Any John Deere mechanics out there?

[Cowboy_Dan]

My dad has a '90's model John Deere LT133 tractor which needs a front end allignment of sorts. He ran it into a basketball pole and the right wheel is about 30° off kilter. We have narrowed down eliminated the rack and pinion and connecting bars as the potential problem, which leaves us with the "J"-shaped axle, or so we think. It seems that it has slipped, but we can't figure out how to unslip it. Any ideas anyone?

[loaded303]

If nothing is bent I say the gears slipped or stripped. Not sure on your model. Some shafts have a retaining clip on the end of the steering shaft...under the grease.

[oneokie]

Slipped or bent? Sounds more like it is bent. Got a picture from a top view?

[RED333]

Sounds like the weld broke, the king pin has a plate welded to the top of it.
Look close, you will see the weld.
Look at this pic
http://www.ebay.com/itm/John-Deere-LT133-Lawn-Tractor-Mower-Front-Axle-Spindles-/191157399572
Or twisted the king pin

[bnelson06]

When something around here is bent or broke from a forceful run in an equal and opposite force is usually applied to correct the problem.

[Firebricker]

Being made in the 90s if it is a smaller model there is a good chance it is made by Yanmar you may be able to get replacement parts cheaper through them. Once you paint it green the price quadruples. FB

[Cowboy_Dan]

116378116379

Here are some pictures of what's going on. I do see the weld at the top of the "J" of the axle (the round black thing in the second picture is its top), it is not torn. Also, we cannot find anything bent. Perhaps, percussive maintanance is the answer.

I noticed a small bolt where the "J" goes through the front chasis. Would it likely add tension to the system, and would removing it increase the likelyhood of success for percussive maintanance? Or is it just a grease fitting? It has a hollow back.

[RED333]

Does not look like the king pin is twisted,.
So it has to be on the other end of the tie rod, look close at the steering gear assy.

[Lead Fred]

looks like the tie rod bent, or the spindle has a broken weld. You can straighten either.
If its the tie rod, weld a one inch angle iron to it, and that wont happen again

[fishhawk]

I would take a guess that the spindle is bent.

[MtGun44]

Start pulling it apart, pretty soon it will be obvious what the issue is.

Bill

[bnelson06]

Twisted spindle?

[Cowboy_Dan]

We took a few impromptu measurements after I got home from work today. It may be that the bar which holds the front axles is bent. Not the tie rod, but the part which is bolted to the frame.

The steering gears are fine. There is a hole in center of the one which connects to the tie rods. When the steering is set to straight, the hole is perfectly alligned with the only tooth from the other gear in contact with it. Bent tie rod was our first idea, but the angles on both match perfectly.

I'm going to take it apart tomorrow on my day off after I get with my casting mentor and pour my first boolits ever. It bodes to be a productive day.

[MaryB]

When my dad's mower popped out of park and drove through his garage door it had a similar problem. Turned out the frame itself bent and nothing else. Little application of BFH and some welding to reinforce things and I had a free mower(he gave it to me).

[Cowboy_Dan]

For anyone who is still following, it appears that the front axle assembly is not bent. We followed the steering backwards and found the tie rods are the exact same length. This brouht us to the rack assembly of the rack and pinion. It appears that the bar which connects it to the tie rods may be bent. We didn't have a wrench with enough leverage to break one of the nuts holding that assembly on, so some penetrating oil is soaking in and a breaking bar will be acquired. Looks like we're still push mowing for now.

[RED333]

Glad yall found the issue, finding is the easy part, fixing, well yall have been there.