GT1554 steering issue

[oldnslo]

Trying to help a friend diagnose the problem with steering on his GT1554. While driving forward everything tracks fine. Back up and both front wheels toe in to the point they leave scuff marks on concrete. We replaced the plastic bushings in the drag links and both tie rod ends. This helped a small amount.

I had him sit on the tractor and hold the steering wheel straight while I tried to turn the wheels. I noticed that the whole front axle assembly rocks back forth on the pivot pin. My suspicions are that while backing up the axle is pulled/twisted forward which causes the wheels to toe in putting even more pull/twist on the axle assembly. I could not see any significant play in the steering gear assembly that the drag links connect too.

Questions are:

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Are there bushings that can be replaced on the pivot pin assembly? ( I couldn't see any on the parts breakdown)

Any other suggestions on what could be causing this?

TIA

The puzzled old one..

 

[RandyT]

Welcome to the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to steering. There are no bushings that are replaceable on the axle. Any wear, bending of parts, or bumping of objects will lead to the problem you are seeing. It is about impossible to get everything back into alignment. And then will be off kilter the next time you bump anything.

The bushings on the sector gear wears. the bushings on the drag links wear, and the links also bend. the bushings in the axle wear, even the steering spindles bend, or the little arm the drag link connect can also bend. the axle pivot wears allowing the axle to tilt. Even the frame bends over time throwing off the alignment.

I pulled the whole front end of one apart about 3 weeks ago and had to weld the frame where the axle support bolts go between the main frame and the front axle support because of stress cracks.

 

[oldnslo]

Randyt,
Appreciate the reply. I may just take a real hard look at this to see if it is even feasible to make a tie rod assembly that connects the two steering axles together like a "conventional system. Shame this happens with less 300 hrs run time.

 

[RandyT]

I remember when MTD started this with the two separate drag links without a tie rod between them. The concept is it allows for a shorter turning radius. The problem was people were bumping the curb, or running down into their ditch, and would hit a tire on something and it would bend the drag link. I had brand new less than a month old units come into the shop with bent drag links because they had hit the curb, or drove down into their ditch and would hit the bottom with the tire, and MTD considered it abuse and was not covered under the warranty. Had to tell customers that they would be paying for repairs.