I did it again

[Meadows Miller]

I broke the bloody steering box on the beast again  for the second time in about 12 months this time its desintergrated the machined treded actuator that conects to the internal workings on the pitman arm  : i spose thats what you expect when you overwork a 40 year old machine lifting and driving around with upto 2.5 ton 5000lbs on a std tractor front end and armstrong  steering ;) :D :D :D





The big issue is now that that std sterring boxes are as rare as hens teeth I may have to get a whole new part machined and stay with the std box or come up with a rocketxross special hybrid power sreeing setup raided from a truck either inter or Kw  which wont be too steep i reckon  ??? ??? ;) :D ;D 8)

Ill get some pics tomorrow there was a heap of metal in there when i pulled the side cover of it disarvo  :( :(

Regards Chris

[paul case]

my friend fred has an 1953 m farmall w fe loader he uses for loading logs and at his mill. the no power steering was a pain to him so he disconnected the drag link and mounted a cylnder to his axle with a valve instead of a steering wheel.it works ok but the cylinder he used is only 2'' bore and it is too quick. a little hard to get used to but works very well. pc

[beenthere]

He could use smaller diam hoses, or put in something for flow control to cut the "quick" reaction.

[r.man]

Meadows, try looking at common larger car or suv steering boxes. A friend of mine modified two farm tractors from armstrong to power with a minimal of modification. He looked at a lot of boxes before he chose one that was a fairly good match.

[Banjo picker]

Sorry to hear about that Chris...I don't have to worry about busting my Kubota with something that big...cause it would'nt even budge it.... ;)   You'll get it goin....hang in there....Tim

[bandmiller2]

Chris,where is the current steering box located, just behind the engine?It probibly won't be pretty but I'd find a truck power steering unit.Its much easier if the front end has a tie rod between spindles and one drag link moving them.If your tractor has a steering box with two pitman arms,one to each side its a tough nut to crack,Show us some pictures of it Chris. Frank C.

[sigidi]

Geese Chris, some fella's are rough as guts  ;D :D ;)

[fishpharmer]

Awe, that ain't no hill for a stepper.  You'll get it fixed.   Still costs time and  money.

[sgschwend]

Look at an International Harvester Semi Tractor (truck) steering box.  Sounds the same.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday Everyone

Sorry i didnt get some pics Dad n I got it back together n sorta workn  ;) :D :D :D we are still looking at options atm and the inter box is looking a pretty good fit as there is plenty of room and it has only one pitman arm  ;) The beauty of the chamberlain is that they have a 1/2 thick box section chassis and the gearbox and driveline is connected to the diff by tailshafts giving plenty of room to play with maint and we have over 1 cubic foot of room to fit anew steering box between the fire wall and the back of the dash  ;)

Also Dad brought a Brand New Foton 55hp 4x4 tractor with loader w Qh 4in1 & Forks that will lift about 2200lbs to feed the log building line  ;) ;D  which will keep me outa trouble till we nut out a solution for the steering  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8) 8)

Reagrds Chris

[sparky]

Chris,

I like the idea of using a hydraulic cylinder coupled to the steering arm. A flow control would allow you to adjust the performance to match your needs. I have a heavy truck steering box in my shop that you can have, but I am half a world away.

I spent the past two weeks taking apart the sawmill at our tractor show grounds and placing it in storage. I also disassembled the replacement sawmill and hauled it to the show site. We will be pouring concrete next week for the supports. The reassembly should go fairly quickly as I kept 10 feet of track attached to the husk. That should minimize the effort of adjusting the lead-in, etc. The new mill is a Corinth with a 48 inch, right-hand, that is quite a lot stronger than the previous mill. I used my log truck with the Prentice loader and it made quick work of the loading and hauling.

The club bought the replacement mill from the gentleman that I worked with at the show for the past 10 years. He is 87 and decided to sell his sawmill some months ago. Three weeks ago he was told he has liver cancer and has 3 to 6 months at most. I will miss him.

Will

[customsawyer]

Sparky sorry to hear about your friend.

Chris,
Hang in there it will all work out.

[bandmiller2]

Chris,when you get a power steering unit on that old girl you'll fall in love with it.We installed an auto intigral power steering box on a friends smaller loader tractor worked out well, but you need a heavy truck unit.If your tractor has live hydraulics just put the box in series with the high pressure line everything else will still work the same.Could even use the loader hyd. if the box dosen't restrict it too much.Handy to have the new tractor too,you can't have too many tractors.Frank C.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Will Im sorry to hear about your Mate he was the bloke who was the head sawyer at your club before you took over the one in the pics you showed me when you visited me last year Mate  ???  im also sorry i havn't replyed to your pm as yet too mate ive been busier than a one legged bloke in an butt kicking comp the past few weeks  ;) :D :D :D :D

The Corinth sounds like a good mill is it all steel  ;D and having the rite gear helps alot with shifting equipment too  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8) and are you still looking at getting the big Corley aswell Mate  ???

