135 Manual Steering

[MasseyWV]

The problem I had was when I took the shaft out and was turning the nut in my hand to feel how smooth it spun, some of the steel balls fell out. I ended up disassembling it to see what was going on and I couldn't figure out how to get the balls back in without them all falling out again. I just spent a little time working on it in the man cave (garage) and I think I got it figured out. On the outside of the ball nut there is a bracket that holds two tubes in place. When I first started messing with it I didn't realize that the balls actually travel through these tubes when the shaft turns. I ended up getting all of the balls back in and the bracket on and it all seems to be working like it should. I think it has been disassembled before and not put back together correctly. I'm gonna take it all apart again and let it soak in gas for a while and clean it up then put it back together. Hopefully it's all good and I just have to order a right sector gear, upper and lower bearings and some seals. Hey Massey, I've gone all the way back and started reading your restoration thread from the beginning. You definitely have a fan in East Tn.....

I'm glad you got it figured out, and after looking at my steering ball nut (strange name) I came to the same conclusion and would have suggested something similar. You're correct, the steel tubes at the top do indeed act as a reservoir or passage for the steel balls to pass from one side to the other.

Before you reassemble it, you might consider putting a thin coat of white grease on everything to keep it from rusting until you put your steering box back together. Also, I found that the "Green" corn head grease was the best modern substitute I could find for the original steering box lubricant. I ordered mine from the greenpartstore.com website.

Thanks for the compliment about my Massey 135 tractor restoration project. As you can see, I've got quite a job on my hands, but I enjoy doing it.

 

[The kid]

I was actually fortunate enough to have a steering wheel puller that fit under the center of the steering wheel. The plastic was broken and I'm gonna replace it anyway so I knocked off the rest of the plastic and a few turns of the wrench it popped right off. A question I have for anyone who may know though. When I took the shaft and ball nut out some of the steel balls inside the ball nut/worm gear fell out. I've been looking at how to put them back in but can't find any information on how to service it. The only thing I can find is that the steering shaft and ball nut are serviced as a complete unit. If I can figure out how to get the ball nut back together it will save me a couple of hundred dollars. I just read through your restoration thread on your 65. I think mine is a 70 but hard to tell because the serial plate is gone. I'm thinking about going ahead and sanding down all the metal and painting mine while I have everything off. Might replace the gauges too. How did the ones you got off Ebay work?

They worked out great. The oil pressure line mated to the original line. The water temp gauge came with a non needed adapter ad worked out great. I did hover replace the amp meter with a voltmeter since I have an alternator now with a tach drive. I just got the dash mounted and put the gauges in. If I get a chance I'll post an update on my Refurbish thread. Some may consider it bubba ish but I like it. With do damage to my steering wheel it's turning out really sweet.