Older but no wiser

[Renaultman]

The steering arm is attached to a fixed point on the tractor, so it can pull and push the hoe across.

Yes. It used to connect where the stabiliser arm used to fit, on the axle, on our Fergies. Spent many an hour scruffling turnips when I was a lot younger.

 

[mikep]

Fair enough. If you could ask him, if you're seeing him anyway, that would be great - thank you. I've been scouring eBay trying to see if anyone has anything similar. I'm assuming it would be out of a small Austin or Ford from the 1950s or 60s, but I don't know a lot about old-car-steering-boxes so I could be way off. I just imagine it would be something popular / cheap back at the time these things were made.

Land Rover?

 

[New Puritan]

Thanks for the replies so far. I don't have a photo of the Webb hoe to show what it's doing - I'll go and get one later. The hoe does attach to a subframe, but the subframe attaches to the front axle.

@carbonfibre farmer - from an earlier photo you took I'm fairly certain we both have the same steering box:

I've got the steering box sitting in a bucket of diesel now to see if that helps it free off.

I have a nasty feeling what I'll end up doing is getting the Jalo wheel hoe out and doing it all with that...

 

[New Puritan]

I took a photo of the instruction manual to show how the Webb one fits to the front axle:

 

[Exfarmer]

It shouldn't be attached to the axle or it would move laterally with it. It's was attached to a subframe on the tractor front. A neighbour had one similar on a front end loader.

I do believe I have seen hoes attached in this way to the axle. Trouble is they melted down most of them for the New Model Army

 

[Exfarmer]

We crossed can you not bodge us a frame to attach to the chassis. That looks very similar to the last Web Hoe I had and that was bolted on to a simple plate on the front.
The DB takes it well having a full chassis. loader frames are too bulky but just run a couple of heavy pieces of angle along and weld a face plate, we actually had a little box in the middles for spare hoes etc

 

[New Puritan]

I do believe I have seen hoes attached in this way to the axle. Trouble is they melted down most of them for the New Model Army

Good reference there @Exfarmer ...

 

[Sprayer]

View attachment 692276
Close up of the steering arm with the kink in it..

we had Johnson?? steerage which was a similar principle but instead of a steering wheel had long handle to the back of the hoe and was pivoted on the front frame of the hoe and stuck out a few inches and connected to the steering arm. As you moved the handle so it pushed on the steering arm and steered the hoe. It wasn't rocket science in it's fabrication so I wonder if it would be easier and quicker to make one than find a steering box.

 

[glasshouse]

I took a photo of the instruction manual to show how the Webb one fits to the front axle:

View attachment 890934

I wondered how my one was meant to fit on

 

[Flat 10]

Why don’t you mount it on the loader?

 

[Exfarmer]

Thanks for the replies so far. I don't have a photo of the Webb hoe to show what it's doing - I'll go and get one later. The hoe does attach to a subframe, but the subframe attaches to the front axle.

@carbonfibre farmer - from an earlier photo you took I'm fairly certain we both have the same steering box:

View attachment 890933

I've got the steering box sitting in a bucket of diesel now to see if that helps it free off.

I have a nasty feeling what I'll end up doing is getting the Jalo wheel hoe out and doing it all with that...

You do realise that no power on earth will make the driven cog move unless it strips the worm gear.
They had a very similar steering arrangment on the old farmalls

 

[New Puritan]

You do realise that no power on earth will make the driven cog move unless it strips the worm gear.
They had a very similar steering arrangment on the old farmalls

Yes! You are right, hence my looking to see if I can find another steering box. I just put it in diesel as there was a bucket sitting there ready It was not, on the whole, a very successful day and it felt like progress doing that.

 

[New Puritan]

Why don’t you mount it on the loader?

That's a really good idea, and something @mikep also alluded to... Hmm, I need to think how I can cobble something together.

 

[New Puritan]

we had Johnson?? steerage which was a similar principle but instead of a steering wheel had long handle to the back of the hoe and was pivoted on the front frame of the hoe and stuck out a few inches and connected to the steering arm. As you moved the handle so it pushed on the steering arm and steered the hoe. It wasn't rocket science in it's fabrication so I wonder if it would be easier and quicker to make one than find a steering box.

Probably. The same with all of these suggestions, they would all be great if I had slightly more time to tinker. What I had hoped to do about three weeks back was just get the hoes on the tractor and get to work. It's only 5 acres that needs doing so in theory it should have been quick. The problem I have at the moment is that the schools are closed and it's really constraining me with what I can do - I'm a single parent and live half an hour away from the farm.

Hence thinking if I could find a replacement steering box and bolt it on instead of the duff one I've got, it might save me some time.

Thanks for all the suggestions though - one day I shall have more time, hopefully, and will attempt one or other of these things.

 

[New Puritan]

So possibly tomorrow me & daughter will be using the Jalo wheel hoe and ordinary hand hoe. She'll love that.

 

[Renaultman]

Do you have a spare double acting service? What about a small ram where the stabiliser fits?

 

[Exfarmer]

One tip, if you front mount, if you can find one, use an old dowty style coupler on the connector. A newer style quick fit coupling relies on pressure to maintain the seal and as these hoes are zero pressure in work , you tend to find they can leak a lot. The old style screw fitting does not have this issue. They are still available

 

[fenhayman]

Didn't the Webb rear mounted hoes have a steering bar connected to the hoe wheels?

 

[Exfarmer]

So possibly tomorrow me & daughter will be using the Jalo wheel hoe and ordinary hand hoe. She'll love that.

View attachment 890970

I bet your daughter will suddenly discover a whole new love of school work, good luck!

 

[DrWazzock]

Thanks for the replies so far. I don't have a photo of the Webb hoe to show what it's doing - I'll go and get one later. The hoe does attach to a subframe, but the subframe attaches to the front axle.

@carbonfibre farmer - from an earlier photo you took I'm fairly certain we both have the same steering box:

View attachment 890933

I've got the steering box sitting in a bucket of diesel now to see if that helps it free off.

I have a nasty feeling what I'll end up doing is getting the Jalo wheel hoe out and doing it all with that...

that looks very similar to the steering box on my Standen Solobeet cyclone beet harvester. Not much help as I’m struggling to recondition it myself. It was grossly under rated for steering a machine that weighed 5 tons on soft ground and to say there is some backlash in mine is an understatement. Somehow they seemed fill themselves with water and corroded the insides out. The bearing races inside are similar to those fitted in old motor cycle steering columns and am struggling to find them. Power steering looks a better way forwards.