. (1/4" about)
I think the "pebbled" effect on the cover is to help it get a good grip on the gasket and seal better (something of a labyrinth-seal system). If you put a gasket sealer on the surface, just snug bolts down firmly and allow to set up overnight before applying final torque. That will prevent the gasket from creeping on you.
AN102562: Corn Head Gearcase
Formulated for Use: Designed specifically for John Deere corn head and other slow-speed gear cases equal or less than 1000 rpm
Temperature Resilience: Functions effectively at a wide temperature range (-30 to 330°F / -34 to 165°C)
Enhanced Protection: Contains extreme-pressure additives and resists moisture and water washout
Anti-Rust Properties: This polyurea-thickened grease is designed to protect against rust and corrosion
Polyurea thickened, green color, and contains extreme-pressure additives
Some google searching and it's the same properties of a grease a steering gear guru uses...
I put the gasket on dry and torqued to 20 ft. lbs.
Extremely nice and detailed work.
You should hang on to all those speciality tool you are making.
If Gary ever retires, you could end up being the next steering box guru!
Extremely nice and detailed work.
You should hang on to all those specialty tool you are making.
If Gary ever retires, you could end up being the next steering box guru!
I'm happy to loan them out if anyone needs to use them.
My wife said I'm retiring next year... well she said that 7 years ago too.
"Retiring" is NOT retiring. I am busier now than at any time when I worked for a living. I'm just doing it on MY terms.
Being self employed for the last 25 years that's been my motto I do it on my terms. I've not worn a watch in 25 years... when I'm asked how long something will take my answer is when I'm done I can tell you how long it took.
When installing the pitman shaft you need to use something and "tip" the worm gear up so the sector teeth will not hit the top of the worm gear. Once it's in place add a bit more grease but not too full as you need to leave room for expansion from the heat of the exhaust. Make sure the shim you select for the adjustment screw leaves < 0.002" gap between the end of the screw and the pitman shaft. The "kit" I got didn't have the correct shim washers which should be 0.063", 0.065", 0.067" and 0.069" thick. The kit I got came with some thin shims about 0.001" which I chose not to use and made my own. I suppose they would be ok if you placed the thin shim under the old shim...
So I put the steering gearbox back in and a new power steering pump, new control valve, new hoses and new assist actuator. Put some fluid in the pump and stroked the actuator back and forth and fluid came running out at the fittings... I thought the lower hose had a bad flare so I returned it and got a new one... well it still leaks pours out the lower fitting when I stroke the actuator. So I gave up on that one and ordered another one...
I put the Lares 10058 New Power Steering Control Cylinder I got from Rock Auto in last night and not a drop of fluid leaked out so that's a good start.
Charging the battery so I can start the engine and set the control valve neutral point then I need to put the new alternator in and go for a ride.
