Replace the steering gear on a Cub Cadet 

Big Steve you did a decent job, except the washer should be on the opposite side of the steering pinion gear. I enjoyed you willingness to help fellow owners

I am thankful for this video my steraring also went out and in my area there is no repair center for the cub cadet so I will try to repair it, you made it look easy

Thanks for this awesome video. My Cub is about 20yrs old and still runs strong. But the day has finally come. I have to change out these same parts. You made it look easy. I hope it goes just as well for me. Lol.

It amuses and amazes that there are folks who get a kick out of video taping repair jobs. I'm grateful these folks since my low budget lifestyle means I have to fix anything and everything around the house. You removed a ton of trial and error waste time on helping me fix my Cub Cadet LT 1045 steering.

Order of installation after you place the steering rod is as follows: 1) Flat Washer 2) Pinion Gear 3) Flanged Nut. In the video you put the pinion gear first. That will work but the flat washer and flanged nut should sandwich the gear to provide stability and endurance. Nice, helpful video!

Big Steve, you made my Cub Cadet mower repair go from around a $100 or more and a trip to a service center, to $13 worth of parts and a 30-minute repair. Perfect instructions and easier than expected. Thanks!

Repair shop wanted $300-$350 & 3 weeks to fix my 10 yo cub cadet's steering. After watching your video and downloading the cub cadet manual for part numbers, I ordered $19 worth of parts and our mower now works. The only surprise was that I didn't stop to think that your mower deck was already removed at the start of the video but we did that easily. THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH for this video!!!!

Thanks for posting this video. My steering went bad yesterday and your video made for a quick fix as soon as I got the parts this morning. I would be lost if not for folks like you passing on your D.I.Y. knowledge. Thanks Again.

I have a 1046, which is all open to change the bearing. This helped me so much. My husband is disabled and I had to do it with all this rain we are getting. Your video was so helpful. I have never worked on a mower and I did it. Woohoo. Ty😃

Big Steve - You Are The Man! Aside from needing my husband to hold the steering wheel while I took the locking nut off, I was able to do this in about 5 minutes. You just saved us a ton of money and I really appreciate it! Now, if you have any tips on how to get the belt keeper rod back on, I'd be really, really happy. What a pain!

Great video. My gear just went out yesterday and I finished mowing my lawn in circles because I could only turn right lol. I'll be replacing it this week with help from your video.

Thanks for this video. My steering went out and I gotta fix mine, and I was hoping there'd be a YT video on how to do it, sure enough, and I have the exact same tractor to boot! Now it will feel familiar to me when I dig into it, instead of staring and wondering what's the best way all on my own. Thanks again.

That was a great help saved me alot of money and time, im a 50 year old nurse , i was mr lawnmower man today... thanks

Thanks Steve! Found out today that I had to replace mine and I was going to just replace the gear but now I know to replace the bearing also. Nice video, no blather like some others.

Thanks for the video!! My husband was happy to come home and the mower be fixed without him having to do it :)

Thanks Big Steve! I thought I was going to have to remove that plate to repair. Thanks so much for revealing that trick to remove the bushing! God bless you my friend!!

Great video, very, very, very helpful!!!!!! I was able to fix my 1045 Cub Cadet steering quickly with this video. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Thanks for the video. The SLT 1554 does not have an opening to fish the magnet through. However, there is a circular opening to pull the hex flange bearing from above. Mine came up with the magnet; it was a beautiful thing! Grease the shaft to hold the new bearing in place and push the steering wheel down to seat (may take several attempts if you don't have help). Additionally, these problems are caused by having nylon sleeve bearings instead of roller bearings. They are impossible to grease with the nylon fittings. One must take off the wheel and pack with grease. The bearings need to be replaced, and the shaft is scored. My 2007 lasted 300 hours. My John Deer 345 with same size tires are perfect at 800+ hours (roller bearing, not sealed). But it cost twice what I paid for the Cub Cadet. I am replacing the wheels/tires with bearings purchased from Northern Tool and Equipment. Sealed bearings, unfortunately.

just getting ready to fix my steering...guessing what to do then came across this video. Perfect! Thanks.

GREAT video. I have to fix my 83 year old Dad's mower and the local repair shops were no help at all. Thanks so much.

Very Well Done. I believe these are built by MTD like the 100 Series JD. On the JD models that gear has a Keyway I think. It always wore out one end of the gear so I drilled it through (one end had a small flange) and was able to turn the gear upside down. If the Sector gear wears out, try trimming and welding the trimmed section with teeth of the old gear to the new one. Twice the wear area. Bushing goes up from the bottom on the JD as I recall and is Nylon or Bronze.

Viewed this video and used the metal magnet TOOL....GENIUS!!! WORKED LIKE A CHARM!! Thanks you for your instruction!!!

Thanks for the video! My LT1045 is showing the same problem you described. I was planning on just taking it to the place I bought it but after seeing this video I'm going to try and repair it myself. Looks pretty straight forward.