Steve the old Acco's been out of action with a buggered motor for awhile now im missing my truck  : :'( :'( and its been getting afew looks from both Dad n I as its a toss up as to weather to put alot of time and money a rebuild/refurb on it which aint going to be cheap  ;)or raid the 24' hd steel tray thats only 6 yo and in top nick to put on a larger truck maby a kenworth  ;) :D ;D 8) as that and the tyres are about the only things that are good on it atm Mate  ;) :D  :D It has done a power of work for us over the years without many complaints  ;) :D ;D ;D 8) 8)

Jake Thanks Mate  ;) ;D And i reckon most of us have been there where we have a run where nothing seems to be going the way it should and thins like this dont realy stress me you just gotta try to keep moving forward  ;)  ;D ;D Things looking better from week to week around here and the light at the end of the tunnels looking alot closer by the day Mate  ;) :D ;D ;D 8) 8)

Frank i dont think ill know myself when we get the power steering on it  ;D ;D 8) 8) Ive been armstronging the old beast around for awhile now and the only one who drives it as no one else will  ;) :D :D I like driving it and after doing the bottom end i the motor up last year theres still plenty of life left in the old girl she just wont quit  ;D and it will be kept as a spare machine for around the yard and doing abit of logging when we do update to a new machine  ;) ;D ;D 8)

Regards Chris

[sparky]

Chris,

I got a bit confused on manufacturers when I wrote about the sawmill. I thought it was a Corley, when in fact, it is a Corinth. It has a very heavy, all steel frame and is very well built. The set works are very tight and not at all like the old mill. My friend, Ken, says he hopes to hang in until the show in mid-September so he can see his sawmill in its new location. We will be dedicating the sawmill in his honor and several of us are working on an appropriate ceremony for the occasion. When I had my truck loaded with his sawmill, I stopped to visit with him. That sawmill had been a part of his life since 1974 and it was leaving for a new home. He had that same look as if a daughter was leaving home to get married. I will post some photos when the installation is complete.

I sympathize with the mechanical problems you have experienced with your older equipment. When on the farm, we rarely had new machinery. We became very skilled at extending the life of vintage gear!

Will

[Okrafarmer]

Meadows, what model is your Chamberlain? It looks like a Countryman 354 but I can't tell from the pic. I drove a 354 and a Champion 9G when I was in Edenhope in 1997. Since I am a megatractorphile that was a great experience. Don't ever give her up, those Chamberlains are tough as nails. And one thing I liked about them was that, unlike our American tractors up until quite recently, the seat was wide enough to take your sweetheart along quite comfortably! (assuming both individuals are not seriously oversize!)  :D Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a sweetheart when I was in Aus, although I did meet some very nice girls while I was there. I don't know what part of Victoria you live in, but the Countryman I drove was owned by one Bruce "Chicken" Robinson who lived near Edenhope, and the Champion was owned by the Dubois family who owned a beef feedlot also near Edenhope. At that time I was staying with a Bill Blore at his beef farm also near Edenhope. Bill did custom silage cutting for people and I helped out with that. After that I went to Cobram and worked for Paul Grinter on his dairy outfit there for a few months. This was all through an internship exchange program.
Jim

[paul case]

Since I am a megatractorphile that was a great experience.
Jim

is that someone who is addicted to driving tractors, or looking at tractors, or owning tractors? if the answer is yes then ME too! pc

[Okrafarmer]

Since I am a megatractorphile that was a great experience.
Jim

is that someone who is addicted to driving tractors, or looking at tractors, or owning tractors? if the answer is yes then ME too! pc

It is concisely, a "huge tractor addict" or "huge tractor lover." It could be construed to mean that the person loving or addicted to tractors is huge, or that they love or are addicted to tractors in a huge way, or that they love or are addicted to huge tractors. In any case, (get it, CASE?  :D ) all those apply to me and I resemble those remarks.

[paul case]

ALL apply to CASE too. pc

[Okrafarmer]

ALL apply to CASE too. pc

With a name like that you would have to like tractors. And knives.

When I was a little kid, I stunned my listening audience (of adoring relatives) when I told my very first original joke: "What kind of tractor comes in a box?" The answer of course, was "Case."

