My father-in-law's neighbor was getting rid of his E-12. He was the original owner. My father-in-law said he would take it and gave it to me. I have had it about 2 months now.
I love it, so does my 2 and 1/2 year old son. Anyways….
It had been working fine, then this Saturday while I was mowing, the steering started to get very tight. It went from working fine to I couldn't turn more than a quarter of the usually steering travel. After doing some searching on the internet I thought that it hadn't been greased recently. So I jacked up the front end. I couldn't turn the wheel off the ground. I disconnected the left (when sitting on the tractor) spindle from the steering wheel. I couldn't move the spindle by hand more than a quarter of the travel. So I greased the spindle and grease came out the bottom but not the top. Adding grease allowed the spindle to move from the steering wheel when it was off the ground. Once I put it back down on the ground it got tight again and the steering wheel would skip teeth. I then greased the other side and grease came out the top and the bottom.
Currently, If the tractor is moving I can turn the wheels. It is tight but they turn. If it is stopped, the wheels will turn but it will skip teeth in the steering wheel gear.
I then jacked the tractor up again, took the wheel off and took the C clip of the top of the spindle. I couldn't get the spindle out.
To make a long story short. Any advice on getting the spindle out of the front end? Or Any advice on the tight steering in general?
Thanks
Mike Banks
New Happy Owner of an E-12
Connecticut