[Tony h]

Sorry, yes a 782.
after I posted my thread I decided to go out and swap rods around to what made sense to me. It is now as you stated.. Nuts up and in.
While I was under there I looked at the Axle nu and bolt. it was loose. the cotter pin was there but it was loose. Just snugging that up helped take much Play out of the steering. I snugged up the Steering Box when I first got this Cub.
The tractor has always been tough to steer but after reading many threads I assumed it was 'normal'. As I played with the rods I thought I'd make sure the steering wheel had 1 full turn in each direction, it didn't. Dropped the drag link, centered the steering wheel and wheels and adjusted the linkage. That's when I realized the wheels were whacked a bit. I aligned them so they BOTH point straight (at the same time) when the steering is centered. To my surprise the steering is so much easier now and the turning radius has improved. The tractor tires were obviously fighting each other when trying to turn. Considering I had no intention on going out and laying under the Cub on a day that winter temperatures decided to show up... I'm glad I played around.
I looked at the steering exploded view on the CUB CADET PARTS website. I wasn't sure if the direction of the parts in those pics were accurate or if they were just accounting for parts. Thanks for your input on the linkage.