In blue are the components that could give you a sloppy steering and in red are the ones that need good lube twice a year....because if you don't lube it, it'll make 'blue components' work much harder wearing it out much faster.
The pinion and sector gear ( in blue ) - should be lubed before the mower is ever used from new out of the box. Gun grease on the gear teeth and oil in the sleeve bearings ( called bushings by some non mechanics ). I use bar and chain lube oil for the sleeve bearings but singer sewing machine oil is better than no lube.
On right side discharge mowers the sector teeth will usually be worn the most via left turns being dominate.
OK, let's hear it from those that prefer dry dirt rather than lubricated dirt.
****************************************************************
I wouldn't unbolt but find a way to use a grease gun with a flex hose or put grease on the gear teeth with a modified wooden paint stir stick etc. It often takes ingenuity and desire to just do it. My JD lawn tractor was a bitch to lube the steering pinion gear bushing so I Zip tied a length of small tubing ( similar to oxygen tubing ) to the steering shaft and terminated it at the bushing top end letting gravity do the remainder. A half dozen drops of oil in the top of the tubing where it was easy access eventually lubed the bushing.
