Free travel in steering wheel

Anonymous Poster · Jan 16, 2003

Like many here with greys, I have a manual that does not correspond exactly with my tractor. My 1610 has what I would consider excess free play in the steering. My manual for YM226 says if free play in steering exceeds 2" at the outer rim of the steering wheel, it should be reduced by turning the adjusting screw of the steering gear housing.

A diagram in the manual shows this to be directly under the fuel tank and just to the left of the fuel filter housing. The manual says there is a lock nut that must be loosened and then you turn the adjusting screw clockwise to tighten. It says to reduce free travel to 3/4".

On my tractor, this area is covered by shrouding from the lower part of the dash. Does anyone know if the adjusting screw is, in fact, under this sheet metal? I would like to reduce this loose steering but hesitate to remove the sheet metal if my tractor does not have this adjustment.

Anyone here with experience on this? I am thinking that all the YMxx10 tractors may be the same.

Gary

Egon · Jan 16, 2003

Have you looked on the steering box itself if that is possible or even feel around with your hands where you cannot see. It just may be possible to find without a lot of removal.

Egon

kayssupply · Jan 16, 2003

It should be just at the bottom of the sheet metal. I haven't had one yet that couldn't be adjusted with the metal left on.
I also haven't been able to adjust any down to that spec. They get " crunchy " before you can get there. But they can be imroved quite a bit.

LLove · Jan 16, 2003

Remember also that the "freeplay" noticed at the steeringwheel can be caused by any one or more components of the complete steering mechanisim. Such as Pitman Arm, End Links, Mounting Bolts, Pinch Joints,Etc.
While moving the Wheel back & forth inspect the entire system for any loosness or slack. Do this before greasing as well as after greasing all the joints. As the previous post said- don't go too tight with the adjustment screw on the box! Might be a good time to check the box for proper lube level also?
My Manual doesn't say to, but I raise the "Steering end" of every unit I adjust the Steering Box on, to feel for any unwanted drag or tightness while doing the adjustment.
Welcome to the world of wrenches and bruised knuckles...... You can do this, don't worry. Lloyd

Anonymous Poster · Jan 28, 2003

Well today was the first day in almost two weeks that I had the opportunity to work on my tractor AND the weather was warm enough to want to crawl around on the ground.

Today , it reached the 60's while we had frost this morning, I don't expect it to be below about 35 tonight.

Anyway, I worked on my sloppy steering today. I had to remove 3 pieces of hood and dash shrouding but I finally was able to reach the adjusting screw with locknut. I had measured the steering free play before and it was 8". I felt that was a lot. As mentioned, I was not able to tighten it to the listed specs of 3/4" but I did get it down to about 2". What a difference in how it steers after the adjustment. It made me feel so good that I drove around the neighborhood just for the h&ll of it.

Thanks for the help and advice guys,

Gary