Kubota Z724 control arms

[F2036]

I have a really dumb question for you guys. I have a Kubota Z724 zero turn mower and I like the mower but, what I call the control arms, or the levers you steer with are really stiff to move back and forth. They are not stuck they just take a whole lot more effort than my other zero turn mower does to steer. When mowing I can let go of the levers and the mower will keep on going the direction you were headed because they will stay in place.
Is there a way to adjust them so that they are easier to steer with? I see that it has a small shock asorber attached to each control arm/ lever, can they be changed for easier steering?
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim

 

[lugbolt]

Kubota puts a dampener on the arms. I've seen the dampeners fail, get stiff, but usually they just leak the fluid out and then they get real floppy feeling. The dampers are supposed to slow the rate at which you can push the levers forward and rearward. Yes if you try to push the levers really hard, the dampeners are going to fight against you, e.g., the harder or faster you want to push them the more resistance you're going to feel. They want the rate to be slowed, it's easier on the transmissions. The amount of force applied between the HST swash plate and the rotating group, when you push the lever really fast between forward and reverse, it astronomical...so they wanted to reduce that, via dampeners on the arms' linkage.

Pull the dampeners off and see if they're still stiff. If they are you have a pivot issue, maybe they need lube. If they free up you can try replacing the dampeners, and get both of them. But, running without them will lead to a yard with divots, it makes it much harder to hold a straight line, and the mower will be really jerky in operation. Plus, hard on the transmission.