Steering box wep hole

[maximus]

I've got oil coming out of the steering box wep hole.

Can anyone throw any light on this? I've plugged the hole at the moment, but don't want problems down the line.

Tractor is a B7000

Thanks

 

[Orange Tractors]

Sounds to me like the seal at the top of the steering box is bad, allowing water to enter and floating the oil out of the steering box. If you have caught it early, they aren't that hard to rebuild. There is an article on this site that will get you started. If the newlandsgroundcare.com website is still up; it has excellent instructions on rebuilding a Kubota sterring box.


Robert

 

[maximus]

Sounds to me like the seal at the top of the steering box is bad, allowing water to enter and floating the oil out of the steering box. If you have caught it early, they aren't that hard to rebuild. There is an article on this site that will get you started. If the newlandsgroundcare.com website is still up; it has excellent instructions on rebuilding a Kubota sterring box.


Robert

Yep -I agree Robert. I cleared the weep hole with a small drill bit and was suprised to see so much oil escaping. The fill plug is below the hole, so the only explaination for the oil is that it has been pushed up by water to that level.

Unless I have damaged the rubber oil seal whilst unblocking the hole.

Does anyone know if this is possible? Is the rubber seal level with the weep hole?

 

[maximus]

I had a lot of difficulty getting the steering wheel off, but borrowed a pulley extractor which did the job. The box is full of rainwater and the bearing rusted away and a pile of ball bearings in the box.

I have followed the article on dismantling the steering box on this site. Where does the new bearing go and how do I fit it? Does it slide down the shaft from the steering wheel end, or does it get fitted over the worm screw from the bottom? Do I have to remove the box from the tractor or can I repair this in situ?

I'm having difficulty removing the large nut on the Pitman Arm. I'm worried about breaking the arm or cogs inside the steering box by too much pressure trying to get the nut off. Any advice on this folks?

Thanks

 

[Orange Tractors]

Maximus,

There should be two bearings and races, one race goes in the bottom of the gear box; the other goes in the bottom of the steering shaft cover, (which is the top of the gear box) right below the new seal; if your steering box is the same as mine.

When I did mine I took the whole gear box off the tractor; of course I also had 5-6 inches of cracks to repair also. I recommend that if you don't have to take you worm gear apart, don't. However, if you do take it apart; be very careful to catch and count all of the ball bearings. Mine had 59 of the little rascals in it.

My pitman arm nut came off easily enough, but I needed a puller to get the pitman arm itself off. Going back on was another story; I had to use a pnuematic impact gun to get it back on. That was the first time I had ever seen a nut go back on harder than it came off.

I just realized that if you don't have the steering sector out, you might not be able to get the lower bearing race out. It was quite a pain in the neck on mine, requiring lots of penetrating oil, a considerable amount of heat from a propane torch, and a few improvised tools to get the rusted in place race out.

I put a good coat of grease on the bearings when I installed them, and filled the gearbox with as much gear oil as I could get in it. Also, right or wrong, I increased the size of the weep hole in the column cover to 1/8".

Keep at it, it isn't that complicated. Don't get mad and hit it too hard, those gearboxes are expensive.

Robert

 

[maximus]

Maximus,

There should be two bearings and races, one race goes in the bottom of the gear box; the other goes in the bottom of the steering shaft cover, (which is the top of the gear box) right below the new seal; if your steering box is the same as mine.

When I did mine I took the whole gear box off the tractor; of course I also had 5-6 inches of cracks to repair also. I recommend that if you don't have to take you worm gear apart, don't. However, if you do take it apart; be very careful to catch and count all of the ball bearings. Mine had 59 of the little rascals in it.

My pitman arm nut came off easily enough, but I needed a puller to get the pitman arm itself off. Going back on was another story; I had to use a pnuematic impact gun to get it back on. That was the first time I had ever seen a nut go back on harder than it came off.

I just realized that if you don't have the steering sector out, you might not be able to get the lower bearing race out. It was quite a pain in the neck on mine, requiring lots of penetrating oil, a considerable amount of heat from a propane torch, and a few improvised tools to get the rusted in place race out.

I put a good coat of grease on the bearings when I installed them, and filled the gearbox with as much gear oil as I could get in it. Also, right or wrong, I increased the size of the weep hole in the column cover to 1/8".

Keep at it, it isn't that complicated. Don't get mad and hit it too hard, those gearboxes are expensive.

Robert

Thanks Robert. I'm giving it a go today.

I've got a decent pulley extractor but that nut on the pitman is on real solid.


I'm going to try heating it with a blow torch etc.

How did you repair those cracks? It sounds like our boxes are the same.

Chris

 

[maximus]

A quick update.....

Got the steering box off and took it apart. Top bearing is totally rusted out and ball-bearings loose in bottom of box.

Good news is no cracks in casing and comp. nut ball is sound, so no need to take it apart. Ordered new bearings and oil seals. Cleaned and polished up all thread on shaft etc. Almost looks like new.

Is it straight forward to re-assemble? Anything to watch out for? Do I need to replace the shim even though it came away clean?

Such a great site this. Would have been completely lost as a complete newboy on this one.

Thanks Service Dept Vic

 

[Orange Tractors]

The cracks in mine were caused by freezing water, I repaired them by degreasing and using JB weld.

Mine did not have a shim. I would reuse the shim since it came out clean.

Reassembly is straight forward, just check the backlash.

Robert