Ford 4500 Steering box modification of sump to install a drain When I decided to rebuild the steering box on the old 4500 at first I thought maybe I could just adjust something and all would be joy. Not to happen. Who ever design this particular gearbox must have been thinking about something which would live it’s entire life indoors. The lowest part of the gearbox is 4 inches down inside the transmission case with no outlet. When I got it apart it was obvious that water had been sitting at the lowest spot in the box, which is also occupied by the lower set of ball bearings and the lower end of the steering shaft. What was left of the ball bearings and the ruined outer race and inner race which lives on the steering shaft was the roughness of double 00 sandpaper. That somewhat explained the grinding sound I had heard as I turned the steering wheel. I located an aftermarket shaft, nut and 2 sets of races and bearings at a supplier in Winnsboro Texas not far from where I am in Dallas. The guy said they were made in Turkey and he hadn’t had any complaints and he used them in their rebuilds so I said what the hey and had him ship a set to me. I decided since it was such a PITA to service the steering box on this tractor that I would do myself or someone else a favor and solve the problem of the water collecting in the bottom with the lower ball set. I am going to try to explain here what I did to solve the problem. The first thing I had to make sure of was that there was room for extra plumbing in the transmission housing under the box. This was accomplished with a big gob of plasticene modeling clay stuck to the bottom of the steering gear casting and shoving the thus decorated arrangement into it’s normal resting place letting all the stuff underneath mash the clay. Placed thus it left an imprint of any components nearby with their exact relation to the steering box casting. Thankfully there was plenty of room. The next thing was to decide how to plumb the drain to the outside. This began with a dumping out of my collection of small 1/8 and 3/16 compression fittings and related fittings into a spare trash can lid. After close inspection it was obvious that I would be making a trip to the hardware store. I say hardware store because we actually have an Ace hardware nearby which hasn’t been put out of business by Home depot. All the fittings were standard and I only had to modify one to make things work. The fitting which needed modification was a galvanized steel 3/8 NPT male to ¼ NPT female. This fitting and a ¼ NPT plug penetrated the outside casting. I then tapped the back end of the ¼ bore to take a 1/8 NPT male thread. The steel adapter is attached to a 1/8th 90 which is then joined to a 1/8 by 3/16 compression to a section of 3/16 copper tube. The other end of the copper is held by another 3/16 compression to a 1/8 NPT into another 90 which is threaded into the base of the casting to collect the water. Picture 10 shows the Christmas tree in place on the casting. The drain hole took a little head scratching to locate. I first estimated where I needed the hole to be and drilled a 1/16 hole through to the inside. This gave me a starting place to work from in establishing drainage channels for the water. I needed 2 areas drained, one outside the race and the other inside. I enlarged the original holes until I satisfied myself that water would drain. I then drilled and tapped the hole for a 1/8 NPT. Pictures 1 and 4 show views of the drain hole and the casting penetration. I located the spot for the outer drain plug as close to the deck as I could without interfering with a wrench to turn it. Picture 7 shows the galvanized fitting with the brass ¼ NPT plug in place threaded from the outside. I had a bit of a struggle getting the copper tube to take the desired shape but tenacity prevailed. Picture 11 shows the lower ball race in place with the drain hole visible at the left side and also under the lower edge. After getting everything where it looked OK I disassembled it and put it back together with Teflon tape and/or Silicone. When I filled the gearbox with oil from the top plug the drain worked like a hose.
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