Oliver 440 Steering

[Daves392]

I am in the process of rebuilding my Ross steering on my 1962 Oliver 440 and have found some discrepancies from the parts book to my tractor. When I took my steering wheel off I found that a wheel with a tapered hub and keyway was used but my steering shaft has thin splines, is hollow and does not have a keyway and the only thing holding the two together was the taper of the hub to the shaft. However, the parts book shows a key for the steering wheel and shaft, which would then need a solid shaft as my hollow shaft is too thin for a key and not tapered for a tapered steering wheel hub.
So, did Oliver start with a solid steering shaft and keyed steering wheel on the Super 44's and then, at some point in the 44 to 440 production, change to a hollow shaft with a splined steering wheel? I do not have access to anyone around here that would have a Super 44 to check and am reaching out to those who have restored or have an original Super 44 and/or 440 to get some information.
Since I have a splined steering shaft where do I get a replacement steering wheel that is correct in both the splines and wheel diameter? Since the Ross steering is similar to what the Jeep vehicles used I do see reproduction wheels for them but there are a few options with them I would like to get a wheel that is as close to the original as possible.

 

[Gambles]

Sorry for the late reply, but my 440 is in the far back corner of my shed and I've had far more pressing issues lately.
This is the steering wheel center off of my 440. I just pulled it off a few minutes ago and as you can tell, it is splined. The steering shaft on my tractor is splined also. I had to take a puller, some heat and lots of P'Blaster to get it to come off.
The big local tractor show here is in the middle of September. This year, the featured brand of tractor is Oliver. They also are expecting my 440 to be the featured Oliver. I've got a fair amount of work to do on it before that, including getting the steering wheel refurbed. Minn-Kota, the company that used to do it has long shut their doors. I've got a lot of projects going on before September, so I'm not really in the mood to do it myself, but if I have to, I will. Anyone know of a place that still rebuilds tractor steering wheels?
My 440 is one of the last ones built, IIRC.

 

[Daves392]

Sorry for the late reply, but my 440 is in the far back corner of my shed and I've had far more pressing issues lately.
This is the steering wheel center off of my 440. I just pulled it off a few minutes ago and as you can tell, it is splined. The steering shaft on my tractor is splined also. I had to take a puller, some heat and lots of P'Blaster to get it to come off.
The big local tractor show here is in the middle of September. This year, the featured brand of tractor is Oliver. They also are expecting my 440 to be the featured Oliver. I've got a fair amount of work to do on it before that, including getting the steering wheel refurbed. Minn-Kota, the company that used to do it has long shut their doors. I've got a lot of projects going on before September, so I'm not really in the mood to do it myself, but if I have to, I will. Anyone know of a place that still rebuilds tractor steering wheels?
My 440 is one of the last ones built, IIRC.

Thank you for the picture of your steering wheel as that makes me confident mine is correct. I have attached a picture to show my steering shaft along with the "incorrect" steering wheel I pulled off it. I cannot imagine doing this on a restoration let alone it being unsafe due to no positive connection between the wheel and shaft. What is the outside diameter of your wheel?
You stated your 440 is a late one which would be one of the 200 built in 1962. What is your serial number - mine is 122363.

 

[Gambles]

My 440 basically came "fresh out of the field" a couple of years ago and I'm in the slow process of returning it to factory specs. I took a Delco alternator off of it and put back on a period-correct generator. The sheet metal is in pretty good shape and I hope to get it painted this year. The steering wheel had the rubber cracks on the spokes and I took an angle grinder to the cracks and every night I'm adding more JB Weld to it. I'll be taking a small hand sander to it next week to smooth out the epoxy additions. The back side of the spokes has the manufacturing name of "Sheller" on it and the O.D. is 15".
On the regular "Tractor & Farm Talk" section, I had made a post about companies that restore steering wheels. Prices were all over the place. I called one company and was told that "we don't have your mold" and another one was completely out of my ball park, so I decided to refinish it myself. I'll post a final picture when I'm done...if I like the results.