'72 Ford 2000 steering effort with new steering sector ?

[schiker]

I put a new (off of ebay) steering sector on my tractor because the old one was worn out and leaked.

I am a little disappointed the steering isn't easier with the new unit. The new unit took out all the slop in the steering but still takes more effort than I think it should. In comparison a general purpose gas tractor steers appreciably easier even with a worn out steering sector. Is the diesel engine that much heavier causing the steering to be harder?

I grease the knee's regularly and fresh grease comes out the top of the spindle. I don't feel any binding If I jack the front tires off the ground its super easy to steer.

The tractor is an LCG model with general purpose rear wheels/tires. So it sits a little nose down with the shorter LCG knees/spindles.

Would that appreciably affect the steering effort? Say if I installed new general purpose knees and spindles would the effort to turn be less?

Are all the aftermarket steering sectors basically the same? I have not seen different steering ratios advertised are there different ratios available?

 

[schiker]

Maybe a way to test if the nose down attitude is causing it to be harder to steer than a 2000 gas tractor is to drive it up on some ramps then see if it steers easier with a level attitude?

 

[Texasmark]

Check toe-in. Get on sand or gravel and make a turn with the wheel hard over. If you get a lot of ridging, aka outside of outside wheel throws it out, your toe in is too tight. Should be half an inch at mid wheel. Get it on the road and run at 10-15 mph and turn loose of the wheel. If the tires seem to be visually toed out, and or it's shimmying, too much toe-out. Next show us a picture. There are other adjustments you can make to assist in hard steering. Diesel and gas are essentially the same on weight.

 

[Opti-Mist]

The larger rears affect caster which, in turn, affects steering. Think about it. The spindles are effectively tipped forward so the vertical component of the steering axis is off. How much the steering effort is increased is debatable, but it is increased. Changing the front axle halves will bring that back and you will basically have an all purpose tractor.

 

[schiker]

That is what I am thinking the caster is off some. I just got the tractor back from a friend who borrowed it. I will post a picture later when I have a minute this week I hope.

I put new tie rods ends on it and adjusted the toe in to be sorta neutral to just slightly inward. It drives ok straight and ok tight all things considered with just light turns runs pretty true. It was squirrely with the worn out steering sector and tie rod ends when you got up in speed.

I have rounded implement tires on the front to minimize the tires cutting the grass in turns but they do lean over pretty hard in a tight turn and getting out of turn is harder than getting into the turn (think this is due to caster as well). Its a pretty worn out old tractor.

 

[schiker]

Ok pics are small and don't know if they show nose down accurately. The ground is sloped upward a slightly should have put a level on it for reference.

Looks a little toe out visually. It drives ok. But that is compared to before when I had a loose spindle and about 2-3 inches of arc length of slop in steering wheel.

 

[schiker]

Do the thrust bearing under the spindle wear out and cause the spindle to ride more on the knees to increase effort?

I am wondering if i put new knees, spindles, bushings, bearings if the steering will get easier.

I don't expect the equivalent of power steering ease but if it will decrease effort and improve steering it might be worth it to me to switch out knees/spindles.

I have always wanted to increase the ground clearance of the oil pan some. Its hard justifing spending money on it.

 

[zzvyb6]

I could give you a college level engineering treatise on steering effort, but let me make it simple first. It looks from your pictures that the front tires are not suited to providing low steering effort. I believe the o.e.m. tires had a single thick narrow rib in the center which would minimize the tire self-aligning moments. Tire aligning moments (from twisting the tire sidewalls) are the principle ingredient of steering effort. Other contributors are scrub radius, wheel rim width, steer arm length, steering gear ratio, etc.

Your tires have a lot of tread ribs which give good traction when the tire is steered, but bad from an effort standpoint. This tractive force generated by twisting the tire carcass is the cause of your problem. You can raise the tire pressure a lot to reduce this effect. This lowers the tire contact patch area and the resistance to steering. You can also reduce the axle weight to reduce this effect by adding a ballast box off the back hitch to lighten the front . If the front wheels are reversible and still clear the kingpins, this will reduce effort if the tread centerline is moved inward (reduces scrub radius).

Easiest thing is air pressure, then weight, then tire construction, then front camber (to reduce the scrub radius), then adding power assist steering. There are some new kits around to add electric power assist and avoid the need for a hydraulic source.

A larger steering wheel can be effective, too. That's the Mercedes-Benz solution to their manual steered cars.

Lettuce no if any of this works !

 

[schiker]

I agree tires make a big difference but the contact patch of these tires isn't that much. When I got the tractor back home I did air them up a little to see if the contact patch was increasing effort a lot and they seem comparable contact patches vs the worn out slick tri rib the gas tractor had (except the tri ribs were dry rotted hard rubber that doesn't do much for traction. When in grass I wouldn't think the implement tire would make that much of difference.

The guy might get me to install a new steering box on his gas tractor because it is worn out and probably has a failed thrust bearing? His steering wheel moves up and down changing steering direction for a 4-5 inch ? arc length before it wants to try and steer.


Here is a pic of the ground reference so add another few degrees to caster to my pics and little more bubble nose down if the tractor would have been on perfectly level ground.

I am estimating 5.5-6 degrees of negative caster from my pictures.

 

[schiker]

I think caster is a big component of it.

I just went out and drove it up on some ramps and its a little easier to steer on the ramps vs concrete or vs in grass with the nose down attitude. Here is a close up of the contact patch too. I have about 32psi in tires and it seems to mostly be on the 3 center ribs I am guessing about equal to slick tri-ribs contact patch???

I'll probably wait and see if I change out his steering unit then compare the tractors more closely for effort in steering but it seems like right now the short knees are increasing my steering effort a little.

I did not want to change his steering unit and increase his effort for some reason like if the aftermarket units had less ratio than the factory steering unit. But no one has commented on that so I guess they are all the same. I'll measure his turns lock to lock and compare mine vs his new and old etc.

Ive seen the add on after market hydraulic power steering ~$500 but havn't seen the electric.