Steering worm wheel shaft question.

[Jeff D. N.E. Wis.]

This question is regarding the steering worm wheel shaft and it's upper and lower bushing. Continuing with the 49 rebuild, I measured the shaft and the bushings. The bushings are .005 to .006 larger than the shaft. Is this too much wear? Mr. Updike says he can get the lower bushing but not the upper one. Will this give extra slop to the steering? If these need to be replaced, where would one look for an upper one. Thanks guys.

[rleggitt]

Hi Jeff,

I would try case IH the part number is 350 887 R1 BUSHING, STEERING WORM WHEEL SHAFT UPPER.

Hope this helps.

[Michael Az]

If a bushing isn't available, let me know. I might be able to make them.
Michael

[Slappy]

I bought the upper bushing from my Case-New Holland dealer about two weeks ago. I'm not certain about the wear tolerance; Rudi has the Blue Ribbon Service Manual on-line (this site) and it lists all of the tolerances. The old one was a pain to remove. The bushing is split on one side, so you would think it would be easy to collapse, but it was still tough.

[Michael Az]

I'm not sure what the tolerence should be for that, but I'm sure .005 or .006 won't hurt anything.
Michael