mtd steering bolt

[38racing]

several IPL for mtd riders show the bolt for the bottom of steering shaft as 710-1309.
one says Hex Patch Bolt 5/16-18 x .62
another Torx Bolt 5/16-18 x .63" Lg.
and a part lookup shows as Screw-pan head . this latter being what's like in my hand with a large philips drive.
I always have to use a large bit and hand impact to remove them.
Any idea why MTD used pan head. there is a cap washer above it.
Usually I replace with a simple hex head.

[KE4AVB]

It is only a theory here but it looks like is to be prevent drive belt damage as I have seen the pan head screw quite shiny. And yes it takes #3 or larger Phillips (cross point) bit and hand impact mainly because of the Loctite used to remove them. Glad I don't need to remove too many of them; unless, the hex bushing is bad.

[bgsengine]

Yeah - what KE4 said - I got a 5/16 hex drive #4 Phillips driver bit from Snap-On (Special order) just for those suckers.. and yes, the torx head (newer models) and Phillips screws were both pan head screws, you will notice when everything's together how the drive belt normally runs very very close to the screw head - So, make sure the slots are not cammed out because they can end up with sharp edges that slice the belt to pieces quite quickly. There are other models that did not need to have that belt clearance, that were able to use the hex patch bolt (so-called because of the loctite patch on the bolt)