The steering on the Wheel Horse riding lawn mower has been skipping and making a grinding noise. Luckily I diagnosed the problems and ordered some new and used parts which we picked up at my box in USA last fall. The weather turned cold so I didn't get to doing the actual replacement.
The mower didn't fail and Tim managed to mulch up the fallen leaves but I don't think it will go much further before the steering gives up completely.
The teeth on the pinion and rack are damaged. This is likely caused by wear in the main bushing. Play in the shaft allows the pinion (small) gear to move away from the rack and puts great strain on the ends of the teeth.
Fortunately parts are readily available for the Toro 13-38 and I was able to find good ones on eBay.
JOB FOR THIS WEEK: Just tear the machine down and install the pinion, rack and bushing, a little grease and we should be good for another ten years or more.
First, jack up the machine. Always us a jack stand when working under any elevated weight.
Above shows the old pinion gear and below the 'new' and old rack gears.
It took about 20 years to get this bad. In future I'll keep the gears greased every season.
The 'new' pinion gear and steering shaft was too long.
ABOVE: I had to hack saw the shaft and drill a new hole the same distance from the gear.
BELOW: The 'new' pinion and rack gears installed, ready for a good slathering of grease.
This 'social distancing' because of the terrible COVID-19 virus is going to make it a long summer ahead if we can't go anywhere but maybe it will allow me to get a lot of items like this off my 'honey do' list. Next!
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