finally getting back to this thread, hope it can help somebody who ends up with the same problem. turns out the steering was stripped, had to get a whole new assembly from kioti. it came with a new pitman arm with the new assembly so there was no need to pry that off the old one. the problem was, the new steering gear from kioti didn't have enough clearance for the gas tank. so i had to put in a few spacers to raise the gas tank up some, which then threw off everything else off that bolted on top off that. end of story is that it's steering fine, but the cowlings don't fit on right. at least i can make it go in the direction i want it to go in. why in the love of god kioti didn't make it possible to get to the plug to check/refill the steering colum plug accessible? you shouldn't have to take off the gas tank, and everything else on top of that off, just to check a level.