Steering broke YM186D

California · May 8, 2011

shawnjvl said:
Here's a picture of the sector shaft available from Hoye

Shawn, thanks. That has the the 'ears' I expected to find.

Digging around in Hoye's site I see that I have the 'old style' steering box. It is the one where the steering column screws into the steering box, instead of bolting on. Their picture of the Sector Shaft for this box shows that it also has the milled groove, 'ears', that I am missing.

Soundguy, no way am I a good enough welder/machinist to build back the tabs missing off the left end of this sector shaft.

Soundguy · May 9, 2011

California said:
SG, it seems like it would take a milling machine to cut that groove after adding material. That's over my head! At least the threads in the sector cover are good.

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check to see if the lower bearing surface is a replaceable race.. inspect the worm gear for nicks.. the BB's are replaceable.

as for neeidng a milling machine? ? that's the hard way.. hand cut some steel and form it up correctly, THEN weld it on and dress with a file. it just has a lil push / pull pressure.. not much alse. a good full penetration weld should hold fine.

soundguy

Kernopelli · May 9, 2011

Soundguy said:
check to see if the lower bearing surface is a replaceable race.. soundguy

Don't know about the Yanmars bottom race but I had a heck of a time trying to get the bottom race out of my Mitsubishi....there just seemed to be no good way to get it out and it was seized tight. I finally ran a bead w/ my mig around it and it popped right out like it was just laying there.

Soundguy · May 9, 2011

yep.. weldign them out usually works.. did that in a top of a steering box on a ford. the bottom races are usually setting on a core plug you can drive out.. fords anyway.. that makes them easy.. good luck on yours..

soundguy

California · Jun 30, 2011

Wrapup - to make a long story short - everything inside the steering box was thrashed. Somebody had been in there before and did sloppy work: several of the smaller balls that recirculate inside the 'nut' were loose in the bottom of the box. Then I found a big fragment from a previous 'nut'.

I should have just bought a rebuilt box from Hoye at that point but I ordered parts and put it back together. Mistake! It was so sloppy that the steering wheel still had a half turn of dead slack like it did when I bought the tractor, and like before, the adjustment screw disappeared into the box without reducing this slack.

I gave up and ordered a rebuilt steering box from Hoye. The tractor is now back together.

Hey Aaron! I hope you will give me full core deposit on what I sent in!

Somebody asked for tips on what to watch for: Most important: If somebody was in there before you, just buy a rebuilt box and bypass the headache.

The Service Manual doesn't describe how to get the column-shift dashboard off. Here's what I did:

Loosen the nut under the dashboard which holds the shifter rigidly to the dashboard. You need some slop to wiggle things around.

Unbolt the lower end of the shifter rod (that extends down below the dashboard) from the most forward part of the transmission linkage. (Tip: for reassembly hold that linkage in position with a wire. Otherwise you can't get it back in place after the dash has been bolted down, so you have to disassemble more linkage.)

Remove the u-bolt holding the shifter rod sleeve to the lower dashboard mount. I marked the fit with paint, to get it back together later without needing to adjust the linkage.

Loosen the fuel tank to make some slack to pull the shifter rod/sleeve assembly upward past it. On reassembly I had already tightened the tank and it took a hard push to deflect the tank enough to get the shifter past it.

And removing the Pitman arm from the sector shaft (that comes out the left side of the steering box) needs a strong puller. I bought a 5 ton gear puller at TSC and either it was defective or I destroyed it attempting this. It had been open-box, a customer return, so I got a refund, but at that point I paid $20 to the local bearing shop to remove the pitman arm for me. (I see Harbor Freight has a 'pitman arm puller' that costs less than that but its first three reviews all broke!). If you don't have a $200 puller, pay someone who does.

That's about it. The video and text on Hoye's site are a good resource. The Shop Manual has good photos and specifies the wear limits, bolt torques etc.

I mowed all morning with it. Much better!