Cub Steering - Can't Get It Back Together *?@$#

I had taken everything apart to change the two seals (steering shaft and worm wheel shaft) - and clean and paint. I removed the front end (manual calls it “steering gear housing”) and the housing base to get at everything. The only part I replaced, other than the seals, was the large steering worm wheel bronze thrust washer.

Everything was tight on the steering worm wheel shaft before I bolted the bottom housing back up. There was no slack on the steering arm and it moved smoothly. The problem came when I tried installing the steering shaft. I had no problem getting the steering shaft down into the housing, but it is too tight. It seems like I now need much thinner thrust washers on the steering shaft.

Can anyone tell me what I may have done wrong, or what to look for? Is it possible to have the worm wheel upside down and have the steering still fine, but yet create a different tolerance between the worm wheel and worm gears and therefore not fit with the original two thrust washers?? That's the only thing I can think is different, but it didn't look like I could get the splines of the worm wheel shaft into the worm wheel gear the opposite way so I didn't think I could have reversed it.

I could sure use some ideas . . . .

Thanks

I"m not sure I"m clear on the problem. I"m assuming you are dealing with the steering shaft itself (long shaft going to the steering wheel and having the worm gear on the end. Mostly because the steering gear shaft shouldn"t have any washers, but rather a wide lip on the lower bushing. I recently replaced several parts in my 57 Cub with no problems, so I"ll give you my best guesses. I"m sure that you probably looked at the obvious but here are my thoughts.

1 - Are both washers down tight to the worm? These are a tight fit and gentle taps with a hammer and block of wood may be needed to get them tight. This would be the most likely problem in my view.

2 - the end of the worm shaft is held stationary because it is recessed in an opening in the casting. Is there some junk in this recess stoping the shaft sliding in all of the way? You will probably need a long skinney screwdriver, a good light, and some cleaning solvent to see what"s what here. This is my second best guess.

3 - Check to see that the vertical steering gear shaft is down all of the way and that the big castelated nut on the bottom of the lower casting is tight. It could be that the gears are meshing but that the shaft is being pinched and therefore not able to slide in all of the way. This seems least likely to me... but maybe.

Let me know if I have misunderstood your problem, and/or what you find. I"m sure it will turn out to be an easy fix once identified. Meanwhile I"ll keep thinking about it.