KevinSmith
New member
Hello All,
I have a recently acquired 1970 Ford 3000 with manual steering (It actually has a weird aftermarket power steering setup that only has a cylinder on the left side. The arm from the right side of the gearbox isn't connected to anything. The steering gearbox doesn't have an adapter on it. It actually works (worked) pretty good, believe it or not.) that has a steering problem. The steering wheel started rising and falling and I can no longer steer right I believe. I think that the issue is a bad upper thrust bearing from reading other old posts here. I ordered the parts that I think I'll need and will rebuild the gear assembly. I don't think it'll be too hard.
I have a couple of manuals that outline the procedure, but I am not entirely sure that I understand setting the gear timing during reassembly. There's a drawing in one of the manuals that shows the the relationship of the gears in the box, but it doesn't mention exactly how you do it. Are there timing marks on the gears? Does the ball nut on the shaft need to be centered on the shaft worm gear? Do the front wheels need to be straight when the assembly is installed? Also, there doesn't seem to be a gasket between the gearbox and the transmission bell housing. The New Holland site shows a gasket, but only for 10 speed transmissions. Mine is an 8 speed. It seems kind of wrong to not have a gasket of any kind. I want it to work on the first try because the tractor is in a plot in a somewhat difficult location to access, and I don't want to have to remove it and drag it back home to redo it if possible.
I will really appreciate any good information I can get. K. Smith
I have a recently acquired 1970 Ford 3000 with manual steering (It actually has a weird aftermarket power steering setup that only has a cylinder on the left side. The arm from the right side of the gearbox isn't connected to anything. The steering gearbox doesn't have an adapter on it. It actually works (worked) pretty good, believe it or not.) that has a steering problem. The steering wheel started rising and falling and I can no longer steer right I believe. I think that the issue is a bad upper thrust bearing from reading other old posts here. I ordered the parts that I think I'll need and will rebuild the gear assembly. I don't think it'll be too hard.
I have a couple of manuals that outline the procedure, but I am not entirely sure that I understand setting the gear timing during reassembly. There's a drawing in one of the manuals that shows the the relationship of the gears in the box, but it doesn't mention exactly how you do it. Are there timing marks on the gears? Does the ball nut on the shaft need to be centered on the shaft worm gear? Do the front wheels need to be straight when the assembly is installed? Also, there doesn't seem to be a gasket between the gearbox and the transmission bell housing. The New Holland site shows a gasket, but only for 10 speed transmissions. Mine is an 8 speed. It seems kind of wrong to not have a gasket of any kind. I want it to work on the first try because the tractor is in a plot in a somewhat difficult location to access, and I don't want to have to remove it and drag it back home to redo it if possible.
I will really appreciate any good information I can get. K. Smith
