Hard manual steering on a 1970 JD 1020

faithfarms · Aug 25, 2015

My Father-in-law bought this "restored" tractor about 2 years ago. It turns very hard and has at least 1/3 of a turn of free wheel play. Now I'm told these models were infamous for steering problems. I have replaced all the tie rods on the front, dropped the knuckle and spindle assemblies, inspected, cleaned, and greased. It still turns hard. the bell crank turns free as does the drag link. I suspect problems in the steering housing assembly. any words of wisdom out there. faithfarms

zzvyb6 · Aug 25, 2015

What's it like with the front wheels off the ground? What tires are on it ? (Picture would help). Put as much air pressure as possible into the tires and see what that's like. If you can reverse the front wheels to produce less scrub, the effort will be lighter.

Egon · Aug 26, 2015

Looking inside the steering box will tell the tale..

faithfarms · Aug 26, 2015

I'M afraid to look. The nut on top of the steering shaft is very rusty so its been left outside a lot. apparently water can seep down the shaft and into the box that holds those many ballbearings that are supposed to "recirculate"

DLTTrekkers · Aug 27, 2015

Check bolt on the leftside under the steeringcollum. Must be very tight ! And no play on splines between shaft and arm .

faithfarms · Aug 28, 2015

DLTTrekkers said:
Check bolt on the leftside under the steeringcollum. Must be very tight ! And no play on splines between shaft and arm .

Ok thanks for that tip. I did check that bolt and it is tight. However in checking the pictures in my repair manual with what the tractor actually has,I now believe I have a non-functioning power steering unit. The reason I say that is the manual column has fill plug for oil. Mine doesn't and my tractor has a high pressure oil fitting at the bottom of the column and manual columns don't (there is no line to it and it is caped off) I think I'm on to something but I need to do some checking. It would explain why it is so hard to turn, but why would anybody do that? faithfarms