steering box trouble

[estodd]

Hello,
I am new here so please make me welcome to your great site by responding to my question.
I have an old L245F for which I am trying to rebuild the ballnutt and steering shaft. I got it apart and the bearings were totally shot and rolling around inside the steering box.
What I cannot figure out is whether or not the old bottom bearing race is still in the box or not.
yea I know it sounds stupid and maybe I am but I swear I can't tell if it in or out.
My new bearing fits the hole it goes in as far as the diameter goes but it does not seem to sit deep enough in the hole. It does not sit flush with the top of the hole.
It seems to me that if the old race was still in there then it would not allow the new bearing to fit in the hole but at the same time it seems like the new bearing race would sit flush with the top of the hole.
Does anyone have a photo of what the empty steering box looks like inside where the bottom bearing goes.
Or can anyone tell me what it should look like. I mean it appears as if there is a washer in the bottom of the hole. It looks like a washer that fits the hole perfectly and will not come out by prying on it or hitting the back side of the steering box. I know it is not a washer but that is how it looks.
Is the bottom of the hole which the bearing sits in supposed to be flat or does it have that ring around it that looks like a washer?
I hope I have made myself understandable to you guys. This is hard to explain but I had to try.
Thanks everyone.

 

[dusty-t]

Hi Estodd welcome. Check out this link.http://www.newlandsgroundcare.com/sboxrebuild.html Dusty

 

[traildust]

Dusty, I thought that guy was gonna pull his site off line?

 

[dusty-t]

They went out of business but he is leaving the site up for as long as he can for people like us who can use the info. Pretty decent of him. Dusty

 

[traildust]

As soon as the bill comes to pay for the site's host it'll probably be gone.

 

[Orange Tractors]

estodd,

I recently rebuilt the steering box on my L175. The link for newlandsgroundcare was very helpful; the main thing I saw different was that he said the ballnut had 52 bearings in it, mine had 59.

What you are seeing as a washer is probably the remainders of the bearing race. Mine finally came out by putting enough penetrating oil in the box to cover the race, then applying heat to the outside of the box with a propane torch, the oil boiled and eventually broke down the rust that was holding it in. Be very careful if you do this; hot oil will catch fire very easily. I used a few carraige head bolts with a deepwell socket and extention for a handle to pry the race out. Not a fun job.

Reloading the bearings in the ballnut wasn't that bad, except my ballnut tubes had been battered by years of banging around without support. Getting those reformed took a couple of hours of tweeking and trying.

I also drilled out the weep hole with a 1/8" drill.

Hope this helps,

Robert

 

[traildust]

OT, I was out working today and remembered you just had this issue and you limped back with steering brakes. Thanks for posting the helpful advice

 

[Orange Tractors]

Scott,

I have no problems giving advice; taking it on the other hand.

Geez I need an editing program, every time I look at one of my posts I see more typos.


Robert

 

[traildust]

Scott,

I have no problems giving advice; taking it on the other hand.

Geez I need an editing program, every time I look at one of my posts I see more typos.


Robert

Robert,

I used to be concerned about typos and spelling. But it was worthless because I can't do either one all to well

This forum would be a dead zone if everybody tried to keep from misspelling something. Just don't go back and read your old post's and you will not even notice.