135 power steering issue

S854 · Apr 13, 2019

I致e owned my ?7 135 for a couple years now...

The steering arm on the right side is loose... the right side arm (#26 in the attached image) has noticeably more play fore and aft than the left side (#14).... so much so that the right wheel shimmies most of the time while driving...

Is this something I can fix without taking the entire steering box apart?

Any ideas are greatly appreciated...

Agvg · Apr 13, 2019

I do think you have to rebuild it.

PatrickS2222 · Apr 16, 2019

Firstly, is the arm (26) held tightly on its shaft by the large nut? The spline is tapered, so there should be no movement there.
It has likely gone for years with no oil. resulting in severely-worn parts. Note that the recirculating ball mechanism (11 & 12) works on the other side shaft (23). This shaft is geared to the RH shaft (24) and each shaft rocks in its own pair of bushes (16). All these parts would doubtless be worn as most tractors of their age have earned their keep working full-time, however a lot are now semi-retired. The RH shaft has the added freeplay of the gear-teeth and a second pair of bushes, which is why it would be more likely to shimmy.
I "renovated" a similarly-worn David Brown box in my neighbour's backhoe. We could have easily spent $1000 on parts but it only needed to be reasonably Ok, so we used a few interesting tricks including oversized recirculating balls and manufacturing some small replacement parts.
Scouting around and trying to find a second-hand box in reasonable condition is one option. Another is rebuilding it ... but keep in mind nothing can be done about the freeplay between the two shafts, other than renewing them.
There were millions of tractors built with the same steering boxes ... you have to find just one that's still Ok.
When you find one, and before you fit it, a good idea would be to drain any oil from it and renew both side seals (15). If it requires adjustment, have someone who knows the correct procedure carry out any adjustments.
Then fill it with commercially-available "Liquid Grease" - or make your own from around a 50:50 mix of wheel-bearing grease and gear oil. It needs to be thick like treacle, but just thin enough to run. Put a generous amount in - more is better than not enough!
If you need more help, don't be afraid to ask. Good luck!