steering "shell"

1246 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Rog02, Oct 19, 2010

quickchicken

Discussion Starter · Oct 17, 2010

just recently i was mowing and my sterring came and went and i knew right away what it was so i fixed it. it was the steering "shell" (thats sorta what its shaped like) at the bottom of the steering shaft. the teeth finally got sho chewed that the steering shaft gear wouldnt contact anymore.

luckily about a yr ago i got a carcass from a fella that wanted it gone as long as he could have the motor and seat which was fine being those items on mine are in good shape.

i got the front axle assy, rear, and a handfull of other things and the shell was one thing i kept as well.

does/has anyone had a problem with this in the past and is there a trick fix to make this better? at the moment it looks like i'll stock up on a few of these just in case.

BTW the shaft gear is in excellent shape but i have one of those as spare along with the bushings.

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hankll

· #2 · Oct 17, 2010

I haven't seen this problem on a Murray before. The only steering issue I see is the ball joint on the steering arm wearing out.

However, I have seen the "shell" or sector gear as it is more commonly called, on a Snapper front engine rider go bad. It must have been a known problem for Snapper because they had provided an adjustment for the steering wheel shaft to be adjusted tighter against the teeth of the sector gear.

The only fix, I can think of, is to simply keep that area well greased to prevent wear. As long as it is out in the "open" to the dust and grit, and it never gets greased, its gonna wear.

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jpdocdave

· #3 · Oct 17, 2010

yep, clean and lubed, blow the debris out of there after every use.

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quickchicken

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 17, 2010

hankll said:
The only fix, I can think of, is to simply keep that area well greased to prevent wear. As long as it is out in the "open" to the dust and grit, and it never gets greased, its gonna wear.

jpdocdave said:
yep, clean and lubed, blow the debris out of there after every use.

looks like this is what i'll be doing. mine gets cleaned off after every mow first thing. just got done mowing our "dustbowl" and its getting washed today. if we had reg rain it wouldnt had been so dusty, or at all for that matter.

might config up something to cover the sector gear assy from dust to keep the grease cleaner. looks like i have another small winter project.

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themidniteryder

· #5 · Oct 17, 2010

I have had good luck with a wire feed welder building up the points with a quick zap, then cutting the back down to shape with a dremel too and metal cutoff wheel. If you cut the gears right this will also help tighten up the steering while your in there.

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hankll

· #6 · Oct 17, 2010

themidniteryder said:
I have had good luck with a wire feed welder building up the points with a quick zap, then cutting the back down to shape with a dremel too and metal cutoff wheel. If you cut the gears right this will also help tighten up the steering while your in there.

I wanted to try that on that Snapper, but I couldn't get the blamed shaft out. The keeper ring was so heavy it bent my my pliers tips trying to get it out. So I just tightened the shaft adjustment as tight as possible and warned the customer against turning the steering to the left too hard while not rolling. It would slip when sitting still, but not so while rolling. Very much like the Craftsman sector gear problem. Dumb engineering in Craftsman's case. Not so bad in Snapper engineering, but I wasn't able to effect a repair because of the location under the batter plate and the fact it was such a heavy duty keeper ring. The fault in that case was, I didn't have the proper tool. Needed a Snap On pliers tool or something better than the cheap Chinese tool I had.

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quickchicken

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 18, 2010

themidniteryder said:
I have had good luck with a wire feed welder building up the points with a quick zap, then cutting the back down to shape with a dremel too and metal cutoff wheel. If you cut the gears right this will also help tighten up the steering while your in there.

now thats an idea. i dont have a welder but i have all kinds of access to them and i'll try this. too bad theres not an adj to bring the steering shaft in to the sector or vice versa. this would be killer. grease everything in that area well and make a cover to protect the grease and id be set for a long time.

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Rog02

· #8 · Oct 19, 2010

I weld up the sector teeth on mowers quite frequently. I use a TIG but that is my preferred welder. I use an abrasive cut off disc in a die grinder to re profile them. As has been stated, you can tighten up the slop in the steering while you are doing it as well.

A word of caution about greasing the gears: DON'T grease the gears. Grease will accumulate dirt and speed the wear process. I lube them with a spray graphite or "Dri Lube". Farm supply stores sell this lube most of the time, though I have a source for industrial Dow Corning.

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