It seems the stars have recently aligned unfavorably.  I had just put the mowers back together to start the summer mowing.  The Cub needed a couple of minor parts to reattach the deck while the John Deere deck needed a complete overhaul.  I had to weld reinforcement steel onto the deck to reattach a broken off spindle.  Anyway, with the mowers together and running, I was off to a good start. Or not. while driving the Cub on the farm road, I hit a pot hole, no biggie… unless by some freak chance the front wheel catches a rock and — WHAM — bends the shaft to a 45 degree angle thereby stopping all forward motion. No worries, sure, I can fix it and I’ve got my newly fixed up JD ready to go.  Start it up and enjoy the hum of a nicely working mower deck. That is, until the front steering/tie rod falls off. That’s it.  Two mowers down, time to call it a day.