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Yea weird someone complaining about a too tight turning radius right? Well my 2014 Regent 48” fabricated deck mower actually does. I always noticed it seemed to steer too far in each direction. Not a problem if you go very slow in the turn but if your going down a hill and turn a tad too sharp it can begin to pull itself around further until you are actually pushing the wheel sideways. It happened once and bent the long steering cross arm which I replaced with nothing else showing damage. The sector and shaft gear are fine as far as I can see but it still has that oversteer tendency. I was wondering if anyone else ever noticed this. I’m not a machine pounder by the any means but this thing seems to always want to pretend it’s a zero turn. Any ideas?

post your 7 digit Simplicity model number, inspect steering sector & pinion gears, steering shaft, bushings, etc. you have a serious Safety issue if steering wheel continues to turn after wheels are all the way right & left. let us know what gives, thanks, Mark

mechanic mark said:

post your 7 digit Simplicity model number, inspect steering sector & pinion gears, steering shaft, bushings, etc. you have a serious Safety issue if steering wheel continues to turn after wheels are all the way right & left. let us know what gives, thanks, Mark

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2691240-00. 2014 year. 180 hrs no noticeable wear on the steering or sector gear. Wheels are in alignment. I found the latest incident was caused by a steering arm nut loosening. It gave the already rather sloppy steering setup enough extra play to let the wheel swing about 80 degrees .
Anyways i straightened the bent cross tie and welded a piece of half inch rod in the depressed center for extra strength. I also shimmed as much of the slop out of the wheels and steering components as humanly possible. It’s back in action but I still question how sharply it will turn.
It’s always felt like it’s just too much. Turn close to something especially down a sharp hill and it feels like it wants to oversteer enough to peel the tire off. I do notice that with the 48” Fabricated deck it’s HEAVY compared to a similar JD LA125 or similar. I doubt there’s much I can do but be even more careful than I already am sharp turing this thing. I wish there was a way to make up a stop or limiter of some kind but nothing obvious stands out. This is full deflection in the picture

https://www.simplicitymfg.com/eu/en...s.productmanuals.html?searchrequested=2691240

see pages 30 & 31, shaft, steering gear & spline yellow, inspect for wear & brush grease grease on pinion & sector gears. page 30 says must turn from stop to stop, have helper turn wheel as you investigate stopping positions.

Does that look to be too much too far. I did the grass again yesterday and going around a bush it ended up pushing the right wheel sideways again in spite of my being careful and ready for it.

Another question , I see you say to grease the sector to shaft gear on the steering shaft. I’ve kept this greased. I notice someone someplace saying never to grease those gears or they wear rapidly due to grit collection��, which is it? Thanks

go so far around that the one on the side I’m turning will go sideways enough to stop turning and slide sideways.
I just had to put it up in the air because a mixture of grease and grass jammed it to the point that it made steering extremely hard. So here it is cleaned up . No issues with the gear or sector. One thing for certain no more grease there for me. I’ll shoot it regularly with spray oil.
Take a look at that sector in the pics. That’s lock to lock opposite. One side is different from the other. Is that normal. I can’t see the end of the slot because the mounting bolts flange covers it .

The product that you use is White Lithium Chassis Grease.
Spray it on then leave it for 1/2 hour to allow the propellent to evaporate fully.
Spray from close so it goes down into crevices.
As for turning too tight
1) back off before you go into a turn, which is how one drives a car , hopefully
2) fit a bigger steering wheel so you have finer control over the steering

bertsmobile1 said:

The product that you use is White Lithium Chassis Grease.
Spray it on then leave it for 1/2 hour to allow the propellent to evaporate fully.
Spray from close so it goes down into crevices.
As for turning too tight
1) back off before you go into a turn, which is how one drives a car , hopefully
2) fit a bigger steering wheel so you have finer control over the steering

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No way this is normal. I’d have noticed it straight off. When this decides to go around sideways you actually have to hold it back , it wasn’t like that before. Thing is I can’t see anything bent twisted or out of place and I’m really good at that stuff. It did snag a log once with a wheel that twisted the cross tie . Not my doing?. What I’m wondering is if it somehow jumped a tooth and that caused the thing to act wacky. That’s why I put up the pictures . Wondering if that one side of the sector engagement being a tad more than the other at the extreme turn should be identical.

Those wheels look too far forward to be able to rotate.
If the tyres are thin or overimflated this will make things worse.
I use a lot of old mowers form the 60's & 70's which do not have diffs so have to be carefull as any attempt at a tight turn will cause the steering wheels to side just as you have described.

Go to simplicity and download the parts book.
Check the steering section for a stop.
Good chance yours have fallen off.

bertsmobile1 said:

Those wheels look too far forward to be able to rotate.
If the tyres are thin or overimflated this will make things worse.
I use a lot of old mowers form the 60's & 70's which do not have diffs so have to be carefull as any attempt at a tight turn will cause the steering wheels to side just as you have described.

Go to simplicity and download the parts book.
Check the steering section for a stop.
Good chance yours have fallen off.

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Ahhhh now I’m getting somewhere, now by diffs you do mean stops right? That’s what I was looking for. When I had it apart changing the bar that ties both wheels together I never saw anything to stop them from coming right around . The only limiter I saw in any way is the travel in the slot that the sector gear slides on. Everything else is just free pivoting linkages with no bends or buckles.
It works fine like that but get turning going downhill and it just wants to come right over unless you keep it in check. It never did that until the left wheel encountered that stump ? I’ll giver that diagram a look see with that particular thing in mind.

heres A Blast from my past as I never could fix but found a way to keep this thing from tearing the wheel out of my hands and it drives like power steering too. I saw someone’s idea of putting A 3/4” flat roller Bering under each steering post to make it steer easier. It really makes a huge difference . Better it keeps that oversteer from taking the wheel sideways right out of my hands. Now when it tries I can easily with one hand keep it from getting away. As for when it does and bending the steering arm the 1/2” rod that I welded in the stiffening recess on the bottom of the arm has kept it from being bent now for many years since added it.
Anyways I just found this and put it up in case someone else is having the same issues . I really can’t say enough for those flat bearings from EBay. They make handling an absolute breeze and so far the original set are on their 3rd season and going strong. I just drip a bit of oil on them every few uses if I think of it. I think 4 pairs with washers were around $10