After you showing us the problem and fix , I put my own spin on the repair, Having had knees replaced I have trouble getting down on the ground so I stood the mower on its' hind legs with my tractor loading bucket and worked on it standing up where I could see what's going on. I had to snug the steering wheel with a pipe since I didn't have help. Worked like a charm. (Yes I was safe). Also replaced the blades and belt so I had a good day, Thanks for getting me back cutting grass, shop was a month wait this time of year.

I see where you replaced the pilot bearing with a thin bearing. If you look hard enough there are thick designed pilot bearings that last a long time. They are more then twice the thickness of the less expensive replacement bearings. You can use the gear twice by turning it around. If you notice the wear area on the gear is not half way. So turning it around you get to an unused area on the gear.

Thanks Steve. My LT 1050 just started not steering this evening as I was mowing the lawn. I wasn't sure what it would take to fix the problem. Luckily, the machine you have is just like mine and you took the time to video how you fixed the problem. Especially liked the magnet hack. My LT has 650 hrs and is a 2006. this happen only once before and I took it to a shop.

There should be an 1/8 inch washer above the pinion gear for spacing. If it had been there the gear would have worn different and you could probably have just flipped the pinion gear over. Shimming these gears can make them last a lot longer.

Thanks Big Steve! Nice video and lots of help. Perfect for the problem I was having with my Cub Cadet 1525.

Thanks for video! I couldn’t figure out where the play was coming from in the shaft, didn’t know about the bearing. Thank You!

Very fine tutorial! I have a Troy-Bilt with the same setup. I replaced the gear and bushing some years back, but could not recall the exact procedure. Thanks for your good work!

Great video !! I had the same issue with my 2008 Toro 466 and used your magnet trick. It saved a lot of time and frustration. It took longer to remove the deck and lift and block the front end than it did to fix. Thank You

After removing the old hex bushing, I threaded a length of trimmer string thru the hole from below until I could grab it above. Then I threaded the new bushing on the line from above and dropped it down to the plate. Wiggled it in place then removed the trimmer line...

great vid, mine just broke, you saved me tons of time and money. I do all my own repairs, these are pretty simple machines, and parts are easy to get, videos like yours, save hundreds of dollars, and several hours of down time. Thank you again for sharing

I know it's a old video, but just bought one of these and steering gear needed replaced....great video man, saved a ton of unnecessary work.

Good video. Explained well and repair demonstrated simply. Just bought a cub 1525. Steering is got play in it since I bought it. Need to change mine out. Thanks.

Thanks Steve, both parts were going bad and today, the stearing went out. This video helped me out. Thanks

Thank you sir for this video. I have to do the same job on my 1050. Your video is detailed and explained perfectly on every step. Thank you for your time doing this.

Fantastic video, thank you so much! No idea how you did this all so smoothly using one hand.

Thanks for this video, sure made my repair so easy. The only thing missing was to make sure you have someone to hold the steering wheel while you remove the nut from the gear.

I got it done but I couldn’t get the old bushing with the magnet. It disappeared somewhere on top of that plate. I was able to use a piece of copper wire and I pulled the new bushing into place which worked pretty good. Hopefully that old busing just falls out somewhere. Oh, and glad I read the comments, cause I initially reinstalled it with the washer against the nut and then reading the comments. I see it goes on the other side of the gear against the bushing. I had to push the shaft back up again in order to get the washer between the plate and The gear plate. All works well now Of course, now looking under here i see I need a new main belt from the motor. Hopefully you have another video on that lol

I used this video to fix my 2007 Cub Cadet LT1050. I'm pointing out the mowers year because in 2008 the hex flange bearing changed so don't be alarmed if it doesn't look exactly like the one in this video. Thank's to Big Steve I was able to change out both parts quickly. Since I have long fingers I was able to change out the hex flange bearing without the magnet, I just pushed up on it with my left index finger and passed it towards the rear of the mower and got it with my right index finger. The parts name, part numbers and price are as follows: Steering Shaft Pinion Gear/ part #717-1554 / $6.32 and Hex Flange Bearing/ part#941-0656A /$3.40. Parts were purchased through my local Cub Cadet dealer. For around $10 with tax and the help from Big Steve's video I saved a lot of cash by not taking it to the dealer for service, THANKS BIG STEVE!!!!

This video was accurate for replacing the gear. It took no time to install the new one after watching it.

Great job Steve! As it’s so happens, I had the same exact more with the same exact problem. Moore has some age on it. It’s like 19 years old so I guess it was time. Thanks for the great video! Tim C.

Very helpful. Waiting on my son in law to watch the video so he knows what to do. Thanks.

SUPER VIDEO! THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHOW US HOW IT'S DONE!

Big Steve- thank you so much for this video. A cub cadet in VA. is back mowing because of you! Well done!

Thanks, a time and service cost saving post; exactly as needed for my LT1045. But I did find out doing this repair today that it can be done in less than 30 minutes with the mowing deck on tractor, not necessary to remove and saving even more time.

Great video. I had no idea what my steering issue was. Fixed. Thank you for the diagnosis and direction!