[paul case]

didnt have a case on the place till '85. got 2-930's , a 970 ,a 480 , a 580, and a 530 now.

we aint related to the knife people or the tractor people and they didnt leave me any of their fortune or misfortune either.pc

[Okrafarmer]

didnt have a case on the place till '85. got 2-930's , a 970 ,a 480 , a 580, and a 530 now.

we aint related to the knife people or the tractor people and they didnt leave me any of their fortune or misfortune either.pc

Well I wasn't sure, but I thought I'd mention it, just in CASE.  :D :

[Meadows Miller]

GDay

and first off Welcome to the forum Jim you have joined a great family Mate   ;) ;D ;D 8)
Im about 5hrs from edenhope and have only driven throught the place once on a timber del about 4 yrs ago im closer to Cobs is 1.5hrs drive north east from Heathcote the town ive lived in my whole life and our familys been in for four generations its 1.1/4 hrs north of Melbourne and 1hr south of Echuca  ;) And Im glad you liked your stay Mate  ;) ;D 8)

Chamberlains Ive Loved them since i was a kid dad had two 354s back when i was a kid one ran the post debarker at the mill and the other got used out the bush skidding logs  ;) ;D 8) 8) ive had Two in my life a 57mod 9G which i was given when i was 18 yo which came in Kit Form the thing was in 100s of pices spread out over a acre  ;) :D :D I rebuilt it to as new condition (With the help of My good mate and Mechanic whos 70 now Franks also the one who gave it to me saying you have to learn sometime kid  :D :D and it was a awsome lering exp even though he though using 15L of paint was getting alittle exccesive   ;) :D ;D 8) )  and it got sold afew years back to an old bloke whos towing a cravan around Australia we governed the 60hp 4cyl perkins  motor for about 30mph  ;) ;D 8) 8)

The Beast is a 1970 C670 with the perkins 6306 cyl which is a derated 6354 block and the loader frames of a 1960 9G  ;) I love the bench seats and the Speed alot of the new ones won't even look at catching you Franks family had the victorian dealership for them since the 40s till john deer took them over in the 80s and use to say when they where younger their dad would dive him and the boys down to the docks in Melb to pick them up of the ship from Western Aust   open the governer up so they could get home at 55mph on the hiway  and my oldest uncles use to drive themselves to the footy on weekends in the chamberlains from when they where about 16 as you could get your tractor lic two years before your car  ;) ;D ;D :D 8)

Girls are pretty thin on the ground in the country at the best of times Mate ;) :D :D the whole ballance is out of kilter as they all to move to the city to go to uni when they turn 18yo and stay there  : but they then  complain about not beeing able to find decent blokes there and all you hear on the news sometimes is that theres a man drought  ??? :D :D and the other problem is you couldnt pay a country boy enough to move to some crappi city in the first place   ;) :D :D ;D

And There aint nothing wrong with being a Tractor Nut either  ;) :D ;D 8) I dont know what name id come up with with all my intrests but it would be bloody long one i bet  ;) :D :D ;D 8)

Regards Chris

[Okrafarmer]

Yeah, Chris, I loved that 354. I drove it just to pack silage. Bruce, the owner, told me to go easy on it, and only drive it 35 kph on the way home as he didn't want it torn up-- can't blame him, I guess, but I know it would do at least 40k. Yank tractors didn't generally do 40k / 25mph until the '90's or so-- the Chamberlains were made out by Perth, and I guess in WA the farms are huge and spread out and you need all the speed you can get, and it was obvious right from the start, whereas in yankland, up through the '70's at least, in the eastern US, where most of the tractors were designed and built, the farms tended to be small-acreage holdings where a family might farm 50-300 acres, and all their land, including any rental, would easily be within 2 miles of home. (whoa, that was one long run-on-sentence)   

The Countryman 354 was approximately contemporary to John Deere's 4020 in timing and size. A glance at the 4020 will show several nice features Chamberlain barely even thought of at that time; however I do point out four distinct advantages the 354 had over the 4020:

1. extra wide seat, for taking your mate, your wife, your kids, your relief driver, or whatever along with you (or for yourself if you're fat)
2. Nine forward gears instead of 8
3. A much faster transport gear
4. A spring-loaded front axle (not even thought of by yanks)

And I should say that I would bet on the 354 versus the 4020, all things else being equal, in a tractor pull.

[jwoods]

Chris,

you've got some great posts, but I just about get seasick when reading them!!   :D :D :

[Okrafarmer]

Chris,

you've got some great posts, but I just about get seasick when reading them!!   :D :D :

Yes, but that's all right! He keeps the smiley-face factory in business!

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Problem solved orderd the part to go into the steering box from Cowra today for a whoping $68.10 inc gst and postage  ;) ;D 8) 8) looks like ill be strong arming it for afew years yet  ;) :D ;D

Chris,

you've got some great posts, but I just about get seasick when reading them!!   :D :D :

Yes, but that's all right! He keeps the smiley-face factory in business!

J Thanks Mate I do me Best  ;) ;D  ;D  Yeah im 30yo next year it might be time to grow up  : or i could just send you some tablets Mate  ;) im pretty sure they will work on land  ;) :D :D ;D ;D

Jim Ifn there was a smiley face factory i was keepn in business it would  probobly be in china with some bloody middle man makin all the profit  Mate ;) :D :D

Regards Chris

[Okrafarmer]

Jim Ifn there was a smiley face factory i was keepn in business it would  probobly be in china with some bloody middle man makin all the profit  Mate ;) :D :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[schmism]

full hydraulic setup with off the shelf parts from a more modern tractor with hydraulic steering.