***"The half moon sector gear slip pass the teeth when you hear that rip sound. this caused the sector gear to not be center and you will have less or very little right or left steering wheel travel in the direction that the gear is short in."*** NO, the "rip" sound is when the PINION TEETH are "jumping over the teeth on the sector gear, not the other way around. Look at it this way. If you removed the sector gear from the tractor and left the steering wheel, steering column, and pinion gear in place......you would be able to sit there and spin the steering wheel in whichever direction you chose (CW or CCW), to the end of time (or til the economy turns around), without ever reaching a stopping point. It is the SECTOR GEAR that limits the number of revolutions you can turn the steering wheel from "lock to lock". What is happening with the "worn out" steering gears (and wear in the shaft bushing and wear in the sector gear pivot) where "you can turn more in a certain direction than the opposite direction" is because when you turn the steering in one direction.....the sector gear is PULLING on the drag link, and this increases the "separation space" or, "clearance between the pinion gear and the sector gear. With the extra clearance caused by turning in that direction, the pinion teeth will begin "jumping over" the teeth on the sector gear BEFORE the sector gear is able to rotate far enough for the front wheels to reach the limit of travel. BUT, when you turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction, the sector gear is PUSHING on the drag link. This has the effect of forcing the sector gear tighter against the pinion gear and thus, the pinion and sector gears remain in good mesh, and you can move the front wheels to the limit of travel when turing that direction ONLY. Trying to "center" or "index" the steering wheel does not help you make equally effective turns in either direction once the wear and slop reach the point of "jumping teeth". "Indexing" the steering wheel really only means that you have equal spacing of the spokes of the steering wheel on both sides of the clock (imagine the steering wheel is an analog clock face) when the front wheels are oriented "straight ahead". Indexing is not critical for operation of the steering system in executing turns. Indexing only becomes an issue where the position of a spoke might hide or conceal a dash gauge, indicator light or other important feature of the dash or instrument panel. If none of those details apply, it matters not the least where the steering wheel (and pinon gear are oriented). Driving a tractor typically involves so much turning of the steering wheel that you hardly roll more than a few feet before you need to turn the steering wheel one way or the other, so having the steering wheel properly indexed to the dash is not something that will keep the wheel positioned "in use", as you indexed it "while parked". Highway vehicles are almost the opposite (in regard to "centering the steering wheel") for a couple of reasons. First, the sector gears in the steering gearbox of those vehicles are made with "uneven size gear teeth". The teeth in the exact center of those sector gears, (or the center teeth of the "rack gear" in Rack & Pinion designs) are "slightly bigger" than the gear teeth on the rest of the sector gear (or rack gear in those types). The larger teeth in the center actually "bind mesh", or create an "interference fit" with the teeth of the pinion gear which reduces the clearance between pinion and sector (or rack) gears to ZERO. This "interference mesh" removes all slack or "free play" between the two gears and that means that you can "feel the road" with the steering wheel and the vehicle has a minimum amount of "hunting" caused by cumulative clearance in all the other components of the steering system. Why do they only make the center teeth "fit this tight" and not the entire sector (or rack) gear? Because, when you execute a "low speed turn" (like turning into a parking space etc.) it is desirable that the mesh be "looser" to make steering easier. Secondly, because of the greater "array" of instruments on the dash of highway vehicles, and the recent trend of having "steering wheel mounted functions or controls" (cruise control, entertainment sound systems, horn, to name just a few), it is "vital" that the steering wheel be indexed properly, so the steering wheel mounted features can be seen, and operated easily and accurately. The same constraints do not apply to your typical yard/garden tractor.

