First Drive

[MikeS]

OK, just had my first drive of newly acquired Super M. All was good until got into high gear and had to shut it down due to front end wobble. Where and what do I look for first?

[gitractorman]

Mike,
There's two different things in the front end that lead to that wobble. One is the steering gears wearing out.
Check out Steiner's videos. https://youtu.be/7KKWQIYnGAU This is a really good tutorial on how to rebuild the steering gear setup. If you can turn the steering wheel side to side a little, without any resistance, then you have slop in the steering and probably need to rebuild the steering gear.

The second is the bushings in the upper and lower bolster. To check for this, jack up the front of the tractor off the ground, then grab the front tires and see if there is any wobble in the shaft at the bolster. If it's really bad, you may need to replace both the upper and lower bushing. This job isn't bad to do but you have to disassemble the tricycle assembly and pull it out of the steering gear. The bushings are bronze and tap out pretty easy.

My tractor had just a little wobble, and not much play in the steering, so I just replaced the lower bushing.

Bill

[MikeS]

OK, dug into steering, found nut holding steering gear loose and gear moving on shaft. Took gear out and rotated 180 degrees to the side that was not worn. Found the nut on the end of worm gear loose and shaft moving in and out while turning. Tightened up everything and took her down the road. Got in High gear and got her up to top speed, not a wobble or shimmy to be found. I think I solved problem, maybe on temporary but at least now I can use high gear. I did notice a little wobble in vertical shaft and figured bolster bushing starting to get bad.