I bought a used cadet 1864 and the steering will not work properly. When I drive I have little control and the mowers wants to go to the left and will only steer when I jerk the steering hard to the right.
Most likely it is the center ram seals in the steering cylinder, when they go bad and start leaking from one side to the other it will pressure up when you turn the steering wheel but bleed off quickly and let the ram float from side to side. My Jimna took 40 turns to the mile to keep it on the road.