My MTD can barely turn left, the turning radius is HUGE because of this. I can't find any obvious adjustments or bent rods. Right turns are fine, but not very desirable as it throws grass into the uncut part of the yard. Advice?
MTD Riding mower Left Turns
- Thread starter jdt-aces
- Start date
It's close enough to this Craftsman even though it's branded "Hustler"... watching this now.
tagpop
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- Jun 15, 2014
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Low air pressure in one front tire, probably the right front.
Debris in a plate groove. Seems like a pretty easy fix.
I actually do have one tire that always slowly looses air, I repressure them all equal before each cut, I need to get the tire/rim/whatever is causing it to lose air fixed too!
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
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- Nov 29, 2014
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The steering gear is a simple rack ( fan gear ) & pinion ( steering gear ) system.
With these , turning right pulls them together & turning left pushes them apart.
When being pushed apart the teeth then lock tip to tip preventing the mower turning right.
The usual culprit is a worn bush in the steering shaft and a flogged out hole in the fan gear.
Both happen because people do not clean the steering shaft nor lubricate the bushes.
The linked to video shows the owner had both of these problems and his little ( long overdue) clean up will not fix his problem for very long .
You tube videos are often not worth the effort of watching and even worse his has a loud deep authorative audio, so it must be true.
Everything he did could have been done in 2 minutes with a long air duster.
And even worse he assembled it dry.
If you check your owners manual it tells you to lubricate with oil monthly.
Most techs use dry lithium spray grease after a blow out with the afore mentioned air duster then give it 10 minutes for the solvent to flash off.
I like to give the teeth of both gears a heavy spray as well.
Just about every mower has a replaceable bush on the steering shaft and some a bush for the fan gear
Both of these flog out oval because as previously mentioned turning right pushes the gears apart putting full load on the bushes .
Some have an adjustment on the bottom of the steering shaft to compensate for the wear.
With these , turning right pulls them together & turning left pushes them apart.
When being pushed apart the teeth then lock tip to tip preventing the mower turning right.
The usual culprit is a worn bush in the steering shaft and a flogged out hole in the fan gear.
Both happen because people do not clean the steering shaft nor lubricate the bushes.
The linked to video shows the owner had both of these problems and his little ( long overdue) clean up will not fix his problem for very long .
You tube videos are often not worth the effort of watching and even worse his has a loud deep authorative audio, so it must be true.
Everything he did could have been done in 2 minutes with a long air duster.
And even worse he assembled it dry.
If you check your owners manual it tells you to lubricate with oil monthly.
Most techs use dry lithium spray grease after a blow out with the afore mentioned air duster then give it 10 minutes for the solvent to flash off.
I like to give the teeth of both gears a heavy spray as well.
Just about every mower has a replaceable bush on the steering shaft and some a bush for the fan gear
Both of these flog out oval because as previously mentioned turning right pushes the gears apart putting full load on the bushes .
Some have an adjustment on the bottom of the steering shaft to compensate for the wear.
dennis morris
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- Oct 31, 2013
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check and see if the steering wheel gear has slipped u can have a worn bushing that ley it slip on the fan gear or fan gear and steering gear can be worn and slip DENNY