Steering problem

[JPWright]

My new 122 has been hard at work all day hauling firewood uphill. It runs great after tweaking the carb and changing the throttle cable. It will rest for awhile until tire chains arrive. I have the steering gear out for inspection. Bad news. The steering cam follower lock nut has been loose for I don’t know how long. The result is a steering screw that looks like this:

I am sure you guys have seen everything. Does this look bad? Are these upper edges critical to the functioning of the cam or did the edges of the cam get screwed up because the cam follower had come loose and backed off? What should I do:
Clean these parts up with a file and put them back together?
Get a new cam follower and hope that it seats properly?

Thanks.

[thenrie]

If it were me, I would tidy up the rough spots with a file and emory paper and reinstall them. The shaft's worm gear doesn't look too bad from the pics. Just rough on the edges, but the follower runs on the flat parts of the goove, not the edges. Once it is adjusted properly it should be fine. I would smooth out the rough end on the follower as well. It should be fine. However, just to throw it out there, I just bought a new (not used) follower on ebay for $10. It is a new, beautifully machined piece of steel. It's for my 1650, but my old follower is a lot worse off than yours. The seller makes them himself and sells them with new bearings for about $12.50. He sold me just the follower at a lower price, since I already replaced the bearings, but didn't want to throw $30 at a new follower at the time.

[JPWright]

Tony,
Thanks for the good advice and the ebay tip. Unfortunately the ebay tip came too late so I paid full price for bearings and follower. I will be more careful about research on the next project.