Huskee Steering Problem

[bertsmobile1]

If you are only going to drop the deck, then get it up high as you will be working on the underside of the mower.
No need to drain the tank, that is just to sto fuel pouring out of the tank.
If you have a trailer then drive it up on the back and chack the mower wheels & put a stand under the trailer.
Run the front wheels up the front steps, anything to give yourself hammer swinging space under there.
In most cases the steering stem will pull right out from the wheel end once the retainer under the deck is removed.
The pivot bolt No 8 in the diagram can come loose as does the guide bolt No 26
Because no home owner ever lubricates it the fan plate No 18 floggs out in the hole that the No 8 bolt goes through.
No real need to pull anything out on top of the mower it is all done from underneath.

But before you start, have a long close look at all the parts circled in the original diagram.
Note that there are 4 bushes ( no 30 ).
Look carefully at the steering stem to see if it is moving. It should rotate but not move.
All of the parts that were highlited for you should rotate but not move.
A little here, a little there and all of a sudden it is undriveable.

 

[mhavanti]

I'm going to add one thing that nobody else has addressed and that is the up and down movement of the flat rack gear #18. Find a piece of flat, dense plastic or the best material is teflon. You need a piece approximately .032 thick. If the wear on top of the gear pedastal (Floor of frame) the gear moves on is extreme, you may require a thicker piece of plastic.

Using the mounting plate, number 1 for a template, cut out the material and insert it between the plate and the rack gear #18. Make sure you time the gears and tighten everything up. This will set the correct installation height contact of#18 to #28, maintain that height and keep the gear from rearing up. This will not only serve to remove a great deal of the steering wheel slack, it will also give a better steering experience by maintaining the correct gear tooth of the #28 to #18.

I have in the case of extreme wear to the frame below the gear rack, adding an ultra thin piece of teflon cutting board material you can purchase at a home supply. They usually come in threes and are different colors. Now, before you jump in about the colors, the colors have nothing to do with hardness or lubricity, it is so you don't mix meats and vegetables while prepping food. lol

I've done these additions on several mowers in the community in the past several years. None of them have had to be replaced at this point. You can also drill and thread #1 and screw in a 1/4-28 90 degree grease zerk to make it much easier to lubricate the gear rack.

Time to do this is while you're replacing #28 and the bushing #28 resides. Grease them well with heavy high temperature grease.

Good luck.

 

[oldtubejock]

Well, I got the issue fixed. After looking at everything, Item #10 was loose at Item #18. I took Item #19 off and screwed it clockwise and kept trying putting it back on and trying it. I have it to where it's tight now. Again, the steering was only loose going CCW and CW, not up and down. I also ended up putting a finger full of grease on the gears as well.

Thanks again for all the advice, I will for sure resort back to this page when things really go to hell.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Jeff

 

[mhavanti]

Glad to hear it Tube Jock. I was speaking to loose right / left slack. Much of that is caused by the rack moving upward away from the spiral gear and thus causes the two teeth to disengage somewhat from each other. If they are not at the proper depth, it makes it extremely difficult to turn the steering wheel and especially to return the wheel back to neutral. If you have those problems, you don't have to totally disassemble everything to add the spacer / flat plastic bearing material between the retainer and the steering rack.

Main thing is to make sure you time the gears for centering the steering. If it is off center, it will turn further one way than the other and not by choice as is some of the manufacturers.

Again, glad you're up and running.

Run it like you stole it. If you break it, fix it.

 

[dustymars]

This thread is old, but my problem is not so old. I bought my Huskee LT4200 (13AD771G731) in 2004, and have had little or no problems with it, other than the usual wear and tear stuff. Then sometime back my steering got a bit too loose and found some slop in the wheel shaft gear and steering assembly, and a loose adjustment bolt. So, I adjusted the slop out, but, somehow slipped the gear over a tooth or two then tightened all down. Well, that was before I fell ill with cancer and have not been able to work on it for several months. Being and old dude, I forgot what I did.

I have seen a few "fix-it" videos, that in most cases, are so amateurish they make no sense. Any suggestions for a video for adjusting said system this old engineer can understand?