If it was due to a stuck valve (at first), the problem may have escalated from there. I hope you have time to read this carefully. Sticking valves most commonly occur when the engine chances to stop with an intake valve open. With the intake valve open, the resinous film (mix of engine oil & varnish from fuel) on the portion of valve stem inside the intake passage of head acts like "glue" and prevents the valve from closing when the engine camshaft rotates next time the engine is cranked. Most times, a sticky valve actually causes no problems because the valve is not stuck "hard enough" and breaks free before other, disastrous things happen. The "other things" that might happen include the pushrod falling out of its pocket on the rocker arm and disengaging altogether from the rocker arm. A worse version of that scenario would be that instead of the pushrod falling completely free of the rocker arm, it gets "caught" on the edge of the rocker arm. Having gotten trapped in that position, the next upstroke of the piston results in the piston striking the open valve, which may bend the pushrod (usually does bend the pushrod), break the rocker arm, bend the valve, or all the above. If you take off the valve cover and find a loose, disconnected pushrod, take the pushrod and roll it across a smooth surface (kitchen counter top smooth) to see if you can detect any "wobble" which means the pushrod is bent. If you are fortunate enough the pushrod is still ok, you can very carefully reinstall the pushrod using your fingers to depress the valve so you can get the pushrod back into its pocket. IF.......this turns out to be the case, you must immediately begin doing things differently in regard to your fueling and other maintenance. Fueling the tractor: From this point on, you need to add Marvel Mystery Oil (or equivalent lube) in the recommended volume to the fuel container used for fueling the tractor. Also, add gasoline stabilizer in the recommended amount to the container. If you fuel other engines from the container, those engines will benefit too. I don't know how often you are changing the engine lube oil currently, but with 9 acres of ground, and an admittedly vigorous workout, you probably should change the oil more often. But, find out if the problem is actually valve/pushrod related and post back. Check your e-mail for a PM.

Last year my daughter was driving a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder, transporting her 2 children ages 1 and 3. This was the only vehicle that she owned and drove it for almost 2 years before the incident happened. My daughter totally lost all control of her steering after taking a left from a stop sign on to a main Hwy. She was almost involved in a serious if not fatal collision. Her husband had it towed to the dealership where they could find nothing wrong. They tried re-enacting what happened but still said they found nothing. My daughter refused to set foot in the vehicle with her children and got rid of it. This brings me to this web site today. Last night My mother was driving her 2009 Dodge Caliber to my house to visit me. She had bought the car new off of the lot and had been driving it since. She was waiting at a red light when she noticed an emergency vehicle approaching. Her light turned green and she waited to let the emergency vehicle pass. She said that she tried to give the car gas but it wouldn't move at first. She said that when it finally moved it acted like it wanted to fishtail but yet she hadn't given it too much gas. She was turning left at a major intersection and said the car was uncontrollably steering all over the road. She said it didn't matter which way she turned the wheel it went where it wanted to go. She described it as driving on ice. My mom made it to the median, turned the car off, with hazards on, trying to catch her breath. She was almost at the turn to my neighborhood so she decided to go very slow. She said that it could have been really bad. I believe that something serious is being missed mechanically. The reason that I'm searching for answers now is because it happened to 2 of my family members at different times and in different vehicles. How many more has this happened to or will this happen to? If anyone out there has any information that would help me find out what's causing this please let me know. Thanks

I suspect that you turned the wheels all the way to the stop, the power steering pressure went to maximum, and the drive belt slipped. The horrible sound was the belt slipping. Does the sound stop if you stop forcing the wheels against their stops. If so, the obvious solution is to stop forcing the wheels. The other item that needs attention is the belt. If the belt is worn out, replace it. If the belt tension is too low, have it adjusted. A properly operating PS belt has enough grip to force open the relief valves in the system when the wheels are forced against their stops. Sometimes, extra hissing of the fluid squirting through the relief valve can be heard. One should refrain from continuing this action. I do not know what you've got under the hood but assume the PS pump is driven by a single V-belt. It could also be driven by a flst belt with several small Vs on its inside surface (serpentine belt). Both types of belts wear down and then slip in similar fashion. A properly fitted V-belt does not touch the bottom of the pulley groove. The belt is supposed to ride on the 60 deg flanges. Traction comes from the friction of the belt with the angled flanges. If the belt wears down enough to ride on the bottom of the groove, it looses much of its traction and can slip more easily. For a single V-belt, the top of the belt should be flush to above the pulley flange. A belt riding too far below the outer edge of the flange may be touching bottom and loosing traction. For a serpentine belt (one with many small v-grooves on the inside surface) a similar function is in play except it is harder to see. When the small Vs wear down, the top edge of the pulley begins to touch the bottom of the belt vs and the belt begins to loose traction. A worn PS belt should be replaced because you could expereince sudden reduction of power steering in an emergency situation.