[john hall]

I've been wanting to upgrade the steering to use a ball bearing for some time now. I actually bought the parts well over a year ago. We spent 2 hours last Sat. looking for them--it turns out I have spare parts for everything but Cub Cadets---they didn't have a designated place to be. Anyway, we had the 128 in the shop for routine maintenance and decided this would be a good time to do it. I don't really see where changing from the original thrust washer setup to the Nice bearing (I can't remember the number, something like a 605 or 606 maybe) makes a big difference. I did notice a lot of other slop in the steering so the plan is now to pull the engine and tighten things up from the steering box to the front axle. I think the plate the steering rod is hooked to is warped pretty bad so the steering box needs to be torn apart and the job done right. I bought enough bearings and locknuts to do 7 machines, we have 4 plus a Deere with that same setup. The 128 will have to wait until cold weather for me to open up the steering. We do have a 129 waiting to have the engine pulled for an oil seal replacement so it will probably get its steering "fixed" first. Just a bit of a ramble here, my point being don't think the bearing upgrade alone will give you "power steering".