Steering for 97 craftsman

I need help figuring out what i can do to replace the steering gears under the dashboard on my 97 craftsman ic gold 13.5 hp from sears, i believe. I dont know if it helps but its like half of a disc with teeth on it and a gear on the shaft that the steering wheel is connected to. I need somthing stronger that wont strip out on me and is easy to install and preferably cheap.

it looks like this image from another users post

IIRC Stretch and TRB used to drill theirs out for bronze bushings. All three of mine still had the factory plastic bushings. I replaced them bc I had a couple good sets and mine have held up. Might have to do some shimming to get the gears to mesh right. I believe the later models (round hood, same frame) had a different style steering gear. Don’t hold me to that tho, going off memory from 10ish years ago. But shouldn’t be had to find a junk tractor with that steering setup. Depending on your use, could go direct steering like what you would have on a gokart and just eliminate the box

on mine the gears are to worn out to rescue i think

If you could find another one for parts they’re easy to rebuild or replace. I’m sure to even get them new they’re cheap. What are you looking to do with your machine? Definitely want a steering box if you will be doing off-road, but if going for a racing mower or something of that sort direct steering would be better for handling purposes

I believe that redneckcomputergeek (on youtube) has a video on the conversion from type 1 Craftsman steering (which is what you have) to type 2. You CAN rebuild/repair the steering and make it stronger. I am using a type 1 in my rat rod. (It is in the pic above)

well for me it goes about 15-17 and i do a little bit of everything including jumps wheelies mudding driving down the road w/ a trailer full of fishing stuff using the roller on the yard smoothing the drive way hauling rocks but i dont want to go to direct steering unless theres a simple kit i can buy

Direct steering would be the second easiest after finding another tractor with the same steering gears and switching everything over. And you can change your linkage throws and geometry to make it more or less than a 1:1 ratio. Say you have 3” (random number) between your kingpin on your spindle and where your drag link mounts to the spindle. If you make your top of the drag link mount 3” from steering column, you will have true 1:1 ratio. If you have your steering column side at say 2” you will get a little better ratio and won’t have as much bump steer for rough terrain, but will also still be able to control it better

Nevadablue wrote:

I believe that redneckcomputergeek (on youtube) has a video on the conversion from type 1 Craftsman steering (which is what you have) to type 2. You CAN rebuild/repair the steering and make it stronger. I am using a type 1 in my rat rod. (It is in the pic above)

If that's type 1 what's this considered? It's in my old Craftsman tractors

Can someone provide a picture of type 2?

since im a new member i cant post links, search SEARS CRAFTSMAN STEERING SHAFT ASSEMBLY #175146 AYP RIDING LAWN MOWER TRACTOR on ebay, is that the complete setup that i need?(I dont want to buy only half of the parts needed for it and have to buy a bunch of things individually)


**Link to above - Mightyraze

You can't use the chain button next to the (GIF) and [</>] buttons?

not for the first 7 days it says

Brianator wrote:

Nevadablue wrote:

I believe that redneckcomputergeek (on youtube) has a video on the conversion from type 1 Craftsman steering (which is what you have) to type 2. You CAN rebuild/repair the steering and make it stronger. I am using a type 1 in my rat rod. (It is in the pic above)

If that's type 1 what's this considered? It's in my old Craftsman tractors

I have two LT1500 rigs and a couple of old MTD rigs and all of them have that type of steering. The donor LT1000 for the Rat Rod had the type 1 setup shown way above here and the LT1000 I have running as a tractor has type 2. 
I wonder how they figure out what to put in?

I captured the templates from the end of the video, they are here for future reference. 

oh hey fly good seeing you here from diy go karts the newer tractors have a different steering gear and everything but you can always modify factory steering

well my factory steering is to far gone, I'm going to send you the link on diygokarts to the steering to make sure its the correct one thats better than stock
@Budget_gokart