IH 340 power steering not driving evenly

[livinadream55]

I have a 1959 IH 340 I got from a friend recently. It hadn’t been run in the last 4 years. I got it running and changed all the fluids. The issue I am having is when I turn the steering wheel the right hand tire travels significantly further than the left side. The left side seems to be traveling a normal amount but the right side with even a slight movement to the steering wheel will drive the right side almost erratically. The tires go pigeon toed or they work against each other making it extremely difficult to drive and control. Anyone know what would cause this? I am new to the forum and hoping to find some help here. It has power steering and I’m wondering what part of that system could cause it?

 

[caterpillar guy]

If it has a hydraulic cylinder for the steering control under the front end and the end of the shaft is anchored while the barrel slides back and forth on the shaft . I'm guessing the gland is sliding on the shaft. Also look at the pivot point for the barrel as when the barrel moves it will move up and down with the effort of turning. checking tie rod ends is another place to look don't worry if they move up and down a bit it is the end play that makes the problem so have a friend or somebody slowly trun the wheel back and forth as you watch them or vise versa to check for movement. IT could also be in the steering arm at the top of the spindle if one of the keys is sheared or loose they can steer erratically like you describe. I would not expect a wheel bearing as they tend to just wiggle or fall off if they got that bad.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Sounds like a 340 Utility. If so, it has the steering gearbox back by the operator like a 300/330/350 and 460 Utility. Pitman arm on each side and separate pitman rods running forward to each front wheel.

If it was a conventional tie rod style front end there is no way one wheel could be moving differently from the other without the problem being blatantly obvious.

Unfortunately it sounds like the steering gearbox is broken. You can confirm this by jacking the front end off the ground and manually moving the right wheel around. If you can move the wheel, and see the arm back on the steering gearbox moving around, it's broken. At that point it's teardown time. You'll have to pull the gearbox apart and find out what's broken.

Parts will be difficult to impossible to find.

 

[Paul 300 U]

I have a 1959 IH 340 I got from a friend recently. It hadn’t been run in the last 4 years. I got it running and changed all the fluids. The issue I am having is when I turn the steering wheel the right hand tire travels significantly further than the left side. The left side seems to be traveling a normal amount but the right side with even a slight movement to the steering wheel will drive the right side almost erratically. The tires go pigeon toed or they work against each other making it extremely difficult to drive and control. Anyone know what would cause this? I am new to the forum and hoping to find some help here. It has power steering and I’m wondering what part of that system could cause it?

I have a 300 and 350 utility with power steering. The 350 had several issues with a long neglected steering box. Long story short I've rebuilt the box twice for 2 separate issues. I have been able to get necessary parts after a bit if searching. I'm no expert but I think it's actually been a little easier getting steering parts for these tractors. In my limited experience is say selling over the Internet has allowed more owners of these old tractors part them then out. If your mechanically inclined removing and repairing the steering box is not overly complicated. I've done with the help of folks on this site. My assumption is that your 340 is the same as my tractors which may not be the case.

 

[livinadream55]

Thank you everyone who replied. I think you are right and the gear box is going to have to be rebuilt. I just replaced the front right spindle and was going to align the front wheels so I took the load off the front end and that’s when it was very noticeable. I was afraid it was going to be something like the gear box. I have all the books so I will start looking into it.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

I have a 300 and 350 utility with power steering. The 350 had several issues with a long neglected steering box. Long story short I've rebuilt the box twice for 2 separate issues. I have been able to get necessary parts after a bit if searching. I'm no expert but I think it's actually been a little easier getting steering parts for these tractors. In my limited experience is say selling over the Internet has allowed more owners of these old tractors part them then out. If your mechanically inclined removing and repairing the steering box is not overly complicated. I've done with the help of folks on this site. My assumption is that your 340 is the same as my tractors which may not be the case.

The gearbox is probably the same as the 460 Utility, but I don't know if IH used the same gearboxes as the 300/330/350 Utility tractors. You'd have to open up both parts books side by side and compare part numbers.

Maybe someone has realized there's a market for parts for these tractors, albeit a small one, and has started making parts? Things like bearings and seals should not be a problem, but what usually happens is the gears connecting the two output shafts lose a tooth , and those are irreplaceable.

FYI some of the CaseIH online parts books are broken right now. Many are coming up blank. A good substitute is Messicks' website.

 

[livinadream55]

The gearbox is probably the same as the 460 Utility, but I don't know if IH used the same gearboxes as the 300/330/350 Utility tractors. You'd have to open up both parts books side by side and compare part numbers.

Maybe someone has realized there's a market for parts for these tractors, albeit a small one, and has started making parts? Things like bearings and seals should not be a problem, but what usually happens is the gears connecting the two output shafts lose a tooth , and those are irreplaceable.

FYI some of the CaseIH online parts books are broken right now. Many are coming up blank. A good substitute is Messicks' website.

Ya the more I thought about it the more I was thinking that the shaft for the right side may have lost a tooth and that would explain the u commanded travel when sitting still. Nothing to stop it from moving further until it makes contact with the next tooth on the gear. I can’t believe the price for the used parts online for that tractor. I have the book for the 340 but not the book for the 460. I will check it out. So far what I have found is $500 for just a shaft. I am going to keep looking though.