That's a neat trick! I knew there had to be a way to replace that bearing without dropping that yellow plate. Thanks for the vid!

I have a lot of sloppy play on my Cub,....I will check this out in the spring, and tighten it up before I hand it off to my son, who is a new first time homeowner....Biggest hassle here seems to be dealing with the deck & belt!... Thanks!

Great video, replaced the parts on my cub cadet LT1050, I have big fingers and the magnet was a life saver.

I believe the flat washer goes on top of the pinion gear and the flange lock nut holds the pinion gear. I do like the use of the magnet to retrieve the broken hex flange bearing.

Great video, walked me through the steering problem with my cub. Thanks

This looks the same setup as my Cub Cadet LT1042. I believe I can fix it myself. Thanks.

After the hex steering bushing was removed, I threaded a length of string trimmer filament up the hole until it cleared the engine bay. Put the new bushing on the line and let it slide down to the hole. A little pinky finagling got it seated properly. My old pinion gear only had wear close to one edge so I was able to flip it over and reuse. Fortunate as the replacement bushing was not bundled with a new pinion gear.

Thank you very much you speak very good English so people can understand what you're saying and talking about old school I like that

Thanks for creating the video and sharing! This helped me replace my flange and gear. One thing to note: your washer shouldn't be against the nut. It should be against the mower body. This is based on manuals and part diagrams. Not a big deal though.

this video helped me a lot ,I was able to fix my steering with no problems, 1 coment ,I was able to stick a screwdriver right up thru ,push the steering wheel up farther and let the bushing drop almost in place and was able to get it with my pnky finger. Thanks

my magnet got attached to the metal plate and was to long , so I took a piece of mechanic's wire and stuck it through the bearing hole to the left side and tied a string around the wire and pulled the string through and then tied it around the new bearing and pulled it over to the bearing hole and it fell right into place after I cut the string away, was very easy to do and only took me about 5 minutes, your video was a big, big, help

Great help!! Thanks so much for taking the time to make this!!! So much appreciated!!

Way to go, you've showed us it's all in knowing how, now I'm going to try it !

Thank you! Exactly what I needed for my LT1042!

You saved me a lot of trouble. Thanks! Set up was the same for my Toto 420.

Good job and it is really, really helpful. On a nice day soon I'll be tackling that exact project. Thank you for your effort. You are making a different for sure!!!

That flat washer is supposed to be on the spline shaft above the pinion gear. Not between the pinion nut and the pinion gear. See proper placement in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f_wlIKzqC5I.html

Thanks for this video! Gave me the confidence to change mine and it went smooth!

Thank you sir. I didn’t even think about the bearing!!!

Awesome video. Fixed a problem with about $10 in parts on my 12 year old Cub Cadet! Thanks! Now if I could only get my drive pulley off. :)

Great video. Now I can fix my steering wheel play.

Very helpful! Made this job very easy. Thank you so much! 👍🏻

Thank you for the video, Steve!

Use of the expandable magnet was new to me. Well worth $4.50 from Harbor Freight

Thanks for the video. I had the same problem on the same mower. This made it a breeze.

Great information and camera work!

Great video!! I have the same problem on a 2138 cadet, only my gears are on the top side of the plate, but I think I have get under the plate to get the gear loose. Thanks for posting! Dave Powell

LOL!!! I just realized, I did it that way last year myself!1 Just saw your video today. great mind think alike !!

Nice job Steve.

Excellent video, helped me out immensely. Gota love RU-vid.

**** The Washer Goes Above The Nut and Rests On Top of The Large Gear **** Check out the link below along with this one. Between the two you'll get an idea how to do it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uBkbyNsb4WY.html

Awesome tip 👍👍💯

Great video.. I've been putting off pulling my deck for a long time now, but I might as well, since I have to replace this gear and the tensioner lever for the belt on my deck which is sloppy, twisted and likes to throw the belt once a week. Every video I see has that bushing with the hex and round, yet my parts catalog doesn't show it.. I have a feeling I'm going to have to machine my own, but best not to worry until I get into it.

Thank you very very much for the video! You helped me out a lot! Thank you very very much!

Very informative video. Thank you for posting it

Thank you for making this video!!!

Great video, will help me mend my ride on easily, many thanks

Excellent Demo

You da man! Ordering new bushing and gear now

Awesome...exactly what i needed to see!

Thanks, very helpfull

Nice job on explaining things

your a good man did it all by yourself thank you

Great one handed video

Thank you! I have the same lt1050 tractor and I need to the exact same thing. Thanks again!

Thank you Big Steve!!! 👍🏼👍🏼

Worked perfect on a gt1554

Thank you so much for this video you are so informative and the video quality was great was thinking of doing a video of mine but yours takes the 🎂

very helpful I think I am ready to try it myself

Thanks - just the info I needed! In your video, your transmission drive belt looks in pretty bad shape. Might want to make a video on doing that next :-)

great video, exactly what I needed.

Excellent video. Now I just need to find the parts.