Ball Joints Confusion

I got the ball joints and they are clearly different than what's on the tractor now, but of course I have NO way of knowing if these are original or not. The rears that are ON the tractor have threaded extensions at 90 degrees from the attachment portion. The ones I bought are at an angle greater than 90 degrees.

The fronts are 90 degrees for both old and new. Correct?

I would have to guess that the rear ones with greater than 90 degrees are appropriate as the attachments in the rear are so much closer to the centerline of the tractor than the spindle arm attachments.

Also, does one simply tighten down the end nuts to draw them into their seats or is there another technique for seating them?

Thanks for all your help. I may still sound awful dumb as there is so much to learn, but my knowledge and confidence in this overhaul projects are growing by leaps and bounds...thanks mostly to you guys!

bd

My axle is swept back.

When I engage the new ends into the steering arms (wrong terms) rearward, the boot abutts the tapered hole with only about 1/4 inch of threads exposed on the other side. In order to get the tapered male portion of the end into the steering arm will require me to tighten the nut and draw at least 3/4 inches of the threads and taper through the hole. This did not look right to be. None of the tapered male portion of the end even shows below the boot, just threads. Is that normal to have to compress the boot during the process of installation of the end into the steering linkage?

This sounds at odds with you description of the installation of the ends.

Yes, I will be throughly adjusting the tracking as it is not power steering and I want it to work optimally.

bd

The one you don't want to have made the rear joint part of the long tube. That will be hard to find after market and you would have to unhook one of the joints to adjust toe.

The other two look different but have angled screws. They are distinguished by the method of locking the toe adjustment. One (rear joint part number 193 733 M91) uses a lock nut on the left handed threads. Its screw has a bit of a jog to give greater clearance for the drag link. The other (194 608 M91) has a bit bigger body with a single direction taper and the toe adjustment is locked with a clamp around the split tube. Its important that the clamp and bolt clears things on the tractor like the end of the clutch shaft.

My parts book shows the rubber seal the same for these two parts, but separate (196 099 M1).

My guess is that the old ones on your tractor were changed by using parts with the same threads but not the same angle as available from a car parts place. I sure hope I do better shopping at NAPA today. MF dealers are rare around her now and often have a poor parts stock with MF being secondary to their main line.

Gerald J.

BTW.. best I can figure, I have a '70 Deluxe. All the gauges, deluxe steering wheel, live PTO, 8-speed tranny...forget what else distinguishes (seat, but mine is aftermarket).

Thanks for the investigation. Yes, I have an MF parts book and mine shows the same. In fact, I wonder if my whole drag link setup may actually be non-oem. I have a split tube, but the locking nut overlaps the split but is threaded on the link end. Or, is that what is meant by the locking nut option in the manual?

The link ends I just bought...bareco says are interchangeable with the 35 model, but no-one who knows has responded, so I have no verification. I checked again on mine and indeed there is the 'jog' in the rear link end, but the one I just bought is not a duplicate, just a threaded extension at an angle greater than 90 deg.

You have confused me about about toe-in adjustment.

The way my drag links work is that the tubes are threaded at both ends, so the toe-in adjustment is made by loosening the lock nuts at both ends and then turning the tube as the ends are both left and right handed at either end. Simple.

Good luck with your search for parts. Bareco provided these link ends at an ave. of $8.50 per end.... They 'look' good assuming they're right. MF Dealer 25 miles away around here wanted and ave. of over $25!

The lock nut could squeeze a short taper to make a stronger lock. I've never had one made that way. I think it did show that way in a later owner's manual that I had at first, but the '68 manual that I bought from the factory shows the clamps that my MF-135 has.

I've had my MF-135 since 1987. For 5 or 6 years I've been doing most of the field work with my JD-4020. But as fuel costs go up, the 135 is going to get a lot more work. I'm cutting back on dirt moving and the 135 works for early spraying, though it won't clear tall crops for later spraying. Fortunately the 4020 can take category 1 three point equipment. This year the 135 will pull the planter because I figure the fuel savings will be significant and the steering by metal may not wander as much.

Your drag links adjust like mine, but lock differently. But I saw that one in the parts book that wouldn't adjust with removing an end from a steering arm. A real pain for the alignment so often needed.

The spring seat on my 135 broke and almost tossed me off the back (while pulling a heavy disk) so I cut up the remains and bolted on a couple sturdy angle irons and a boat seat.

Did Barco sell direct? Their web page I found didn't act like they wanted to sell to any but a dealer.

Gerald J.

Arnold Motors, another local automotive distributor called a place that (after 20 minutes wait said the 194607M91 crossed to the 193733M91 which they had for $30. Delivery next week.

I tried JD and Case-IH. JD printed me a list of all the MF-135 parts they could get, 848 parts on 36 pages, but only the 193733M91. Actually their list called it A-193733M91. No stock, of course. I didn't find out the price. Case-IH had a catalog from some place, same song, same part number including the A.

Worthington Ag Parts shows a WN-193733M91 to fit a tube 193069M1 for $10, but on sale for $6.66. The tube to fit the 193733M91 end has no number in my parts book, only has the assembly.

Some of these places showed the lock nut separately, none showed the seal separately. Nobody gives me confidence the 193733M91 will work in place of the 194607M91.

I'm thinking of hanging a bunge cord from steering arm to steering arm to take up the lash and simmer on finding the right part. Might make it to a tractor big swap meet in Minnesota next Friday, could have it on my list of things to search for.

I may try some phone calls to MF dealers and Worthington Ag Parts in the morning.

Gerald J.

If I am successful and these ends ARE the right ones , then I don't know how you could go wrong with bareco, because they seem to be good solid parts.

Good luck at the tractor show.

bd

Gerald J.

It is normal to compress the boot as you assemble the drag ink end. The ball joint isn't installed until the tapered shank seats in the taper in the steering arm.

You have to adjust the toe in every time you change the front wheel spacing.

I see some slop in my left rear drag link end so I guess I ought to change that soon as I plan to use it for planting this year claiming its "solid" steering will wander less than the steer by hydraulics of my JD 4020.

I'll look later in my parts book to see if there are any variations on that rear drag link end with year or axle model.

Gerald J.