Loose steering arm assembly

Hi everyone.  Posting with my first question for the ATLTF.  I have a GE Elec-Trak from the mid '70s and I am trying to get the steering to be a little more precise.  The main problem I have is that the steering arm gets loose on the lower shaft.  The arm is held onto the shaft with a Woodruff key and a set screw.  From talking to other Elec-Trak owners, I gather that Woodruff keys are not great for the back-and-forth motion that a steering shaft has to withstand.

I'd like to replace it with a splined connection of some kind.  I was thinking about cutting the shaft and welding on a splined shaft.  Then I could make a new steering arm assembly out of a splined coupler.  

I found a shaft and a coupler that might work.  But maybe someone here can recommend a donor part from a more modern tractor?  Or maybe another way for getting a more solid joint between the shaft and the coupling?  

Shaft:
https://www.nexgenoffroad.com/product-p/425244-12.htm
Coupler:
https://www.nexgenoffroad.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=3142

Thanks in advance for your help!

A photo and a diagram of the steering on the ET.

Could you maybe weld the keyed shaft to the arm, or does it need to be serviceable?
The other thing that might work is to drill a hole and insert a roll pin or two. They are stiff and hold up well to rotational forces, the White 2055 in my avatar uses one on the brake lever with no play and one at the blower’s U joint which holds up pretty well. That and you can replace the roll pins as they wear.

For a splined shaft, the MTD FNR transaxles usually have a splined input shaft. If you found one of those transaxles or even the whole tractor, you could possibly weld the input shaft onto the steering shaft as you said, then use the MTD pulley hub to make your pitman arm. Cant say for sure how strong it would be but thought I’d throw it out there

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Could you maybe weld the keyed shaft to the arm, or does it need to be serviceable?
The other thing that might work is to drill a hole and insert a roll pin or two. They are stiff and hold up well to rotational forces, the White 2055 in my avatar uses one on the brake lever with no play and one at the blower’s U joint which holds up pretty well. That and you can replace the roll pins as they wear.

A few times I have come close to just welding that thing on (out of frustration). But if I did, then it wouldn't be serviceable without grinding off the weld. There are some components in the body of the tractor that require removal of the steering shaft support in order to get to them. I guess I don't need to remove it that often, but something will probably break in there about 20 minutes after I weld that thing on...

About the roll pins...I have three steering shafts in my possession, two of them are on tractors. I haven't done much to one, but I did use it last winter with the snow blower attachment. That one has a single roll pin. After some limited use, the roll pin broke, then the replacement roll pin broke shortly after that. So when I was choosing a steering shaft for the tractor I refurbished, I chose the one shaft and arm that had a woodruff key. But now that woodruff key doesn't seem to be doing much better. It has never failed completely (as the roll pins did), but it is getting VERY sloppy. Until Rustbucket suggested it, I had not considered adding a roll pin (or two) to the shaft with the keyway--that is not a bad idea at all. I just might be able to do that on the tractor, and if it fails, these are all parts that would be replaced if I put a splined shaft on there.

How large are the roll pins? A larger one would be more resistant to breakage, being the larger surface area.

I guess you could cut the bottom of the shaft off and weld a splined part on, then fab up a new steering arm to fit on the splines. On the other hand, if you just weld it for now, you wouldn't be much worse off for awhile because you were planning on changing it anyway. Could just weld it and see how it goes for awhile. Might not have to take it apart for a really long time. I always thought about trying to find one of those tractors, they're kinda cool.

mr.modified wrote:

I guess you could cut the bottom of the shaft off and weld a splined part on, then fab up a new steering arm to fit on the splines. On the other hand, if you just weld it for now, you wouldn't be much worse off for awhile because you were planning on changing it anyway. Could just weld it and see how it goes for awhile. Might not have to take it apart for a really long time. I always thought about trying to find one of those tractors, they're kinda cool.

Hey Mr. Modified. Good news! You shouldn't have to go far to find an Elec-Trak. Most of them that are left appear to be in Pennsylvania and New York. I drove from Ann Arbor to Albany to get mine. That was a long haul.

mr.modified wrote:

I guess you could cut the bottom of the shaft off and weld a splined part on, then fab up a new steering arm to fit on the splines. On the other hand, if you just weld it for now, you wouldn't be much worse off for awhile because you were planning on changing it anyway. Could just weld it and see how it goes for awhile. Might not have to take it apart for a really long time. I always thought about trying to find one of those tractors, they're kinda cool.

Hey Mr. Modified. Good news! You shouldn't have to go far to find an Elec-Trak. Most of them that are left appear to be in Pennsylvania and New York. I drove from Ann Arbor to Albany to get mine. That was a long haul.

If I didn't have so many other projects I might track one down. They're interesting for sure. Don't they have a couple of volt meter's in the dash? Do you mow with yours still?

How many hours can you drive for with a setup like that?

Also, Lithium/Lead Acid/NiCad batteries?

That tractor is VERY cool.

@Rustbucket Garage Thanks!
@mr.modified Yes I do still mow and plow snow with one of them. The other one is not running now but I think it will be a spring-time project.

By the time I got my E10Ms (one with a mower deck and one with a snow thrower) the volt meters (so-called "fuel gauges") had been replaced with multi-meters that were stuck onto the dash panel. I found a replacement fuel gauge, but I wanted something that would also show the current draw so I replaced that with a digital display that toggles every 5 seconds between V and A.

I don't have a huge yard and the main reason I wanted this thing was for snow removal, not mowing. But I'll spend an 45 minutes or an hour mowing if I really take my time and do a cross-cut to get all the clippings chopped up. It goes for that long with no problem. It has 6 6v lead acid golf cart batteries that are now 4 or 5 years old. They probably need to be replaced in few years.

We have a Sunday soccer game at a park that's about a mile from my house. The city is not timely about mowing and in June and July the grass can get pretty tall. If things are back to normal and we are playing soccer again this summer, I think I'll go over there and give the field a cut. That would be a real test for the batteries--drive a mile, mow a field, then drive home! I honestly have no idea if I would have enough juice for that!

Cool! I think they're pretty interesting. Just cool that a company actually made them and sold them in decent quantities. I don't know if any other companies made a battery powered ride on mower.

petehouk wrote:

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Could you maybe weld the keyed shaft to the arm, or does it need to be serviceable?
The other thing that might work is to drill a hole and insert a roll pin or two. They are stiff and hold up well to rotational forces, the White 2055 in my avatar uses one on the brake lever with no play and one at the blower’s U joint which holds up pretty well. That and you can replace the roll pins as they wear.

A few times I have come close to just welding that thing on (out of frustration).  But if I did, then it wouldn't be serviceable without grinding off the weld.  There are some components in the body of the tractor that require removal of the steering shaft support in order to get to them.  I guess I don't need to remove it that often, but something will probably break in there about 20 minutes after I weld that thing on...

About the roll pins...I have three steering shafts in my possession, two of them are on tractors.  I haven't done much to one, but I did use it last winter with the snow blower attachment.  That one has a single roll pin.  After some limited use, the roll pin broke, then the replacement roll pin broke shortly after that.  So when I was choosing a steering shaft for the tractor I refurbished, I chose the one shaft and arm that had a woodruff key.  But now that woodruff key doesn't seem to be doing much better.  It has never failed completely (as the roll pins did), but it is getting VERY sloppy.  Until Rustbucket suggested it, I had not considered adding a roll pin (or two) to the shaft with the keyway--that is not a bad idea at all.  I just might be able to do that on the tractor, and if it fails, these are all parts that would be replaced if I put a splined shaft on there.  

Old topic I know, but instead of a roll pin what about a grade 8 bolt?