Export thread

Craftsman YT3000
917.288533

Looking for input on what might be causing an alignment issue with my mower.

Issue: alignment is toed out and wheels have "play" in terms of the alignment. I can hold one wheel straight and move the other wheel from "in alignment" to maybe one inch out of alignment.

Originally I thought my tie rod looked bent and thought they may be worn out so I replaced both right and left with no success. Next I moved to the drag links thinking they may be bent or worn out and problem is still not solved. I have watched videos that show you can bend components to fix the toed out condition, however, I do not think that will solve my problem as the wheels have "play" as I mentioned. I tried uploading a video with no success so I will try my best to describe additional details as needed.

After spending a fair amount of time moving the wheels left and right, the only possible area I see an issue is the sector plate rocks/tilts back and forth when I moving the wheels as described. I removed the plate to inspect but I can't see how I would correct the play in the sector plate.

I appreciate any input.

That is the NZTR steering which is a royal pain to get aligned. Nearly every component has to be replaced including the two pivot plates and pivot bolts. Even then you need a hydraulic press to finish aligning the toe out to zero. I usually end having to bend the two tie rods where they are about 1/16 inch shorter each.

I will look at ordering new pivot plates and bolts as well. You expect this will solve not only the alignment but the play I described as well?

As I said this is a pain of the neck steering system and not easily repaired. I usually spend half a day repairing the steering and that with me knowing what to look for. On the new mower with this system you have to drop the steering sector gear just to change the long tie rods (draglinks).

As the sector flopping it probably the pivot shoulder bolt that is worn. Now the sector gear will have some play no matter what you do.

Many of these came from factory with the front end out of alignment.

As with Star
I firstly check carefully where the slop is
Mostly it is the fan gear pivot hole & pivot bolt
Next biggie is the junk tie rods with the inbuilt swivel ends
Followed by wheel bushes
Then king pin bushes
Similarly to Star I cut the ends off the drag rods & tap them for metric ball jointed tie rod ends .
Not only does this make them adjustable but the ball ends have very little latteral play
Some have welded real tie rod ends to the drag links which also works bit of course they are not adjustable.
Having a bent drag rod is a very very very very bad piece of engineering and the swaged in ends is even worse still
But it is cheap & people will not pay for quality .
Normally I charge around $ 500 ( Aus ) to repair them so only do one or two a year as most owners just buy a new mower & sell the old one .
One had come back from the new owner & all the previous owner did was to put a pry bar between the mower & the stretched drag link then bend it till the wheels were strait
Unfortunately he also bent a lot of the frame doing this .
The new owner did get me to modify the tie rods & has been using the mower happily for several seasons

It doesn't help when you install all new components from Husqvarna and the front is still out alignment. This is what I am dealing with, plus when the slightest play in pivot points can cause problems as wheels being alignment but when the mower moves forwards wheels become toed out and when the mower moves backwards the wheel can actually become toed in. I even seen the main axle pivot bushings to cause this as the axle tilts. And you can't go by eye on this system either as you must measure both the from of the rims and the back of rims to measure the toe.

This NZTR steering is just too sensitive to wear in my opinion. Especially even when a 1/16 of inch of wear can cause problems. Plus it just puts so much stress on the whole steering system.

The Op is in for a battle to get this steering right when even an experienced tech has headaches getting this system right. Even with experience it is a very time consuming repair.

Btw NZTR stands for Near Zero Turn Rider steering.

StarTech said:

It doesn't help when you install all new components from Husqvarna and the front is still out alignment. This is what I am dealing with, plus when the slightest play in pivot points can cause problems as wheels being alignment but when the mower moves forwards wheels become toed out and when the mower moves backwards the wheel can actually become toed in. I even seen the main axle pivot bushings to cause this as the axle tilts. And you can't go by eye on this system either as you must measure both the from of the rims and the back of rims to measure the toe.

This NZTR steering is just too sensitive to wear in my opinion. Especially even when a 1/16 of inch of wear can cause problems. Plus it just puts so much stress on the whole steering system.

