My riding mower front tires are hard to turn cause they want to point in different directions and not straight. what could cause this

Craftsman makes a wonderful mower for the money. I've had 2. Until a couple years ago, however, they all had a huge problem - the front axles on these mowers were not cast-iron like the better, more expensive mowers. Accordingly, if you did something to put the front wheels/axle in a serious bind (like catch a tire on a good size rock or building corner with the wheels turned and while backing up and looking backwards), you may have seriously damaged the front axle. Sometimes that can be corrected with placing bushings in there if it's not too bad, but from what you describe it sounds like you've blown up the front axle. That's why your front wheels are going in different directions. Next thing: awful noises and inability to steer properly. I blew out front axles on 2 Craftsman mowers and repaired each of them before buying machines with cast-iron axles - Cub Cadet, John Deere. As I recall, about $235 each time.Got tired of it! The good news is that now Craftsman is putting cast -iron axles on most all of their higher end tractors. You'll need to have this done professionally if you want to keep or sell the machine. Then, go with a good, strong cast-iron axle. You can't adjust this problem. Sorry, friend. . .

Not sure what the question is here. Can you elaborate?

look at the rods that go from behind the wheel to the other side it must be bent look at sears parts online to see what it should look like

1) there are also bushings which hold the axle assembly into the front cross member, take a look at those.
2) while you are at it, replace the front wheel bearings on both sides

Nothing is broken,just bent.Go to the front of the mower.Get low.In between the front wheels you will see a bar,or rod.It looks like a tie rod on a car.That bar should be bent slightly but when you hit something with the front tier it gets bent too much.One end of the bar screws in and the other nd is on a clip or pin.Remove one side,which ever is easiest for you.Then just bend the bar back to almost straight.You may have to do this several times to get the turning radius back to normal.

Problem 2 is probably a belt slipping or a pulley loose somewhere.Problem 1 .........is the tie rod adjustable?If the tie rods are adjustable, put steering wheel where it's supposed to be when straight, then adjust tie rods so that each wheel is pointed straight ahead. There should be a lock nut that needs to be loosened, then turn the tie rod end in or out and tighten lock nut. Back to problem 2....if it isn't the belt or pulley, it may not be an easy fix.Sometimes over time, belts stretch and get loose, or a set screw in a pulley can work loose, and cause the pulley to slip on the shaft. If it is hydraulic, it might be low on fluid.. I don't know for sure as I am not a big fan of Craftsman lawn tractors. Good luck

John Deere allows up to two and a half inches of tow in on the front wheels,to them this is normal.An adjustable steering rod is available but is not covered under warranty,it's up to you whether or not you need to install it,i suggest that you do.

Yes, adjust it. On lawn and garden equipment the set the tires as straight as possible. Because of there low speed the equipment it's not a huge deal. So just adjust it as best you can without any worrying.

I've added all sort of goodies to the bike. Approximatley 1500 miles ago I put brand new Dunlop 404 tires on the bike. The front tire still looks brand new. My problem is the rear tire. It's already in worse shape than the tire I replaced. Tread depth for new Dunlop 404 is 9/32. The tread is slick in the middle 3 inches of the rear tire. My first reasoning for the accelerated tire wear was to much air. I've always kept 36 psi in the tire which is what is recommended. I checked allignment (by wrapping fishing line around rear tire and stretching past front) and it's only 1/8th of an inch off. I don't think 1/8th is enough to cause the tread to wear that fast and I'm not even sure how you would align the motorcycle due to being shaft and not chain/belt. The local yamaha dealership balanced the tires when they replaced with my old ones. Thanks for reading and would appreciate and advice. Also I've used as many as three pressure guages at one time to make sure I was putting 36 psi in the rear tire and the arrow of direction is pointing in the right direction and I ride mostly solo. I've never burned out the tires. I've always been easy on the motorcycle and I'm the only driver. Is 1,500 miles all that I can expect to get out of a new tire? If not, how many?,I doubt that it's an alignment problem, but you'll need to check it with a little more accuracy than the fishing line method; keep in mind that the rear tire is often wider than the front which will give a misleading indication. You'd be better off to tape two straight broomsticks to the rear wheel, one on each side, that extend up to the front axle - with the front wheel pointed straight ahead you then measure the distance between each pole and the front fork or other similar symmetric point of reference. But because this is a shaft driven bike, you'd have other more obvious indicators if there was an alignment problem. Excessive freeplay between the shaft pinion and the ring gear, weird noises coming from the rear end (of the bike, not you Wink ), oil leakage onto the rear hub, etc. I'd be more inclined to suspect you had too much air pressure in the rear which caused the wear. Do you use the same gauge to check the tire pressure all the time? Try another one to see if the readings differ and don't go by the scale on the air hose at the local garage, they are notoriously inaccurate. Is the tire unidirectional? Check to see if there is an arrow molded onto the sidewall and make sure it is pointing in the direction of rotation - sometimes even an experienced mechanic will miss this one. Do you do a lot of two-up riding at extended highway speeds? This can accelerate rear tire wear. But at only 1,500km you still should have way more tread depth left than what you have now.,,,