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Now here is a controversial suggestion; first a little background. Years ago I bought a secound hand WD9 for field work, notoriously hard steering, but this particular unit steered like a dream! could never figure it out 'till the paint started to deteriorate, noticed a slight bulge midway on the pitman arm, and another on the arm on top of the king pin where the drag link attaches. Someone had corrected an engineers mistake that has been built into other makes of tractors too, this fellow had shortened the pitman arm by app 2 1/2", and lengthened the arm on top of the kingpin app 2". now, istead of a mechanical "disadvantage", he turned it into a mechanical "advantage"! Another instance; Bought a new S650G Satoh/loader, now if you want something impossible to steer.....The pitman arm from the steering box on this unit was a piece of flat stock, so I drilled another hole for the draglink atachment three inches from the first mounting hole, and re-attached the drag link, made all the difference in the world for steering. Same thing on my old 'Major! The turning radius was affected slightly in each case, but nothing unacceptable. I don't recommend anyone doing this that isn't a qualified welder, and I don't suggest that this is the way to go with your tractor, just a thought. In closing I must mention the David Brown tractors, and the problems owners here, had with the cast aluminium steering boxes. Being a pseudo mechanic for awhile at the local dealer, [late 60,s] we had occassion to replace numerous steering boxes that suffered failure due to the force created by the front wheels, multiplied through a pitman arm that was at least four inches too long. I have recently aquired a 950 DB, and this is a correction that I will surely make.
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