B6100E Steering Problem

[average_gardener]

I bought this tractor knowing that the steering had problems. I felt like this small little box should be easy to repair. The previous owner bought all new parts and gave up on the repair. I did read Vic's articles and watched his videos. I disassembled the box and I can see that all of the parts are new. I cleaned out the gear housing. I removed the sector shaft and replaced the seal for this. It was bad. But, that is all that was bad. The oil was clean with no water. There were no shims or gaskets on the mounting flange to the steering column. So I made a gasket. I reassembled everything very carefully without oil. I was very cautious not to cause any binding. Now, here's the problem. First, I would like to mention that the thrust bearing is made of plastic. Those in Vic's examples are steel. I don't like the plastic bearings. So now I have it assembled and start adjusting the sector shaft to remove the play. This is without attaching the pittman arm. So, there is no load. Once the play is nearly removed, I turn the steering shaft and then the ball bearings fall out of the upper thrust bearing's plastic retainer. Why is this happening? The race on the steering shaft is new. The race in the steering column does look a little worn. Could the worn race in the steering column be causing enough play for the balls to release from their place? After typing all of this, I looked at it again and I am sort of convinced that the worn race in the steering column could be the culprit. This is the race inside the mounting flange of the steering column. Is this race replaceable? I don't see this part in the parts manual. I'll submit this post anyway. Please help if you have experience with this issue.

 

[Kytim]

The 5100, 6100, 7100 boxes, ive been told are the same. so going on that info I just rebuilt the box on my 7100. now the upper and lower bearing and race assembly, sold as a mated pair, are replaceable and should be in any box rebuild due to the inexpensive nature in regard to the cost of the other parts inside those boxes. I used a slide hammer style race and bearing remover from harbor freight to pop out the races to replace them. it was the only thing i could find to remove them as my column tube is welded to the upper cap of the box.

kytim