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Deutz-Allis 1920 steering wobble


surferosa

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hello all,

this is my first post, probably of many. i now manage a summer camp in CT with a lot of old tractors. my first question... i have a deutz-allis 1920 that when you drive it, you constantly have to make steering adjustments. it feels like something is just not tight. any ideas what could be causing this before i start taking the thing apart?

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The simple answer is the spindle where the steering attaches to the axle, there are one or two small set screws that loosen up sometimes. I had this problem and it helped alot.

The harder answer is you bushings are shot from many hours and low maintenance, which is a bit more time consuming to repair and beyond my expertise. Good luck.

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It's time for a visual check.

Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth

just enough to take up the slop,you should be able

to spot where the slop is coming from.

Good luck.

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I believe the Duetz 1920 is the Sunstar clone, likely with power steering. With all of the parts involved, and if it has some hours on it, they do get sloppy. Set screws at the drag link to left front spindle connection(which are hard to keep tight)on the earlier models. I think they provided a splined shaft on the later Simplicity models. Then you have tie rod ends that get worn, and the bushings, and misc other parts become worn and sloppy. The PS unit itself can have some modulation issues, Ray S can speak to those.

Not sure this helps much, but I rebuilt an entire Sunstar front end, without touching the PS unit, and it was a vast improvement, but still not 100%.

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Welcome to the club. We all love to see photos, please download photos of the tractor collection. Heads up keep them fairly small so they go through here.

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SSRalign.JPG

If you look at the right side spindle as you look at this picture, and where the power steering cylinder attaches to the steering bracket, then look at that bracket and where it attaches to the spindle. That is where the two set screws are. You may even try to replace the keys if they are worn. Note that I believe some of the Sunstars came with a splined shaft at this location, so it is possible you dont even have set screws. Looking for something that doesn't even exist can take a really long time!:o)This assumes that this bracket is loose to begin with. There can be play in the ball joint, or in the tie rod ends too. By running the tractor and observing all of the moving steering parts while moving the steering wheel back and forth, you should be able to see where there is play.

SSRalign.JPG.71da54f367b0bd947b9c10a932b5d53b.JPG

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Here is an exploded view of an early Sunstar front end. You can see the steering arm that has the two set screws. The spindle is a straight piece of round stock with two keyways cut. You tighten the two set screws to keep the steering arm from rotating relative to the spindle kingpin. Over time the screws loosen and the keyways become worn in both the arm and the spindle and the keys can become worn. All of which leads to lash in the steering when changing directions.

DSCN0235.jpg

Later model Sunstars and DA 1918/1920 models switched to a taper style steering arm. The set screws were removed. The inside of the steering arm is tapered and the spindle kingpin is tapered. There is one keyway on both the tapered kingpin and steering arm and a key to lock the two together. There is a tapped hole in the top of the spindle kingpin. When assembled, the bolt and washer threaded into the kingpin draws the steering arm down onto the kingpin and the tapered surface prevent any rocking motion between the two parts. The result is absolutely no lash between those two parts.

DSC00749smalljpg.jpg

There were three design variations of the front end on the Sunstars that incorporated changes to the spindles, front axle carrier, axle ends, wheel bearings, front wheels with tapered roller bearings, etc. The parts manual clearly shows the variants that existed.The Sunstars are known for front end wear. Sources of wear are the spindle kingpin surfaces where they contact the bronze bushings in the axle ends and the pressed in bronze bushings. There can be wear in the pins and the bore of the axle ends where they pivot up and down. The axle ends also have some fore/aft movement along the pivot pins. There will be wear & lash in the end holes of the cross link where they contact the pins at the axle ends. Early Sunstars with the flanged ball bearings in the wheels can have a lot of lash and I've seen the spindles worn on the bottom due to bad bearings. The early versions used a snap ring to hold the wheels onto the spindles whereas later versions used tapered roller bearings and an adjuster nut and cotter pin to adjust the bearing end play. The exploded version above is the first generation front end.

DSCN0235.jpg.732f8fdbd8ff0358d8966aad766d41fd.jpg

DSC00749smalljpg.jpg.d32e51926811591511bbed9b4b4cb2d2.jpg

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  • 8 years later...

Yours is a bit smaller than mine I have a 5220. But steering basics are the same. Loose tie-rod ends, loose steer piston bolt, worn pivot bushings at the hubs, bad wheel bearings, or a worn center bushing on the frame to front axle. 

 

Have someone turn the steering wheel wile you watch all the components looking for "slop" 

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5 hours ago, mopar65pa said:

Yours is a bit smaller than mine I have a 5220. But steering basics are the same. Loose tie-rod ends, loose steer piston bolt, worn pivot bushings at the hubs, bad wheel bearings, or a worn center bushing on the frame to front axle. 

Welcome to the club, Tony!  It's always good to see someone helping out and willing to jump right in, especially a newcomer.  However, if he's still working on this problem almost 9 years later, I think he's beyond help. 666  Welcome aboard!  You've got one of the bigger mid sized.  I forget the Simplicity equivalent.  Just a tad bigger than the old Power Max series.  Do you have the 4x4 version?

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