Done! And not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Just a brief follow-up DIY for anyone that reads this and is thinking about doing it. I'm doing this from memory so ... I may miss a thing here or there. I'll try to break this down into a few parts. Removing the steering wheel. Removing the dash. Removing what I'll refer to as the battery tray. Removing the steering assembly. Installing the new assembly. What you'll need: New steering assembly Socket set 10" extension for your socket set (not required but it will make things much easier) Small hands Around 4-5 hours of time, maybe more, maybe less. But I think this is a good guess. Ok step 1 removing the wheel. Pretty easy. Remove the center cover of the wheel. This should just snap off. There is one nut holding the wheel on. Remove this. Remove the wheel. We're off to a good start haha. Under the wheel will be a metal bushing. This will need to come off. It may come off easy, it may require banging it with a hammer. But it should come up and off. Step 2 remove the battery. Disconnect the negative terminal first. Then the positive. Take the battery out. There is a little tray that captures battery run-off that the battery sets on, remove this as well. There is a little tube attached to the bottom, just disconnect and set aside. Step 3 removing the dash. Not too bad either. You may want to take some pictures of where all the wires go or label them with duct tape prior to removal. This will make things easier when putting everything back together. Remove the two wires running to the amp meter. Remove the two wires running to the light switch. There are two bolts holding the throttle on, remove these. Remove the little ball on top of the blade switch .. this just screws off. And remove the plug running to the key switch. Now, there are 4 bolts (2 on each side) holding the dash to the mower. Identify these and remove. Pull the dash off and set aside. Step 4. Removing the battery tray. No, not the runoff tray that was too easy. The battery tray is held on by I belive 6 bolts (3 on each side) possibly 8 I don't recall. Identify and remove. Now, the blade height knob needs to be disconnected. Before doing this, ensure the blade is pulled up using the blade lever? The lever on the left hand side which you can pull the blade up with. Now, follow the blade knob. There is a spring, and then it screws into something. You'll see what I mean. On the very end of the knob, past the part it screws into there is a pin to prevent you from unscrewing it completely. This needs to be removed. I straightened and then removed mine with a needle nose. This will take a little patience but it will come out. Just make sure not to drop it once you get it out. Now, you can unscrew the blade knob until it comes out. It won't come out of the battery tray and it doesn't need to, it just needs to be unscrewed. Hope this makes sense. Next, there is an electrical cable which will prevent you from removing the tray. This gave me the most trouble. You need to get enough slack in the cable so you can manuever it around the tray, yes this can be done. To do this I first disconnected the cable from the headlight in the front of the hood. Next I disconnected a few wires right where the positive battery wire comes out. There was a very small red wire which I disconnected. And two small wires with clips that I removed. You'll just have to find these, I can't explain where they go. All I can tell you is it's right by where the positive battery wire connects to the tractor. Now, you should be able to get enough slack to get the tray out. Step 5. Hopefully you've gotten the tray out and now should be staring face to face with the steering assembly. The assembly is held onto the base of the tractor by 4 bolts. This is where the 10" extension will make life easier. But first, disconnect the assembly from the rod that runs to the wheels. Again, unsure of the name but you can't miss it. There is a metal lever that runs out the bottom of the assembly and to the rod. This is held onto the rod by a nut and washer. Remove. This is where the small hands will come into play. Next, remove the 4 bolts holding the assembly to the tractor. Now, with some play, you should be able to slide the assembly off of the rod that runs to the wheels and off of the tractor. Step 6. Install the new steering assembly. Before attaching the assembly to the tractor, attach the lever to the rod that goes to the wheels with washer and nut. Next, fasten the assembly to the tractor with the 4 bolts. Make these as tight as you can. In the event they come lose, I don't think there is anyway to tighten them without completely removing the dash and tray again. Position the steering column so that you'll be able to slide the tray on. Step 7. Re-intall the tray. Slide it down the steering column, put the electrical cables back where they belong. Re-attach the little red wire, and the two other wires which were disconnected. Re-attach the blade height adjustment knob. Reinstall the pin on the end of the knob. Re-attach the bolts. Step 8. Re-install the dash. Re-attach the plug for the key/ignition. Re-attach the amp meter. Re-attach the light switch. Re-attach the throttle. Screw the knob back onto the blade engage switch. Re-attach the bolts that hold the dash on. Step 9. Attach the battery. Step 10. Attach the wheel. Step 11. Enjoy your tractor! Later!

I have and older Model I think 917.254941 38" Lt4000. After 16 or so years I thought I would take the slop out of my steering and I would bump the fence occassionally with the front tire and hear that slipping sound. Then, after that it wouldn't turn to the left very far. Depending on the model you can still get most all the parts for the steering. I replaced the Shaft, Sector gear, support shaft, pitman shaft and the steering bushing. Now most parts you can get to except for the steering shaft. you either have to tear the dash apart and get to the top bracket to to get the shaft out due to the spline gears at the bottom won't come through the steering bushing mount hole on my model (hopefully the newer one don't have this bad design flaw). Also don't forget the bolt (allen head, on my model) on the support shaft mounted on the bottom of the steering shaft. if you don't have to take the steering shaft out, usually this plastic piece is worn. Slop is you biggest problem, I had to shim up the pittman shaft to close the gap between the sector gear and the shaft lower spline teeth with thin washers or shims stock. This took me about 3 tries to get it to turn the way I wanted it and to get all the slop out. This is no small task and make sure you center the sector gear in the steering shaft. and watch the travel from side to side. I made an alignment mark on mine to get it centered and a reference mark in case it slips again. There is alot of pressure put on the sector gear. I also had wear in the steering bracket that mounts at the bottom to the frame cross support plate. I ended up cutting a hole in the bottom of that plate so I could remove the steering shaft out the bottom without tearing the dash apart. You could also have wear in the front axle bushing spacer which will alot the front axle to move back and forth or the single pivot mounting bolt could be loose alowing the slop. IMO you will never get the same travel to the left as the right. I think the design prevents this and most people turn to the right more sharply. If I was going to buy my son-in-law a mower it would be a push mower (if I had one)this would make him understand the finer things in life don't come free. Any product that has stress put on parts are going to wear, it's a fact of mechanical devises, LTs are just like cars, you can drive them for ever if you take care of them or you can get one every three or four years and not have to worry about wear much.

They call it power sterring, and it has been available for several years. It is basically a system that disengages the wheel from the drive, so it is easier to steer.

If the front wheels are still generally parallel, and nothing appears bent or broken, then the steering pinion gear has probably jumped a couple teeth in the sector. The gear and sector are located under the tractor, just above the front of the mowing deck. You should look/feel those teeth to make sure they're not broken or worn. That tractor's frame has a fair amount of flex (not hating - I own the same model with a 46" cut), any it may be that while trying to turn the wheel while the frame was torqued with one wheel in a hole or a curb or something that the gears jumped with no excessive wear or breakage. I don't know if it's possible, but the simplest solution would be unbolt the steering wheel from the shaft, center it, and bolt it back tight.