MM RTU front pedestal leaking oil

sweinert

Member
I have a '47 RTU that is leaking oil down the front pedestal. In the parts books, they show a felt ring in that area but really don't show a specific "oil seal" that can be the culprit. I haven't started disassembling yet - am interested in how to proceed and what parts I might need to stop the leaking. My grandson and I are fixing up this tractor as his 4H project for this year - when we get this oil leak solved, I think we are ready to paint.
 
I think you will find no seal at the top of that steering gear. I think there is just a shoulder that sticks up around the top bearing to (more or less) keep the oil in the area under the worm gear. So a little oil can be picked up by the worm gear and run through the teeth in the sector gear.

Hopefully your housing is not cracked where oil can bypass that shoulder and drain out the bottom. The felt mainly keeps dust out, and barely does that.
 
I had the same problem and did find housing cracked. Obtained a good housing from Wendell Everett, went all over bearings and felt. Still leaked over the weir in the steering box area. Mostly when going up and down hills on tractor drives. Finally put GL-000 grease in box. That slowed it down considerably but still have to clean it off in the spring. Suppose everything that was creeping down the inside settles over winter.
cvphoto20271.jpg
 
Unfortunately, that is a normal occurrence from the factory. The operators manual on the ZA states that if you overfill the front compartment it will just drain out the bottom. I agree, cornhead grease would be a good idea for a show tractor.
 
If you over grease the bottom bearing at the grease fitting at the bottom of the pedestal with heavy gun grease it will help the leaking situation.
MMDEL
 

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