[Torino]

The steering on my 86 Sears GT is almost completely gone. When I turn the wheel it feel like the gears on the steering are not mashing. When i looked at it I could see nothing wrong and it steers fine with no weight on the front tires.

 

[Tractor-Holic]

There is wear somewhere,either the bushings that hold the steering shaft in place are sloppy enough to let the gears "skip" ,or the gears are worn out or have missing teeth..or the mounts that hold the steering shaft and gears has been bent so the gears dont mesh tightly enough any more..

 

[RStocker]

There is wear somewhere,either the bushings that hold the steering shaft in place are sloppy enough to let the gears "skip" ,or the gears are worn out or have missing teeth..or the mounts that hold the steering shaft and gears has been bent so the gears dont mesh tightly enough any more..

That should cover it. Hard to tell with out haveing a look at the problem. It should not be that hard to fix.

 

[peteleft]

Mine was due to a retention pin that went MIA. Of course mine is a 2007 DYS4500. The steering shaft dropped just low enough to cause similar circumstances as yours. I found out about the pin by looking at the diagram on the parts website. Took me a bit to find the hole as I had to pull the steering shaft upward and the hole was filled with dirt and blended in. $3.00 and 5 minutes.

 

[madmantrapper]

I had trouble with mine also, after buying the thrid sector gear that was missing teeth, I drilled and tapped some small holes and threaded SHCS in and welded teeth on. Never failed again.

 

[dirtsaver]

Torino if you have your Sears model #, something like 917-********* go to the sears parts lookup and search for the steering bushing that goes around the steering coloum shaft at the lower mount next to the sector gear. That is a common wear item and only costs a few bucks. I just picked up a cherry 1993 GT6000 somebody threw out because of that $6.90 part!

The only drawback is you have to remove the coloum from under the mower to replace it. Figure on a few hours on a Saturday morning to do the job.