D17 front axle

The inner width adjust slot bolt is just that.....a bolt. If it hasn't been loosened in decades, you might twist it off, which you could, then deal with the broken off piece in your shop. It's probably only a grade 5 quality.  Smack hard several times directly on the bolts head before trying to loosen it. An electric impact would work best.  Whenever an accident like that happens, the very hard hi-pro woodruff key damages the key way in the steering arm and often ruins the key way in the vertical spindle too, making both parts JUNK. The hi-pro key isn't sheared. The keyways are damaged. The quickest and cheapest fix is to remove the snap ring and then position the steering arm back to where it should be aimed and weld it around the top making the arm and spindle one piece. Look at the other side and determine where the arm should be in relation to the tire. Get this positioning correct or your "toe-in" will be incorrect.   And, you CANNOT slide the spindle down the vertical tube until you remove the steering arm first, and then remove the woodruff key !!! Then the spindle can be removed from the tube.

Edited by DrAllis - 06 Jul 2026 at 8:36pm

Well, like many other 70 year old tractors.....someone changed it to a STUD, which it isn't supposed to be. So, if you insist on removing the whole "knee" assembly you'll have to remove the stud first.

Don't mean to hijack this post but my D-17 Ser IV has this done to it . I had assumed someone couldn't get the snap ring back in place and then welded around the top . But what most likely happened was someone broke the key way and welded the top to "fix" it . It works fine and will most likely be fine. I had tried with some parts guys to get the whole right side of the front axle but Series IV and III are hard to come by.