steering support

[can whlvr 991]

i was working on the 308 today,oil change,air filter,tightened and replaced bolts,greased,well u know the routine,and i got to thinking that its time to fix the loose steering,as any one who has a newer horse with the tin hoodstand knows that the thin metal around the 3/4 steering bar wears ands breaks,not the best design but i understand wheelhorse needed to cut costs and tis is one on the 300,400,and not sure if its the same on the 500s but i think it could be upgraded easily,any body done this before,i have some thoughts but would appreciate some others input,thanks and happy new year.

[Horse'n Around 22]

I don't own a 308 so I don't know how its made but I would think it would pretty easy to adapt a bronze or possibly a nylon bushing for it.My Raider has a little slop around the steering shaft and it appears to have a bushing there so when I have the time Im going to make one for it. It looks like it should be easy and straight foward. I know that the ACE hardware here has various size bronze bushings and Im going to grab one with a 3/4 ID hole and do some fitting.

John

[sorekiwi 761]

I know the 3XX series is a little different, but this is what I did on my 520. I dont remember what the 3XX series uses, but maybe this will give you some ideas.

The support bracket on the back of the dash was all wallowed out:

I spun up a steel bush that would accept a brass bush to suit the steering column and welded that into the little bracket on the back of the dashboard.

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Nice fix Mike, are you selling those in a kit?

[sorekiwi 761]

Nice fix Mike, are you selling those in a kit?

Well, I only made one, if you need one you could PM me and try to convince me to go out into the cold and make another one. :ychain:

[AMC RULES 36,945]

OK Mike, PM sent buddy. :ychain:

[rickv1957 70]

I spun up a steel bush that would accept a brass bush to suit the steering column and welded that into the little bracket on the back of the dashboard.

Nice work!!! :ychain:

[can whlvr 991]

thanks for the input guys,i could not get the roll pin out,i even had it on the bench but with my luck i will break the steering wheel,so i used two plates of steel,notched both around the steering shaft and bolted them to the plate that the battery sits on,it worked really good and was very easy to do.i was going to make a plate to install a pillow block style bearing like on the snowblowers,but couldnt get the wheel off and i didnt want to cut the shaft at this time,its a huge up grade to the ole girl.

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,041]

Mike has a great fix so long as you can get the wheel off or the shaft up. I had the same problem on a few of my 3 and 400 series tractors. I was able to fix it by welding the broken sheetmetal. Mike's fix is much better !!

[GlenPettit 1,714]

On my 312-8 I used JBWeld as I could also not get the steering wheel off because of the roll pin; after wire-brushing the area clean, the bushing was JBWelded in place, then extra strips of metal laid in for reinforcement out a couple in inches, then more JBWeld

[can whlvr 991]

hey guys,i wanted to post that i was not putting wheelhorse down about the steering design,yes it may be somewhat shal i say simple,but as most of the time these repairs can be made very easy and very inexpensive,this repair cost me probally 1 dollar,for 4 half inch bolts and it only took a couple of hours to make this upgrade,and lets face it some more time with one of my horses :banghead:

[junkman 0]

I use the pillow blocks on all my tractors. makes 'em steer A LOT EASIER!!! :banghead:

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Hmmmmm Interesting mines not as bad as my 417A was but thinkin I might take a peeky at it tonight. To make sure as the time to do it is now!

~Duke

[312Hydro 473]

Here's what I ended up doing. Actually got the idea from Duke and Sorekiwi's post a while back. I had to modify it so it would work with the Hydro linkage.

[can whlvr 991]

thats basically what i had planned to do but the steering wheel had something to say about that,so i went with a modified version