Farmall H Steering trouble

I was out skidding a few logs today with my trusty ol H and I ran over a 4 inch diameter chunk of pine. I heard a loud snap and the steering ceased to function. Towed it back home and discovered that the shaft that goes from the big circular gear up top, to the place where the front axle bolts on is busted right in two. It broke just above where the shaft necks down. It is obvious that it had been cracked for some time, and just finally broke. I'm just glad it didn't break going down the road or a long way from home.
Doesn't look too hard to fix, just wondered if I might get some pointers. Thanks!! Kippster

I had a similar problem with a Super M many years ago. As you suspect it is not terribly difficult to fix.

Best approach is to replace the busted part (the "upper bolster pivot shaft") with a salvage part from a boneyard. Just make sure the replacement get is not bent, does not have worn bearing surfaces, etc.

Good luck!

Yup, replacement sounds like the best bet. Replace the seal in bearing in there while you have it torn apart. And for the upper gear, lots of folks have better luck with corn head grease than the oil the originally put in. Less leaking over time.

carter and gruenenwald sells the rebuild kit for the front ends, has both bolster bushings, bottom bearing, steering worm shaft lower bearing seal and bushing for about 150 dollars, as you are going to have it apart, now would be a good tome to freshen up the front end. also yt here also sells the steering shaft for about 172.00 and the upper sector gear for about 80 dollars. if yours are worn ie lot of slop, she'd drive like a porsche when done!!
carter and gruenewald

Since you've got some good advice now I'll share a story.

I was 16 and spending the summer out at the farm. Granddad took Grandma somewhere for the weekend and left me alone. Well kind of, I'd made nice with a waitress at the Town and Country Cafe, but anyway. Was kind of a big deal to be alone and "in charge" of the farm. A big sow died and when Grandad called Saturday morning to check on things he told me to haul it out to where the dead things go. Got the H out with the loader on it, scooped her up and headed up the hill. About halfway up I drove through a rut and something snapped, can't remember what, maybe the same part you broke, but the steering wheel just spun round and round. I didn't know what to do, was kinda scared to tell Grampa, so just parked it right there, as they would be back the next day.

That hill is right in front of the house so he saw it as he drove in. As he got out of the car he gave me a funny look so I told him what happened, and waited for him to get mad. But he just started humming, like he did some, and walking towards the tractor, I went along. He jumped on, told be to ride along, and drove it through the pasture with the brakes. Just smiled at me like he was pulling off some neat trick. I thought he had to be about the best farmer that ever lived, and most certainly the best Grampa. Didn't bother him that I'd broken something, even though I felt bad to add to his work load. He said as much stuff as my uncle's had broken over the years he was pretty used to it. Sure do miss him.

As I understand there was a difference in early and late shaft and bolster, with the early one being a smaller and more easily broken shaft. To make the change from one to the other, you have to change the bolster as well as the shaft.

I started droving my father's F-12 when I was about 8--stretching to reach the clutch, with my fanny almost on the left brake drum cover. Nothing was going to stop me, and nobody tried to(tell that to OHSA today). We had 30 cows and a Dual Manual Manure Extractor (two scoop shovels). Usually, the hired man did most of the mucking out, which in the winter took from 9 a.m. to probably 4 p.m. I didn't care much for the shoveling, but I was desperate to drive the tractor to the field, so I always managed to be around to help out the hired man with at least part of the load. He probably didn't want to go out in a windy field in January, so there were no protests when I started for the field. On one of these joyous excursions, there was snow on the ground. I ALWAYS drove flat out (four mph) and usually pulled the governor rod to get just a few more rpms. Sometimes, there would be a tiled drain in the field that would break and start a washout. This usually left a good sized hole in the ground. Well, you guessed it. I'm barreling through the snow and couldn't see the camouflaged hole. Wham!
The front end went down, the bolster snapped off and the tractor lunged ahead a few feet until it stalled after digging a trench in the ground. Long walk to the barn, long face. I looked at my father and said, "I broke the front wheels off." He never said a word, and to this day, I do not know what he thought. The next day when I got home from school, there was a new bolster on the tractor.