[tpelle]

I do not consider myself an experienced mechanic - just a homeowner who is fairly handy and is not afraid to tackle some repairs. Hoping to get get some advise from the experts here.

I have two Cub Cadets, a 1000 that I bought brand-new in about 1978, and a kind-of-neglected 1200 that I acquired a couple of years ago. The tractors are used for mowing my 1-acre lawn mainly, with a little snow-plowing with the front-mounted grader blade I bought new with my 1000.

I have two questions:

1. The steering on my 1200 was very loose, mainly due to the bal-joint rod ends being worn out. I replaced the ball-joints on the steering drag link and on the tie rod. The new ball-joints that I purchased from my Cub Cadet dealer did not have the threaded "bolt" drilled for a cotter pin, as did the originals. How does one go about accurately drilling this, or do you just torque the castle nuts down with some Loc-Tite?

2. The front axle has some "wobble" in it - you see it working back and forth as you mow. I purchased a new pivot pin, but have not yet installed it. I now notice that there are a pair of bushings that appear to go in the frame cross-member. I suppose I'll order them as well. But I don't see any obvious way that this pivot pin comes out to swap it out. I plan on reworking it this winter after the mower gets put away for the season, but how do you disassemble this thing?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.