[drglinski]

Originally Posted by dodge trucker

currently working on a 129, I actually checked the slop because of this thread and that one's not terrible. not gonna worry about that one. but I maintain a pair of 1200s and a 125o for a farmer that I know, and I know his 1250 is super sloppy.....

I meant to ask you.... I remember the comments earlier in the thread, about how bad the felt/sponge rubber gasket was... did you replace? or make a new one out of some material you had laying around? I just tipped this 129 over yesterday to power wash it, and saw part of what was left of that steering box gasket come out as I sprayed it from the bottom.

just like they do with Kohler engines and Sunstrand hydros a lot of companies use the same Ross steering box as the Cubs did.... I have a few Ariens machines, and have rebuilt the steering on 2 of them. On one I had to beat on the steering shaft to get the steering wheel off... and I discovered that the bearing cages were shot... all cracked and such, I have a feeling it was because of what I had to do to get the steering wheel off. With that one, I wound up building one steering box out of 2, as on the one that I didn't kill the bearings on, mushroomed the end of the steering shaft beyond belief. That was when I discovered they were hollow and SOFT steel. Good thing I had a 2nd one to salvage parts from... made me do something different to get the steering wheels off of this 129 and the 1650 that I recently gutted..... got both steering wheels off and didn't destroy the shafts in the process, didn't have to beat on the ends of them much, these columns don't bind like the Ariens one did after steering wheel removal, so I'm thinking the bearings on these 2 will have survived the steering wheel removals. Hopefully a helpful tip/ "gotcha" for those that see this thread and are wanting to tear into their own steering columns....
I admit I was afraid to tear into one, before I did it for that 1st time.

See my previous posts; I did indeed replace the foam seal. A new one is like 15 bucks but last month I did a laminate flooring install in my kitchen- I used some left over foam underlayment for a replacement. Traced it out, cut it out, etc.

The biggest mistake IMO that people make in doing the steering rebuild is incorrect steering wheel removal. I soaked mine in rust penetrate for months before I even attempted to take it off (each week I'd spray it again) so after removing the top nut it just popped off. Too many use the hammer-the-shaft method which can peen the top of the shaft so the nut doesn't go back on, or worse yet, blow out the adjusting plug on the bottom of the box as the box is cast aluminum and really not that heavy. Best method is to use a puller if it won't pull off on its own.

I did a lot of research and thought process before I jumped into this project- new parts, etc so I knew what I was getting into and didn't half a$$ it. I think I did an OK job.