Loose Steering

[Anthony Wendover 124]

My 312-8 steering is acting silly. Its like i have power steering now. But sometimes turning it will violently whip the wheel out of my hands. I did a search and saw 3 posts i tried what one said tighten the tie rods. the bolts are all extremely tight. But if i put my hand on them i can roll the rods around half way each way. i don't think thats good as my work horse they don't turn like that at all. What is a way to tighten my steering up?

Thanks Yall

[Kelly 1,028]

Many of them will rock back and forth, pull up on them to see how much they move, then hold the wheel (tire) try turning it back and forth to see if the tie rods are loose, if they are you may need to replace them, you can get them from a toro dealer or ebay.

[Anthony Wendover 124]

just tried it. If you lift up it doesn't move and you cant move it side to side. It just rotates half way each way if you spin it. So i take it that's ok. The ends of them are soft though. They feel weird. So is their another way to tighten my steering up?

[Teddy da Bear 11]

If it is the area of tie rods Iam thinking of.

You can bend a very thin washer over the round rod and re-attach

the rod. This might take up the slack.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

Rock the wheel back and forth within the "play" area. Now look and see if the sector gear is rocking the same amount. If not (e.g. the mesh between the steering wheel shaft and the sector gear is poor), you need to locate the back of the horizontal steeering rod and remove the cotter pin and find a shim washer to pull this back to tighten things up.

On the other hand if the play is NOT a the sector gear then go back to looking for loose parts up front. Have someone rock the wheel while you look.

Best of luck

:banghead:

[TT-(Moderator) 1,127]

Did you check to see if the lower steering support is broken where it bolts to the frame?

You might want to get an assistant to turn the steering wheel back & forth while you look for problems. It's rare that the steering would "kick back" like you describe and I can't imagine a loose tie rod being the cause. (unless it pops off all together)

[kpinnc 10,676]

Anthony, these guys have you covered well on what to look for. Just gonna add my $.02 as well.

I think a small amount of play in the fan gear is to be expected, just not too much. Every single steering support I have had apart has a slight oval shape in it in the top hole, left to right, and I don't know if they were made that way or not. I always assumed WH had made them that way to make room for grease in there. Maybe someone here can chime in and clear that up for us...

A couple other places to look would be under the fan gear, on the steering support (#19), where the lower steering shaft (#15) goes into the support.

Sometimes they get kinda sloppy, and as much as a quarter turn of the wheel can be lost because the lower steering shaft will move left to right in the hole. Also, your tractor should have a flange bearing (#12) in the front of the frame where the lower steering rod goes in. I'd check it out as well. I've had to replace that bearing before, as well as add a bronze bushing in the bottom of the steering support to tighten things up. Of course, short of taking everything to a machine shop and having inserts made, you'll never get ALL the slop out. I just depends on how much time and $$$$ you're willing to put into it.

Heck, some of my tractors have TONS of slop in them. I don't mind, because it keeps me from zig-zaggin all over the place when my allergies kick in while I'm mowing...

Good luck!

Kevin

[Anthony Wendover 124]

thanks guys you have all given me some good things to work on. Ill get back to you all and let you know my findings...

[BPjunk 184]

Double check the weld on the fan gear as they have been known to break, any looseness here may create the problem your having.

Wild Bill in Richmond, Va.