TOM H. - Yes, I resemble that remark! ;-)
LONNIE - You got your money's worth out of that idler pulley. Every time I pull the pulley arm off the coil tension spring is broken on those decks too, I normally get a new spring with every new pulley. I had one of the idlers on the mule drive for the CC72 wear out, it spit all the ball bearings out and the outer race wore thru the inner race and half way thru the mounting bolt. I had a mule drive idler fail on the 50C deck on the 982 a month ago. They're bigger than the smaller tractors. It actually spit the belt off and stalled the tractor engine! I had two replacements and it was about a five minute repair and I was back mowing.
MIKE P. - re 982 steering system is different than any other CC. The gearbox Lonnie posted the exploded view of is similar but BIGGER in every way than all other CC's. There's also a cast iron yoke that pivots off a big pin in two bores on ears that extend off the back side of the middle of the axle casting. That pin is held in with an internal snap ring, and it's drilled & tapped to take a 5/16" NC bolt to use as a puller. You might want to turn the steering wheel side-to-side while off the tractor and make sure there's no large amount of lost motion in that yoke. Also check to see if the steering wheel & shaft move Up and Down in the steering tube. If the wheel moves up & down then the ball bearing thrust bearings in the gearbox have lost their adjustment. Items # 4&5 will have to be replaced and the whole gearbox cleaned up and adjusted. Pretty sure there's a FAQ about that.