About beating on the shaft with a hammer: Be advised that if you strike the threaded end of the shaft repeatedly, you may damage the threads. The old tried and true trick in a situation like this is to leave the nut in place on the end of the threaded portion so that the nut is exactly flush or even with the end of the shaft threads. This will held prevent a mis-aimed blow from wiping out threads as well as help keep "mushrooming" to a minimum. Since you are already beating with a hammer, try this additionally: If you can enlist a helper, one person should STAND UP on the floorboard and pull upward with both hands (left and right hands at opposite hours of the clock) while the other person strikes the shaft or the jack bolt of the puller. With the nut in place, only a slight reaction to the person doing the pulling will be felt when the steering wheel lets go (without the nut it could turn into a backward somersault). If you are only able to work alone, try to sit on the seat and hook your knees under the rim of the steering wheel and then lift up with your feet while you strike the target spot.

Well, I hope you have alot of patience! First I would go to sears.com, enter you tractor number. This will eventually lead you to a parts breakdown for your model. Now study the parts break down and go inspect the tractor steering parts, naturally you will want to look for play or slop in parts. Most designs have the stamped steel front axles, if yours cast iron then it would be different on my following instructions. usually you will need the nylon snap in probably the sector gear, steering shaft, usually the pittman shaft. but First look at the front axle while somebody is moving the steering wheel. If it rocks back and forward the center mount bolt may just be loose. If not you may have to change the bearing spacer (bushing) on the front axle. You also may have spindle wear,tie rod, and drag link wear. basiclly you will have to figure out which parts are worn and just not loose where tighting will remove some of the slop. The hardest part would be the sector gear and steering shaft, the steering shaft cause on most models the shaft just don't come out without tearing the dash apart. also has a nylon steering shaft bushing thats probably worn also. Good luck this will test you patience and mechanical ability to the max. "O" if I had a camera I would also take pictures, incase you need something to look at when you assemble it.

Refer to the online Owner's Manual (click link) and the line drawing below. There will be some wear in the lower steering column bearing (items 6&29) which allows deflection of the steering shaft (item 16). There will also be wear in the sector gear (item 35) shaft bearing (items 6&27). Because the sector gear PUSHES the drag link (item18) toward the steering knuckle (not shown here) when making left turns, the wear in the sector shaft bearing allows the sector gear teeth to move away from the pinion gear teeth. When this happens, the gear teeth simply jump over each other instead of operating the steering knuckle. When making a right turn, however, the sector gear PULLS on the drag link and the steering knuckle, and the wear in the sector shaft bearing allows the sector gear teeth to be pulled closer to the pinion gear teeth, and right turns can be executed with no problems. To fully restore the integrity of the pinion gear to the sector gear, you will need to replace at least the bearings indicated on the line drawing. If the teeth of the sector and pinion gears have worn places, replace the sector gear and the steering column shaft also. Ask whether a "kit" is available to do the rehab program, sometimes a comprehensive kit is cheaper than buying individual parts. By the way, this is a fairly involved procedure, requires complete disassembly of the steering column and a lot of clearance underneath the tractor. Here is a link that might be useful: 917.275021 OMan

As long as your friend didn't bugger things up too much, these aren't too hard to work on, but are expensive for parts. Tractor was made for Sears by Murray. Transaxle is a conventional Peerless 930 (930-042) with special axle shafts. Sears and others say NLA, but others offer for around $400. The U-joint (320531MA) and the Hub (12280E701MA) are each around $100. Some of the other parts are available show NLA from Sears, but others may have them. Cheapest fix might be to find a donor tractor for parts, or convert to a conventional 930 transaxle with long axles and go to two wheel steering. Transaxle mounts to frame the same, and with new wheels on end of shaft you should be good to go.