what happened to my steering box

[wagonmaster]

After making a couple laps around my yard, the steering got stiff and started to bind up . Now I can only steer it when the front end is jacked up. It went from 1/4 turn of play in the wheel to almost a full turn. It turns freely to the right and binds all the way to the left.

[Eugene]

Time to remove the mower deck. Jack and block up the tractor's front end. See if the blockage is external to the Ross type steering sector.

My guess, something came loose in the steering sector. Ross steering sector is not a complicated repair. Just a pain in removing it from the tractor to work on it.

[wagonmaster]

Darn it. I have only mowed my lawn once since I put the deck back on after a rear main seal replacement. BTW thanks tst.

[Jim Becker]

I had one that acted exactly like that (although I no longer remember for certain that the binding was when turning left). The worm wheel had become loose on the worm wheel shaft. When turning one way, the side thrust on the worm wheel caused by the worm would cause the worm wheel to cant out of line. One direction it forced the side of the worm wheel against the housing causing great drag. The other direction it held the worm wheel away from the housing allowing for normal steering.

The fix in my case was to replace the wheel and shaft. If your parts are in good shape otherwise (mine were not) you might be able to repair by welding the two parts together.

[wagonmaster]

Finally got a chance to work on it, and found that both the top and bottom barring races were broken and the balls all got loose and were jamming everything up. Got it back together with a baring set from Hamilton Bob's.