The Op is in for a battle to get this steering right when even an experienced tech has headaches getting this system right. Even with experience it is a very time consuming repair.

Btw NZTR stands for Near Zero Turn Rider steering.

Click to expand...

I hate the two drag link style steering systems I understand they do it that way for tighter turning radius., but as you stated every component that has anything to due with steering with any play throws the whole system out of whack including any movement in the frame. And then if you get everything correct, the first time the customer hits a hole in their yard everything is out of alignment again.

I appreciate the info, it has been very helpful. Sounds like I should decide if a new mower is in the budget this year.

StarTech said:

It doesn't help when you install all new components from Husqvarna and the front is still out alignment. This is what I am dealing with, plus when the slightest play in pivot points can cause problems as wheels being alignment but when the mower moves forwards wheels become toed out and when the mower moves backwards the wheel can actually become toed in. I even seen the main axle pivot bushings to cause this as the axle tilts. And you can't go by eye on this system either as you must measure both the from of the rims and the back of rims to measure the toe.

This NZTR steering is just too sensitive to wear in my opinion. Especially even when a 1/16 of inch of wear can cause problems. Plus it just puts so much stress on the whole steering system.

The Op is in for a battle to get this steering right when even an experienced tech has headaches getting this system right. Even with experience it is a very time consuming repair.

Btw NZTR stands for Near Zero Turn Rider steering.

Click to expand...

This is classic and often never properly identified. When changes from toe in to toe out ie forward and reverse, I have found the axle itself is usually the problem with little fix. The axle tilts forward and backwards rocking in the frame cradle. Often caused by striking a tree or other while turning sharp and hitting in a fashion to torque the u channel of the frame open and then the axle will rock for and aft = toe in toe out as each tie rod is moving the alignment in accordance with the distance change. I have not found a good fix. I suspect a hard fix might be to shim the axle in the frame or weld it as a non pivoting front axle if your ground is fairly level but quality of cut will suffer as well as traction and divots. All depends on your need to continue it's use or abandon it. Sorry for the bad news on this design and there are many units with this design under many makers.

Depending how wear is on in the pivot area one of the bushings may need shortening. Just be careful not to over do it as it will cause binding. Refer item 67 (2 each used).

VRR.DYNDNS>BIZ said:

This is classic and often never properly identified. When changes from toe in to toe out ie forward and reverse, I have found the axle itself is usually the problem with little fix. The axle tilts forward and backwards rocking in the frame cradle. Often caused by striking a tree or other while turning sharp and hitting in a fashion to torque the u channel of the frame open and then the axle will rock for and aft = toe in toe out as each tie rod is moving the alignment in accordance with the distance change. I have not found a good fix. I suspect a hard fix might be to shim the axle in the frame or weld it as a non pivoting front axle if your ground is fairly level but quality of cut will suffer as well as traction and divots. All depends on your need to continue it's use or abandon it. Sorry for the bad news on this design and there are many units with this design under many makers.

Click to expand...

And they all have the same failed attempt at being a good steering system.

VRR.DYNDNS>BIZ said:

This is classic and often never properly identified. When changes from toe in to toe out ie forward and reverse, I have found the axle itself is usually the problem with little fix. The axle tilts forward and backwards rocking in the frame cradle. Often caused by striking a tree or other while turning sharp and hitting in a fashion to torque the u channel of the frame open and then the axle will rock for and aft = toe in toe out as each tie rod is moving the alignment in accordance with the distance change. I have not found a good fix. I suspect a hard fix might be to shim the axle in the frame or weld it as a non pivoting front axle if your ground is fairly level but quality of cut will suffer as well as traction and divots. All depends on your need to continue it's use or abandon it. Sorry for the bad news on this design and there are many units with this design under many makers.

Click to expand...

Should not be a problem with the cast iron front crossmember mowers.
A bigger problem with pressed metal cross members found almost exclusively on MTD mowers now days .

Having said that the pivot pin does wear if it is not lubricated .