Hex Flange Bearing

Started at the bottom, Removed the screw that held in the bottom of the shaft. Went to the steering wheel, popped the plastic cover off and removed the bolt. Then needed to remove the plastic steering cover to get the gear thru. The bottom screw was very tight , needed to remove the deck, tip the machine over, brace it and then remove the screw. When I put it back together I did not need to tip it over. Put the deck back on. DONE Went easier than I thought.

Removed the steering pinion gear. and pulled the steering wheel and shaft out of the gearing flange. I tapped the bearing flange hex out of the frame with a small hammer. Reverse order to reassemble.

Remove hood, fuel tank, steering wheel, inner dash support, phillips screw and washer from bottom end of steering shaft and plastic bushing/sleeve from inner dash. this will give you enough wiggle room to pull shaft and pinion out through bottom side. Poor design with the pinion machined onto the shaft. The holes in dash support are not large enough to let the shaft and pinion pass through. So its the hard way. So to reassemble just reverse the BS. I added a grease cup, full of grease to shaft just above rack and pinion and let gravity deliver the grease. A dirty dusty place and the grease may make it worse in the long run. Time will tell but it works fine and steers easier now than new. that's my wife's opinion and she the mower. Good luck

Took off steering wheel. Jacked up mower, removed screw from bottom of steering shaft and removed shaft and flange bearing. Put new flange bearing in place, put in new steering shaft and put the steering wheel together.

I removed gas tank, removed steering wheel. I then remove screw holding steering shaft in Flex Bearing and removed both. (It would have been easier if a bolt instead of a screw had been used to retain steering gear shaft) I used a bolt when I replaced my steering gear shaft. (A socket wrench works a lot better than a screw driver)

Art in Virginia

Removed the top part of the dash and steering wheel. The steering shaft has a phillips screw in the bottom this was the only problem getting the screw loosened. Instead of putting the screw back I put a short Bolt in its place and added a little thread lock. The parts fit perfect. P. S. Don't forget to put some heavy grease on the steering gears !!! Hope this helps !!!

1. Order repair parts after I saw that the bearing and the gear at the bottom of the steering shaft was shot.
2. Lower the deck and remove it.
3. Lift up tractor to get access to Phillips head screw. Back sure that you put a stable support under mower.
4. Screw will not come out because thread locking liquid was used when it was assembled. Use the torch to heat the screw threads above 500 F and then remove the screw.
5. Remove the bearing and shaft and washer. Replace with new parts. I think it helps to epoxy glue the bearing in place after the area has been cleaned. Use flange head hex bolt with same thread to instead of Philips screw. In the future this will allow you to do the repair without removing the mower deck. Use a fiber washer with the bolt to reduce friction. Be sure to lock the bolt threads because if you don't everything come apart when your are mowing.

I had to take off the deck and the transmission pulley gear to get a sawzall in to remove the screw holding the steering shaft to the frame. After this, I had to take apart the console to remove the shaft and gear. Parts were perfect and and replacement was quick. Greatly assisted by the schematics on the site.

Anchored the steering wheel with cam buckle straps so that it cannot turn.
Removed screw from bottom of steering shaft. I used a #3 Phillips bit on a breaker bar.
Released straps from steering wheel.
Lifted steering shaft about 2 inches.
Pulled worn bushing.
Greased new bushing, and installed it.
Reinstalled steering shaft.
Anchored steering shaft as above.
Greased steering gears.
Greased and reinstalled bottom washer/spacer
Replaced #3 Phillips screw with hex bolt.
Removed cam buckle straps.
Lubricated all steering components.

Removing steering wheel and steering shaft