Alert...bad IH parts
Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 9:12 pm
Thought I'd pass this along in case anyone is considering a steering rebuild involving new IH parts. All references can be found in the Suspension section on page I02 of the parts catalog.
The owner of my project 1950 FCub decided to buy new tie rod tubes (# 25, 350782R11, $121), tie rods (#27, 350778R1, $58 ) and the retainer plate on the main steering arm ($68 ). The tie rods & tubes that arrived were made incorrectly and did not fit...the welds on the tubes were too big and wouldn't allow them to fit through the holes in the plate, and the bolt notches in the tie rods were too shallow and would not allow the clamp bolts to be installed to lock the setting in place. He brought them back to the dealer, who reordered them, but the replacements had the same problem. It seems that IH does not make these parts, but instead provides the engineering plans to an outside contractor to make for them...the plans were correct, but the contractor misread them and manufactured the parts incorrectly. As a result, all the similar parts in stock everywhere are wrong. This issue is being addressed by IH, and the parts man says that it'll be corrected in the future...but he has no idea when it will be. In the mean time, he will modify our new parts on his bench grinder so we can use them, then swap us out for the good ones when they become available.
It doesn't look to me like it would be very difficult to modify the parts to make them work, but I'm a bit leary of grinding on new parts that cost that much. Besides, for that price, I would expect parts that fit.
The owner of my project 1950 FCub decided to buy new tie rod tubes (# 25, 350782R11, $121), tie rods (#27, 350778R1, $58 ) and the retainer plate on the main steering arm ($68 ). The tie rods & tubes that arrived were made incorrectly and did not fit...the welds on the tubes were too big and wouldn't allow them to fit through the holes in the plate, and the bolt notches in the tie rods were too shallow and would not allow the clamp bolts to be installed to lock the setting in place. He brought them back to the dealer, who reordered them, but the replacements had the same problem. It seems that IH does not make these parts, but instead provides the engineering plans to an outside contractor to make for them...the plans were correct, but the contractor misread them and manufactured the parts incorrectly. As a result, all the similar parts in stock everywhere are wrong. This issue is being addressed by IH, and the parts man says that it'll be corrected in the future...but he has no idea when it will be. In the mean time, he will modify our new parts on his bench grinder so we can use them, then swap us out for the good ones when they become available.
It doesn't look to me like it would be very difficult to modify the parts to make them work, but I'm a bit leary of grinding on new parts that cost that much. Besides, for that price, I would expect parts that fit.