Early Legacy replacement tilt steering

[SmilinSam]

Ran across a Simplicity Tilt steering column on Ebay a week or 2 ago. Part # 1754809yp

They were pretty cheap, $45 each,  so I bought them both. Briggs parts store has them listed for $125.84

Briggs And Stratton 1754809Yp - Tilt Steering (Briggs Oem Part) | Briggs Parts (briggsstrattonstore.com)

 The only info I have been able to find on these is from parts diagrams and parts listings. This same unit is used apparently on Early Legacy, Prestige, and legacy tractors as there are alternative stub shafts to fit the unit to make it work with these tractors.

Simplicity 1687680 - Tilt Steering Kit - Legacy & Prestige Series Parts Diagram for Tilt Steering Kit (jackssmallengines.com)

Snapper 1687680 - Snapper Tilt Steering Kit for Snapper Legacy & Prestige Series Tilt Steering Kit Parts Lookup with Diagrams | PartsTree

You apparently  also have to buy the mounting plates to make them work on the tractors as well.

Like stated I cant find any instruction manuals or more info on these. So going by the parts diagrams I ordered all the parts I thought I needed, both from the Briggs store and cheaper ones listed on Ebay.

Heres a picture of all the parts needed to fix my Legacy...

In the middle you have the main tilt unit part # 1754809yp. This comes with  the stub shaft to fit possibly a ConQuest? This needs removed from the assembly and a stub shaft for early Legacy installed. This is the splined stub shaft under the main unit and to the right . Part # 1754648YP.

The 2  plates in the center at the bottom are part # 1730169SM. Parts diagrams show 1 is used, but I ended up using 2 and I will explain why later.

The big round plate with the 2 studs sticking up on the right is part # 1730113ASM

The 4 mounting screws come with this part

The big round plate to the left is what the rubber dust cover hooks to at the bottom. Part #1730166sm

 

This was at one time apparently all part of a complete kit :   Simplicity Repair Part 1687680YP - Steering Kit | PartsTree      Now NLA  ??

 

Not having any instructions I started by pulling the original tilt off the Legacy. Fold up the edge of the Rubber dust cover and remove 4 nuts . Then the assembly just lifts off.

Then just lift the splined link out of the PS drive unit..

So you see the 4 studs sticking up that held the original unit on. These are in the way of this new unit and cant be left as is. Wish I had the kit instructions to see what they originally intended.  But I dont. So... if I use just the one space plate  You would have to grind the studs off completely for the unit to fit. However then theres nothing really to hold the plastic dash in place so it wont wobble around some. This because the one plate will put the round mounting plate with stud just above the plastic. So what I did is to tighten the nuts back down on the studs tight against the plastic. Then I added a second spacer plate and ground the studs & nuts down till they were all level with the 2 plates.

 

These plates are relatively cheap so no big expense there.  Now, the diagrams show the round plate with studs on top of the round plate that holds the dust cover on. This is WRONG. The studded plate wont fit inside the dust cover plate. It has to go underneath it  so the studs come up through it.

 

Then just screw the longer allen wrench screw into the PS control unit to hold everything together. Then just drop the tilt assembly onto the 2 studs with the splined adaptor shaft fitting into the splines on the PS control. Then I ran some nylon lock nuts down onto the studs against some washers.

After that you take the rubber dust cover off your old assembly and install. Then you have to come up with a splined steering wheel to fit the splines on the new tilt assembly. Cant use your old Legacy steering wheel because its a keyed on wheel not a splined. I used a Sunstar splined steering wheel  because thats what we had readily available and cheap..

It works and works seemingly well. Alot more stable and reliable than the original complicated tilt system. Would really like to have some original installation instructions to see how this "should  have been done"

This is not a cheap deal unless you can find some of the parts like I did for half price or so. Some of these parts  might be NLA. I'm guess its  a situation of what ever is out there lying on shelves is all thats left available.  You will have to shop around and see. Just posting this because I did not know these parts were even made till about 2 weeks ago.

Edited May 26, 2024 by SmilinSam