Bagged out steering bushing hole?

[mikeeyre74 289]

 So I took the steering wheel off my 69 charger, to replace the bushing to tighten up the steering where it comes through the dashboard? I figured the bushing would have been blasted, but I actually found is that the dashboard itself is what’s pretty much beat. 

 

 

 What’s the best way to repair this? Ream the dashboard hole out and put in a bigger outside diameter bushing?  Replace the dashboard with a spare? 

[953 nut 58,368]

Have you considered an application of JB Weld to hold the regular bushing?

[oliver2-44 10,444]

The bushing hole on my 312-8 looked walls red out just like that. I JjB welded in in 3 years ago and seen lots of use. Still holding strong. I cleaned it good and scratched the metal up with  dreamily to give the JB weld something to grab to

[Tankman 3,520]

I would try a sleeve bearing which could be held in place; i.e.: JB Weld, Loctite, construction adhesive.

http://www.qbcbearings.com/BuyRFQ/SleeveB_StandardS_F_SB_I.php

http://www.qbcbearings.com/BuyRFQ/SleeveB_SmallS_F_SB_I.php

 

I keep some of QBC's thrust washers on hand to eliminate front wheel play.

QBC Bearings

Edited April 12, 2018 by Tankman

[mikeeyre74 289]

I like JB weld for lots of things, but for some reason I just don’t get the warm fuzzies when thinking about it in this application. Perhaps I’m being silly, but I’d like to replace the sleeve bearing and have it seated nicely in metal. No?

[DennisThornton 4,771]

I think a washer as large as possible OD with ID to fit the bushing could be epoxied underneath and at the same time the bushing epoxied in as well.  There would be way more surface area holding the washer and plenty of metal to hold the bushing. 

[JPWH 6,301]

13 hours ago, mikeeyre74 said:

 So I took the steering wheel off my 69 charger, to replace the bushing to tighten up the steering where it comes through the dashboard? I figured the bushing would have been blasted, but I actually found is that the dashboard itself is what’s pretty much beat. 

 

 

 What’s the best way to repair this? Ream the dashboard hole out and put in a bigger outside diameter bushing?  Replace the dashboard with a spare? 

I repaired one recently with aluma weld just to see if I could. It was a pain but it worked.

[Eric Friedrichsen 112]

A couple of years ago I restored a much abused 414/8 that had a similar problem (among many). I used a mounted

sleeve bearing from McMaster Carr that I modified to accept an angled zerk and now it is part of my routine servicing.

The inst. panel on the 400 series tractor is different then yours but yours looks easier to make this modification. I then

fastened the steering shaft lock under the bearing.  The result is a smooth shaft with no play in that location.  See

the attached picture.

 

Eric 

[mikeeyre74 289]

That’s an interesting idea with that roller bearing there, but like you said, it’s a different arrangement. I don’t believe there’s enough room to mount anything with flanged wars on it like that... and since it’s just aluminum or some type of other alloy, it’s not going to be as strong as steel. It might be possible to use through bolts through the dashboard and use spacers under those flanges tho... the only drawback being some exposed bolt heads on the top side of the dashboard. Hmm. But the trade off might be worth it? I’ll consider that. 

[Eric Friedrichsen 112]

Hi Mikeeyre74,

 

It is a mounted sleeve bearing.  A frictionless bearing is not needed as there is very little

motion there.  Could you mount it underneath with a steel support plate and only the bolt

heads would project through on the top.  The cover tube over the shaft (on the exterior I 

made from an old backpack blower tube.  You could make one to cover the bearing or

bolt heads.

 

Good luck,

Eric

[mikeeyre74 289]

Is it true that the original bushing had two flat spots to keep the bushing from spinning inside the dash tower? I just read that somewhere but can’t verify it. 

 

And i I suppose some machine screws with rounded heads could be used to bolt a flanged bearing down and that wouldn’t look too terrible at all? Starting to have some promise here afterall...

[Eric Friedrichsen 112]

Yes,, as I remember, it did have two flat spots to keep it from spinning with the shaft.

 

Eric

[Anglo Traction 761]

Adding a better bushing to  strengthen the Steering was quite straight forward when I refurbished my 74 C-120 several years ago.

I used the same Flanged Bushing that is used on the lower forward Steering Shaft-

 

There was enough space below for 3/8" UNC (SAE) nuts and lock washers. Solid as a rock.   

 

[cleat 7,123]

A ball bearing up there will reduce steering effort as well.

 

I have upgraded all of my 520's that way with flanged wheel bearings (same as in the front wheels of the

majority of Wheel Horse tractors with 3/4" spindles) and steering effort is reduced along with all play gone from the

steering shaft.

 

Hole is drilled to the proper OD of the bearing and it is pressed into place.

 

This is for an early 520 that has the bearing in the battery support area.

 

And this is for a later 520 that has the bearing in the dash.

 

 

This may not work on yours but it is an idea.

 

Cleat

[peter lena 9,114]

10 hours ago, Eric Friedrichsen said:

A couple of years ago I restored a much abused 414/8 that had a similar problem (among many). I used a mounted

sleeve bearing from McMaster Carr that I modified to accept an angled zerk and now it is part of my routine servicing.

The inst. panel on the 400 series tractor is different then yours but yours looks easier to make this modification. I then

fastened the steering shaft lock under the bearing.  The result is a smooth shaft with no play in that location.  See

the attached picture.

 

Eric 

 

[peter lena 9,114]

good job Eric, I did a similar job on my 312, picked up the bearing on eBay for  7 $, really helped to snug up the entire dash area, and you can grease it, what a concept. while I was in there I also hit on a number of spots that needed " operational improvement ", wire issues, pto lever linkage fitting , cable lubed my choke and throttle cables till it ran out. wired my battery tender to battery, and cable wrapped  the plug in to my throttle cable , for quick simple plug in. keeping after your horse , is always worth it. pete

[mikeeyre74 289]

 Well, I decided to go with the JB Weld option, and install a new bronze oillight bushing. I figure, if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, I’m going to take it apart and try that two bolt flange operation a couple of posts north of this one. That one requires a lot more work than this one, and if this one works, that’s fine by me. 

 

 

 This is pretty much the exact same piece as what came out, except this one is that self lubricating centered bronze stuff, and the one that came out was plastic. Surprisingly, it did not have flat spots on either side, so I’m not sure what was going on there and why it wore out the dashboard so much with just a piece of plastic rubbing on the dashboard… I could understand if it was metal, but plastic? 

 

 

 This is how it looks right now, so when everything dries up and hardens, I’ll drop the steering shaft back out-of-the-way, and grind everything down flat and make it nice. 

[stratostar250 919]

Looks good! Like you said, if it works. It works! I like the efforts that others have put in and those look like super sturdy, long term solutions, but I bet that will be too as long as you dont yank the wheel too hard!!

[mikeeyre74 289]

So I got the JB Weld set up and ground it down. This is what it looks like now. 

 

 

 

Gotta fill in those holes there, but not too bad!

[DennisThornton 4,771]

I'm thinking that will work fine. 

[oliver2-44 10,444]

That looks very similar to my repair mentioned above. On the bottom sine I made a bead of Jb weld around the flange for some extra lock in. Used masking tape to hold the JB up so it slung say off

[mikeeyre74 289]

After getting it all back together, the steering feels MUCH better and rock solid. I'll have to wait and see how it holds up durability wise, but it seems good to me so far. 

[WHX?? 50,920]

Little late to chime in Mike but those D or flat spot bushings are used on big box  b hind snow blowers axles & augers. I woulda done just what you would have tho. A shot of spray lube ther once in awhile will help too.