Comparison Lawn & Garden Tractors - Steering Gear

[Pinewood32]

Hi Folks,
I've been looking at larger lawn tractors - Deere X570, Husqvarna GT series. Today I went to the Husqvarna dealer and looked at the GT48DXLS up close. One thing I noticed was that the steering gear (gear + sector gear) is totally exposed on the underside of the tractor. I hadn't looked at this detail on the Deere X-series, but when I look at JDParts, it appears that the Deere steering gear is similarly exposed.

Won't junk get between the two gears and wear them out? Maybe lawn tractor steering has always been like this, but it looks chintzy to me. It does look like the Deere uses bearings to support the steering components whereas I think the Husqvarna uses bushings.

Does any manufacturer have a better setup or does this configuration seem to be durable in the long-term?

Thanks!

John

 

[KennyG]

I don't think the steering gears are loaded enough to be a wear concern. The bushings/bearings are another stories. I've seen several Craftsman mowers with plastic bushings that needed early replacement.

 

[tomplum]

On either one of these the steering is dependable. I think that I've done only one X series steering gear ever. The lighter Deere's had bushing and gear issues, though they have been beefed up some.

 

[Texasmark]

Not meant to sound sarcastic, but really, find something else to worry about. I have been running riding mowers for 40 years on some difficult terrain and haven't had one problem with any of them.

 

[TheMadOne]

I have an old JD 160 that's currently got jammed steering. It's something like 30 years old and sat for the past 5. Before that the only issue was the bushings on the link arm wearing out. I'd call that a decent lifespan.

 

[Aaron L]

The bronze steering shaft bearing on my 1988-ish Craftsman/AYP GT20 finally gave up the ghost last year. Should have replaced the bushing long ago. Enough slop built up that the pinion skipped on the sector gear and took about 5-6 teeth off. The correct sector gear assembly is NLA for these tractors.

I ended up buying a sector gear assembly for a different tractor model (same gear, but with an incompatible steering arm riveted onto it) and then modifying it to suit per a couple writeups I'd read on some tractor forums. Drilled out the rivets holding the steering arms on my old busted gear and the new gear. Installed the old arm on the new gear using some pan head hex screws (after grinding their heads down to be flush with the countersunk holes on the gear) and nylock nuts.

Installed the modified gear assembly with an NOS gear support bracket and new bronze bushing. That was a **** of a job. The frame rails must be assembled around the steering bracket and other crossmenbers at the factory. Had to take about 1/3 of the tractor apart to get the new assembly up in there. Just getting the steering shaft through the new bushing was fun, as they must have painted the shaft (and the rest of the steering assembly) after putting it all together. Painted sections did not want to go through the bushing. Glad that's done.....