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I have a Craftsman mower where the front tires are bowed out. I have checked tie rods and drag links, and they are tight. The spindles appear to not be bent. There is a lot of front to back play in the "I-beam", but the pivot bolt is tight, also there is a lot of flex in the gear sector. What else could cause this?

Sounds like your tie rods need to be adjusted if possible, or replaced. Upload the model no. And a pic of the front end.

padyt said:

I have a Craftsman mower where the front tires are bowed out. I have checked tie rods and drag links, and they are tight. The spindles appear to not be bent. There is a lot of front to back play in the "I-beam", but the pivot bolt is tight, also there is a lot of flex in the gear sector. What else could cause this?

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Your symptom is due to the combination of the axle pivoting in the mount, the wheel spindle bushing worn, the slack in the sector gear, and the drag links/tie rods are bent. And in some cases you can throw in a bent frame.

ILENGINE said:

Your symptom is due to the combination of the axle pivoting in the mount, the wheel spindle bushing worn, the slack in the sector gear, and the drag links/tie rods are bent. And in some cases you can throw in a bent frame.

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Combine all the slop in each steering component and severe toe out is the result. Only so much can be done to help. There is a way to straighten the steering spindle and different videos on YouTube show it.

Play is not something you want. And if this one the NZTR steering they are a bear to straighten and usually require a hydraulic press as new parts usually don't fix the problem if it is the drag links that are causing the toe out.

Juust note many of the NZTR mowers came from the factory with toe out which caused a lot tire wear and hard to control steering.

StarTech, this is just an old craftsman riding mower. I'm guessing its a DYT4000.

Thanks for all of the input. It will be this weekend before I can get back to it. I do have new drag links and tie rods, just need to check out the bushings and spindles before ordering them. Again, Thank you.