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!

The mower died at a site I cut gratis. I'm not in the cutting business. It's about 5 minutes from home. It acted like a dead battery. Turned over real slow but wouldn't start. When I got home I found the rightmost cell dry. Added water but I just kept adding. Pulled the battery and there was a groove in the bottom of the battery holder. Checked the battery and a groove in the bottom of it. I rinsed the area very well. I thought. My bad. All this took maybe an hour. Three years later there is no visible corrosion anywhere I can see. rant Two years ago I replaced all 4 tires during Rita cleanup. Took a month to get everything cleared. You realize that includes two weeks running a generator. We only lost the garage and everything in it. 16 trees down. Oaks, hickory, pecans, pines and an ash. The house came out ok. That little Murray worked its tail off. Three acres waist deep in limbs and brush from the ones that didn't come down. First time I had to live for a while on MREs. They're better than the C rats back in the sixties. I swear the K rats we had were from Korea. Insurance doesn't come close to replacing everything. Try putting a value on an heirloom. I'm still remembering stuff that was never submitted. /rant Yea I admit it. Once I found out that the battery had dropped acid on the pulley I should have torn down the rear end and cleaned it properly. I didn't. I posted what happened to me so it might stick in somebody's mind if they ever find a groove in the bottom of their battery. And no, bushleague, it wasn't a Craftsman. Or a Walker. ;^)

I have a L130 - similar - same front axle. My axle (mowing 2 acres country plot, snow blowing with 48" blower) has snapped 2 times. I tried nickle rods to weld it first time, but at about 50 bucks it was too much work to do and did not hold. I just ordered the 2nd axle, but will probably make my own axle soon from square tube steel. Should not be too hard to do, and probably will cut off the spindles and weld them into the tube. The rest is just drilling. Might line the pivot hole with another steel tube too. Anyway, the cast iron used is pretty close to pot metal, and is about as cheap as it comes. I think Deere only makes the axle and the dealers actually claim their Cast Iron axles are stronger than average lawn tractors. Ha ha ha. My old Sears and Murray had tube steel axles which never had a problem in years of use at the same property. I wont bother talking about eh TuffTorq tranny - another too little and too light thing deere did to make more money on this tractor. This shows what kind of management Deere has, and personally I would never buy another deere. I sure dont want to put 10,000$ into a green lawn mower just because its supposed to be good. For 10k$ I could have a machine shop make me one that is actually good. Sorry about my rant, but this lawn tractor has to go.

That stoopless shower sounds like a good idea. I'd been wondering which direction the house faces. BTW, just for the record I was suggesting closing over one of those west windows to install a wall, which in itself would be reversible, not moving it. (Regarding easy answers for eldercare, they may be in short supply in future as more and more people live long past their ability to live independently. I suspect we may see a comparatively large-scale return to multigenerational living. How else are we going to pay for it all? The public dole? The pot we all pay into isn't bottomless, as we know all too well. And finding adequate quality of care, any care, is already a real issue for many anguished families. Also, people don't get to go on public aid, not legally anyway, without essentially bankrupting themselves, i.e., no inheritance to keep in the family. In future, as demand grows, our government's probably going to be a lot more able and interested in hunting down hidden and transferred assets, with laws written to assist. Carrots as well as sticks. And when assets really are finally gone? My 102-year-old aunt in Spokane's been paying $6-9K per month for her SNF for the past several years (her choice, she was invited to live with us and others). The facility still requires family watchfulness to avoid some neglect, but at least we've never had to forcibly rescue her from misery in the kind of institutions profiteers too often produce. Now, though, it's looking like she will outlive her investments, finally brain damaged from stroke this last year but still healthy, and one of her Washington relatives who is able to stay home with her or share daycare will get to take her home. It's about time for the decision.)