front tires jubilee

cfield · Aug 15, 2013

on a 53 ford jubilee, are the front tires supposed to wobble alot when on the road in 4th gear? i am really new to owning a tractor so i dont know. i dont really notice any problem with it other than it shakes the steering wheel alot to where i have to slow down. thanks

Stonehaller · Aug 16, 2013

I used to have a '53 Jubilee and the front tires did not wobble as you describe. You need to check for loose or worn front end components or it could be as simple as the toe-in being adjusted wrong. Is there looseness in the steering? If you jack up the front, do the wheels wobble on their axles? Does the front axle move fore and aft?

LD1 · Aug 16, 2013

No its not supposed to wobble. But a 60 year old tractor is going to have some worn parts.

You first have to find out what is worn an where the wobble is coming from. If from the bearings/spindle, thats really not good and needs fixed ASAP before you lose a wheel going down the highway.

IF thats good, , then it is likely the radius rods. Which is that long tube that hooks to the front axle with a vertical pin, and comes back to the side of the transmission with a ball and socket connection. Those are usually pretty wore out too. To tighten that up, poor mans way, is to cut a shim out of something softer than the cast iron. Like an aluminum can, or even plastics material like UHMW or HDPE, and form it around the ball, and bolt the cap back on. That will get you by a few years.

GManBart · Aug 16, 2013

Worn tie rod ball joints, and worn steering boxes are the two most likely culprits. The tie rods are easy to replace, and not terribly expensive. The gearbox has some adjustment available for the two sector halves (it tightens how they mesh), but I haven't done that on an NAA, so I don't know how hard it is to access. I'd check the tie rod ball joints first....wiggle the steering wheel, and then try rocking, and pulling in/out on them to look for play...you don't want any play at all.