Help identify a part

[bertsmobile1]

Great advice. I will replace both sides. I figure no matter if only one side went bad the other may be soon to follow. Now I need to find a write up on aligning them.
Thank you

The fan gear should have a hole in it that aligns with a hole in the chassis when the steering is in the strait forward position.
Before you put in your order , check the hole in the middle of the fan gear , the teeth on the fan gear, the teeth on the steering gear and the bush the steering shaft runs through.
These are all wear items and usually get changed as a fairly well complete set

 

[305]

The fan gear should have a hole in it that aligns with a hole in the chassis when the steering is in the strait forward position.
Before you put in your order , check the hole in the middle of the fan gear , the teeth on the fan gear, the teeth on the steering gear and the bush the steering shaft runs through.
These are all wear items and usually get changed as a fairly well complete set

I'm glad you mentioned what else to look for. The bushing is bad beyond belief. Everything else looks pretty good. I ended up ordering all my parts from searsdirect. They were not too much more in price than what I found on amazon. I figure it is worth the extra cash to ensure the parts well made. I've found amazon can be hit or miss.
Thanks again for all the great information. It has helped more than I can express.

 

[ILENGINE]

you have to watch the searspartsdirect prices sometimes. I have seen them price parts at $48.95 when the same part through a dealer was $7.95

 

[Evil Spirit]

Something to keep in mind when sourcing parts is that many times the "knock-offs" were made by the same suppliers as the ones that made them for Sears/Craftsman - well, actually AYP. And I can tell you this - I've ordered deck mandrels - among other items - from both Sears Parts Direct and then from Amazon or E-Bay - at about 1/2 the price - and they both came in a HUSQVARNA box. American Yard Products - AYP - assembled 4-5 brands of "box store" yard products, many times the only difference was the color and name on the tins - and the majority of those parts were sourced from the lowest bidder.

 

[rdedrick]

One fix is to purchase a ball joint end if yours is removable. They come in male or female ends and various sizes. I have seen them on the floor in bins at a local AG hardware store. They can be found at online hardware stores like McMasterCarr. The following link will guide you to their page

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

 

[305]

One fix is to purchase a ball joint end if yours is removable. They come in male or female ends and various sizes. I have seen them on the floor in bins at a local AG hardware store. They can be found at online hardware stores like McMasterCarr. The following link will guide you to their page

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

The drag link I'm replacing is pretty bad so I ordered the entire assembly. The box they came in was about 3 feet long 2 feet wide and tall. I thought they shipped the wrong part. When I opened it there was 1 piece of packing paper and the 2 drag links. The parts look great but with shipping like that I can see why sears went out of business lol.
I'm going to install them tomorrow. Hopefully it will be an easy process. I'll report back and let you guys know how it went. Keep in mind Im a landscaper and not a repair tech. What would take you guys an hour will probably take me all day.
Is there anything I should look out for or any tips you have to help installing these drag links?

 

[305]

Oh. I almost forgot to ask if there are any torque specs I should be following?
Thanks for all the help.

 

[Evil Spirit]

One fix is to purchase a ball joint end if yours is removable. They come in male or female ends and various sizes. I have seen them on the floor in bins at a local AG hardware store. They can be found at online hardware stores like McMasterCarr. The following link will guide you to their page

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

I used to buy both male and female ends in bags of 10 on Ebay for about $30 including shipping. To be honest I never changed the whole links, only the ends. Changing the threaded ones are pretty much a no brainer. For the "non-replaceable" ends I cut the bad end off, welded an all-thread nut onto the shaft and screwed a male end into it. It is a little more work to repair them, but I could easily fix them in about an hour and get the mower back to the owner the same day instead of waiting for parts, and usually cheaper than buying the whole links.

 

[305]

Ok. So I got my drag links. They are the same as the one's Im replacing. I made sure to install them on the correct sides with the long part of the link attaching to the steering gear. Now the wheels are completely out of alignment yet they were not out of alignment before.
Any clue as to what I did wrong? I mean they are not just a little out of alignment but inches out of alignment. I do not get it.
Thanks again for any help on this.

 

[Fish]

Are they on the correct side? Backwards?