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hey folks.. ive a columbia brandedlawn tractor model 13ae698g597 serial 2a082I30159 and the steering gear ( on the steer shaft) is fubared.. i cant seem to find anything anywheres it keep comign back as.. not listed.. on pretty much any small engine parts sites ive checked.. at this point.. id love to find anything..even used stock.. but not knowing what i can cross reference to.. im up the creek it seems.. ideas??

Could you model number be an AV, not AE?

Rivets said:

Could you model number be an AV, not AE?

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nope, it could not really is AE

i took the steering shaft appart, expecting a shaft.. and a splined gear that could be changed.. but it turns out.. this is all one piece.. weather its machined as such ( doubt it ) or pressed on.. regardless.. the gear is some sort of steel.. so i rolled a bead down each tooth and tried as best i can to reproduce the tooth profile 12 times.. i put the shaft back in with the bolt under it snugged up and it seems ok.. coudlnt put it all back together right then as it was family time after that i should be able to put it back together later this weekend... maybe it isnt a bad thing i could just.. find another part lol was a fun way to spend a couple hours

well.. its all putback together.. it still skips.. so my options are either take it back appart.. and add more weld bead to the gear to try and make it pointy-er on the teeth.. find a used gear in good shape.. find a new gear .. or live with it as is ... i think i may re-attempt down the road.. but will finish this season as is.. kinda regret not having taken meassurments before putting it all back together as it would have made it a bunch easier to find a used part ya live ya learn

Did you check the bushings on both the top and bottom of the shaft? If they are worn the gears will not allow the gears to mesh properly.

with that part number it will be a MTD mower so an MTD shaft will fit
Lots of parts suppliers never cross the the std MT part so if the deal with Columbia was to give all the parts exclusive Columbia numbers so parts can only be obtained via the Columbia dealer network .
Unless it is a very very old mower the part should be available
Remember there are 2 parts to a gear set and both will rotate on a bush of some description .
I replace a lot of bushes but almost never the actual shafts or fan gears .
Bush wear first manifests itself as the mower being easy to steer in one direction then hard in the other .

Rivets said:

Did you check the bushings on both the top and bottom of the shaft? If they are worn the gears will not allow the gears to mesh properly.

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on my machine the 'top bushing' is the dash panel.. the bottom bushing does have a bit of slop yes.. the shaft itself also has a bit of wear where the bushing sits so even a new bushing wouldnt take out all the slop.. the rebuilt gear teeth arent what i would call a pretty affair so i think by reworking things.. i should be able to get a better fit

Might want to also want to check the bushing on the sector gear.

Rivets said:

Might want to also want to check the bushing on the sector gear.

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yeah there is play there as well.. i havent taken it appart but i snugged up the loose bolts holding it down which helps.. i get the reason behind your suggestion and ill definately keep that in mind thanks