Mule drives pretty nicely overall, but I'm trying to get it to track straight. I understand this probably an unnecessary luxury in a 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer machine with no differentials and no ball joints or bearings in the front to rear steering linkage.
I have all new tie rod ends installed. Looks like most of the slop is in the linkage between the front and rear steering bellcranks, since this in only a quick release pin in the front and a clevis pin in the rear. Has anyone looked into a way to tighten this up? I think reaming the clevis and installing an oversize pin are probably the only options, which causes me to believe the machine really wasn't designed to go very fast with four wheel steering engaged, and wasn't expected to track all that well on uniform surfaces without some steering input. With the rear steering locked to the frame tube, the front connection is fairly tight, but there is quite a bit of slop at the connection to the rear steering bellcrank. I can set the alignment with the 1/8" toe-in on both the front and rear axles, but as soon as the machine is shifted, the slop in the steering linkage to the rear axle resets the neutral point. The front wheel alignment to the steering gear is pretty good - most of the slop there is in the Pittman arm pin (where one of the three steering positions is selected) and in the quick release pin to the bed. I suppose this is a concession that is made when a machine has so many configurable parts.
Steering Alignment
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Re: Steering Alignment
According to TM 9-2320-246-10, Operator's Manual, "Four-wheel steering is to be used only under unusual operating conditions."which causes me to believe the machine really wasn't designed to go very fast with four wheel steering engaged, and wasn't expected to track all that well on uniform surfaces without some steering input.
That said, my A2 stays in 4WS all the time, but it would take a brave (or foolish) person to operate at full throttle, third gear in high range while in 4WS.
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