1954 Super M

I just picked up a 1954 super M. Live Hyds and power steering. The tractor runs good. It has been converted to 12 volt. The wiring is all neat whoever did it did a good job. I ran a compression test this morning with the engine ice cold. All four cylinders 125 psi. There are two issues I am having the first issue is there is a play in the steering. Going down The road in fifth gear Will produce a lot of wobble of the front tires. Also there is a lot of play in the throttle. You have to go beyond half throttle before anything happens.

The governor sounds like it's worn out, make sure that pipe,from the front of the head,and makes a 90 degree bend to the top of the governor is tight, and feeding oil to the weights. As far as the 125 lbs of compression, that sounds like the 4 in flat top pistons. That's about 45 hp. The sloppy steering most likely is in the front steering sector, take that top cover off, check it out, tighten or replace as needed. Fill with a tube of corn head greese !

That "tube" you refer to is not an oil tube. It is part of the crancase ventilation system. The governor gets its oil from the timing cover.

First off if this is the SM you ask about the serial number in another post you are making the same mistake that happens a lot. Its a Louisville SM and the last one built was July 10 1953. Some serial number listings just keep the mistake going. See them for sale all the time listed as 54 models.
On steering check the easy stuff first. Steering shaft joints, Front bearing on the worm shaft. Sometimes if its bad you can see the shaft moving front to back when turning the shaft. With cover off the steering gears check for gear play between gears, splines and see if the vertical shaft is moving away from worm gear when turning the worm shaft with resistance at the front tires. Also check the steering worm shaft bushing point. Jack up and see if the play can be felt in the vertical shaft when pulling and pushing the front wheels forward and backwards. Hard to find one without some play in the vertical shaft but if to much the shaft needs to come out and check bushings and shaft for wear. Good time to check the steering thrust bearing also. Check the front wheel bearings for play also.
Think a operators manual should tell you how to adjust the carburetor and governor linkage with engine stopped with throttle rod to governor unhooked. After that is done adjust the throttle rod length on top of engine to get throttle handle in the best range. That's if there's no problem in the governor. If things seem to be okay other than throttle handle moving to far before raising RPM, adjustment of rod length on top of engine may fix it. But if it won't idle back down to slow speed after that check links and free movement inside the governor.
Guess maybe you need a repair manual, thought the linkage adjustment was in the operators but didn't see it at a quick glance. Start off with engine stopped, hand throttle open far as it can go, make sure the governor lever is pushed down to the stop. Move vent cover from top of governor. Take pin out of the link under cover. hold carburetor tube shaft lever for carburetor wide open position. Adjust the piece on rod up or down until pin holes line up. If the tractor has the idle sped set before you started. Move throttle all forward. Remove the governor side plate. Adjust the spring lever stop bolt until lever moves spring forward much as possible without moving the lift rod to throttle shaft. Then try to adjust throttle rod length at engine top until hand throttle stays in the notches at idle and full throttle. If you check the RPM and need to change the high speed stop in the governor the throttle may need adjusted again. Hope I didn't leave anything out but wouldn't count on it.

My H had the death-wobble too. Long story short, I replaced the worm gear / shaft with the ones from this site; fixed! Drive down the road like your pickup.

Thanks for the replies. I have already adjusted the governor per the manual. It is getting plenty of lube. Tractordata lists this tractor as a 54. I will definitely look into the steering and check shaft movement and such.

Just to add what D says check for 'Y' casting's this will indicate a 53', 'Z' would indicate a 54'

May want to look at tractor data again. Lists 1953 starting number as L-501906 and 1954 as starting serial number L-512541. l-512541 was the last one built in 53. Anyway you number falls between those numbers so they do have it listed as a 53 model.
I put bushings in spring holes to help with lost throttle movement. Some work fine without them though.

I wouldn't bet much money on oil coming out of that vent tube.

I rechecked and yea it's obviously a 53.
There's oil all over the governor when I take the cover off.

Steady supply of oil coming out of mine, and my governor was wore too!

The spring has lots of play in it. You have to pull the throttle 40% or more before the spring gets any tension. I'll try the bushing idea and go from there

If the lever on the governor back is also moving a lot before engine starts speeding up. Screw the front spring lever top stop bolt in the picture in until the spring is just short of moving the lever at spring rear.
If you go to much on the stop bolt there may be trouble getting back to slow idle. That's where the bushings come in handy because of less lost movement from idle to the start of acceleration. Some work okay without the spring bushings.
If governor has parts that fail to move freely or spring is stretched adjustments may not work.

You probably already checked the throttle rod end under the hood. But if not look for bad springs or assembled wrong. If a friction throttle springs can be eliminated. Just don't strong arm the throttle.
Study how the governor works, pretty simple spring pressure overcoming weights to raise RPM.
To be honest I don't use a book. Only thing I set to start with is push the lever on rear of governor down with engine not running, then set the link to have carburetor butterfly wide open.
Then just set everything else were things work the best. Then use a tach to set the high RPM where I want it.
Most times I start by removing the governor, cleaning, remove internal parts and checking and repairing any problem and install a new seal on the operating shaft.

(quoted from post at 23:46:34 03/10/15) If the lever on the governor back is also moving a lot before engine starts speeding up. Screw the front spring lever top stop bolt in the picture in until the spring is just short of moving the lever at spring rear.
If you go to much on the stop bolt there may be trouble getting back to slow idle. That's where the bushings come in handy because of less lost movement from idle to the start of acceleration. Some work okay without the spring bushings.
If governor has parts that fail to move freely or spring is stretched adjustments may not work.

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I'll do that. I like the bushing idea, I'll try that too. I will replace the spring, I'm sure it's stretched.