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It should help reduce the wear on the steering sector area.

Forest#2 said:

It should help reduce the wear on the steering sector area.

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Yes it can but it also can create future problems with quick failures.

StarTech said:

Yes it can but it also can create future problems with quick failures.

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Can you explain/comment further on what would be your concerns about adding the needle bearings and causing a possible quick failure? (like maybe failure of the Chink bearings from dirt/dust or?)

Yes one thing is dirt and another the heavy impacts these would have to endure. I just experience same type of bearing failure in my 4L60E transmission and the bearing is keep fully submerged in oil. When it failed it took out the mating surfaces which one was over $800 to replace.

Yep those radial roller bearings get crud in them and fall apart
It will not be a catastrophic failure but the steering will just get heavy again

Having said that I have done the same conversion several times and it works well because after 2 to 3 years the steering gets heavy again so they call me back to service the mower
SO I get to do a full service every 2 to 3 years for the price of a $ 12 set of bearings which I do not charge for .
I also noticed he was using LMM grease which is not good for that purpose.
I use marine grease which stands up to the elements a lot better .
Even high tack farm grease would be better than LMM

Yea I put these on two of my tractors (Roper rt10 & Sears st10) and honestly couldn't tell a difference. One has a snow blade hanging on the front and the other a snowblower. Even when nothing was on wasn't impressed. If anything the weight will probably destroy the bearings over time..either way probably wouldn't waste my time again.

Darn, so it’s not worth trying?

Craftsman Garage said:

Darn, so it’s not worth trying?

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Its cheap enough to try so why not.
You may find that it makes a difference...There's many that got great results. I just wasn't one of them.

i tried it and noticed maybe about a 25-30% increase in better steering. don't know how long they will last but i did it for 8 bucks so I'm happy with it, but probably wouldn't do them it again.

I've never had a mower steering wheel that was that hard to turn, unless the gear or something was bad. IMO, this would be something I'd try only if I was having to make repairs on down there. Like replacing drag links.

I bet any of us could come up with some sort rubber dust cover for this hack.

looking at that bearing size, I bet the dust collar for a 1 1/4" MTB head set bearing would cover it pretty well. just a thought.the head set bearings are close to that size.

PTmowerMech said:

I've never had a mower steering wheel that was that hard to turn, unless the gear or something was bad. IMO, this would be something I'd try only if I was having to make repairs on down there. Like replacing drag links.

I bet any of us could come up with some sort rubber dust cover for this hack.

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My Cub Cadet Pro Z 100 S(teering wheel) is quite difficult to steer at low speeds on asphalt or concrete. The next model up (Pro Z 500) uses power steering. So there are situations where a mower can be difficult to steer.