Play in Manual Direction Box on L2202DT

[Mercvrinvs]

Hello!

There's a problem with the direction box of my tractor.
There's vertical play on the shaft !

I tempted to turn the screw at the side of box but there's a sort of notch on the sector shaft...
If I turn the pitman arm with hand, I can see the direction shaft up & down a little (less than 1cm)??!!!

I unmounted all parts of my box because I thought the problem came from the spring at the bottom of direction shaft but it's OK! The spring is absolutely the same as a newer part.

So I found a strange thing on the shaft. (I'm trying to upload pics....)

Maybe the shaft was cutted & joined again probably because it was not the original shaft for this tractor model?? I already see that sort of thing on this tractor (3pt hitch, hydrolic system parts,...)
So the lenght of the longest part of the shaft is actually 49 cm (19,1/4 in)

Can you tell me if it's normal or not?!

Thanks a lot.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Steering shaft play comes from a bearing being worn, broken , or going out.
Does it leak any fluid out or the steering box? If it doesn't then it's probably just lightly worn and isn't really an issue.
You can always open it up and look at the bearings and such to get a better idea if it's a serious problem or not.

To post pictures just use the paperclip on the top of the post box.

 

[Mercvrinvs]

 

[Mercvrinvs]