 

[Paul 300 U]

Ya the more I thought about it the more I was thinking that the shaft for the right side may have lost a tooth and that would explain the u commanded travel when sitting still. Nothing to stop it from moving further until it makes contact with the next tooth on the gear. I can’t believe the price for the used parts online for that tractor. I have the book for the 340 but not the book for the 460. I will check it out. So far what I have found is $500 for just a shaft. I am going to keep looking though.

Yes it's very possible the shaft lost a tooth. Mine has the same issue. I tried to have the tooth welded. Looking closer the tooth had been welded once before. The welder didn't want to weld again because of the metal type. I decided to hunt for a shaft and searched both for the part and someone tearing down a 350. I was able to get the shaft for $125. It takes some patience but they're out there. Obviously timing and the number of 340's made factor in.

 

[livinadream55]

Yes it's very possible the shaft lost a tooth. Mine has the same issue. I tried to have the tooth welded. Looking closer the tooth had been welded once before. The welder didn't want to weld again because of the metal type. I decided to hunt for a shaft and searched both for the part and someone tearing down a 350. I was able to get the shaft for $125. It takes some patience but they're out there. Obviously timing and the number of 340's made factor in.

 

[livinadream55]

how did you find your parts? Mostly what I have seen is EBay. Everything is very overpriced. I think if I’m going to do it I am going to do an overhaul of all the bearings, seals and gaskets at the same time. I already dumped a quart of 90w gear oil through it. Leaked right out within an hour from both sides of the base where it mounts. Probably why I’m in this situation. Glad it was free! Hahaha

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

how did you find your parts? Mostly what I have seen is EBay. Everything is very overpriced. I think if I’m going to do it I am going to do an overhaul of all the bearings, seals and gaskets at the same time. I already dumped a quart of 90w gear oil through it. Leaked right out within an hour from both sides of the base where it mounts. Probably why I’m in this situation. Glad it was free! Hahaha

You need to go "old school." Ebay is all opportunists looking for the fool who is desperate for the part and willing to pay any price.

Salvage yards by and large don't catalog their inventories online. There are some that do but you pay the price. Best thing you can do is try to find a salvage yard somewhere relatively close that you could make a day trip out of.

 

[livinadream55]

I am going to take your advice and see what the salvage years about 30 minutes from my place has. According to his website he doesn’t have anything but like you said they may not have all the inventory on there. He has a lot of old tractors and several international. Step one pull it apart And figure out what’s broken.

 

[Paul 300 U]

I am going to take your advice and see what the salvage years about 30 minutes from my place has. According to his website he doesn’t have anything but like you said they may not have all the inventory on there. He has a lot of old tractors and several international. Step one pull it apart And figure out what’s broken.

I live way upstate in New York and there are no salvage yards near me. The Internet has been my friend. I've used Facebook market place to find many parts. In the search engine I put the model of tractor and in also " international tractors for sale". You will also see people who are parting-out there tractors. Also, Google "" international 340 tractor parts for sale" and you'll find many people who deal in old tractors.

 

[livinadream55]

Anyone know where I can find the dimensions for this bushing? 372578R1. Looks like it’s discontinueded. I opened up the steering box and the case where the shaft goes through is cracked. The bushing is in about 30 pieces. I was going to see about getting the case welded in that spot and filing it down just to add material back so the bushing will fit snug. Not trying to get a life time out of the tractor but I would like to get a good couple years. Anyone have any suggestions at this point? Shafts look good. I think bushing being shattered and the adjusting screw sheered caused enough play in there to cause my issue. My problem now is finding the parts to get it fixed. Is it possible to convert it to manual steering?

 

[livinadream55]

This is what the inside of the housing looks like right now. I haven’t cleaned anything up yet.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Wash all the oil out of it then heat it up to get the oil out of the iron. Wash again while warm/hot then weld away on it . Then it can be machined back to size with a boring bar this would let you add material to the outside of the bore where it cracked. this will want to be done with a boring mill or a Bridgeport so it is accurate. then fit a generic bushing to the hole. This will eliminate the need for dimensions and part numbers opther than to get it close to size. The place that bores the hole out can fitr the bushing for you so it will be tight and solid.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Anyone know where I can find the dimensions for this bushing? 372578R1. Looks like it’s discontinueded. I opened up the steering box and the case where the shaft goes through is cracked. The bushing is in about 30 pieces. I was going to see about getting the case welded in that spot and filing it down just to add material back so the bushing will fit snug. Not trying to get a life time out of the tractor but I would like to get a good couple years. Anyone have any suggestions at this point? Shafts look good. I think bushing being shattered and the adjusting screw sheered caused enough play in there to cause my issue. My problem now is finding the parts to get it fixed. Is it possible to convert it to manual steering?

You, or your machinist, could measure for the bushing. Looks like a calipers would fit in there to get the bore diameter, if you have a set. The shaft is easy enough to measure with calipers.

If you're taking the housing to a machine shop for the welding, have them deal with that too.

All you would have to do to convert to manual steering is find a complete manual steering box off another 340 Utility. That might be easier to find than a power steering box. The parts books say 330 and 340 are the same, but 330's are even more rare than 340's. 300's and 350s have a different part number for the steering gear housing so whether one would fit in a pinch... I don't know.

 

[Janicholson]

There must be multiple places to find a good casting. and to have a new bushing pressed in. (making bushings is just one of the easiest machining jobs ever) Bates Equipment in Bourbon Indiana, and many others are out there with the part. Jim

 

[livinadream55]

Thanks for all the replies! I am going to try to find a good machine shop in the area. I think that’s my best bet at this point. You guys are awesome with all the help!