My yardman is out of alignment

It means that your front end is out of alignment. The front wheels should be adjusted so that both point slightly inwards at the front of the car when the steering wheel is straight. This is referred to as "toe-in." The reason why cars and trucks are aligned with toe-in is because the wheels go to a straight position when traveling on a highway due to the road resistance pushing the tires back. What you have is a "toe-out" condition which will cause the tires to wear faster at the side adjacent to the back of the wheels. Have your car aligned to avoid such uneven wear.

if it is a leaf spring set up check for loose "U" bolts or broken centre bolt in the spring pad
if it is an independent rear end take it to an accredited wheel aligner shop and have them align the rear end
mounting points will have en centric washers under the bolts and when they are turned the wheels will align.

Sounds like you got a Murray, Yardman, etc. Steering system is of very poor quality. Front axle has plastic bushing on spindles they break and don't take much abuse. Spindles bend very easy and so with these conditions steering becomes hard and unpleasant. Front axles are not there strong point. Jack up front of mower and check for loose, sloppy wheel conditions. Go from there. New bushings and parts are available at varies places. Best repair would be to think about a mower with a strong front axle. Cast iron, steel etc, rather than a stamped out thin metal one that will always give you problems. Who doesn't bump trees, curbs, yard ornaments etc.

One of 2 ways take out the dip stick and turn on it's side or take out the plug on the bottom of the motor

Do not start to do this but put the blower in gear like you would run to drive its self and try to turn the wheels by hand and if they turn easily then you may have a shear pin that is broken or missing in the drive pulley.
Just a thought.

if it is while its cutting one of the spindles is bad

Try this Link out: You will have to provide more info in order to get closer to the specific manual you are looking for:
lawnandgarden.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/yardman/yardman_lawn_mower_product_list.html

Good Luck!

Jim

Count the number of times the wheel turns to the left and then to the right. Then find the center, which would be half of the overall turns you made to the steering wheel. Then make sure your fron wheels are as straight as can be, at this point, slide the pitman arem on and snug it up with the tie rod already attached. This will give a starting point or possibly a dead on straight alignment. If you remove the tie rod end that was attched to the pitman arm first, you' have to adjust it a few turns at a time to get a close alignment to drive, but you will have to bring it in to get an alignment to TRUE it up. Hope this helps.

Hello. Wheel alignment is the adjustment of the front and rear wheels so that they are correctly inline with each other and pointing straight forward. If they point to the left or right the car will pull to that side of the road while being driven. The front wheels also need to be adjusted to ensure they are not too far forward and riding on the back of the tire, or not too far back and riding on the front of the tire. Lastly, all tires need to be checked to ensure they are not leaning too far in or out of their wheelwell, causing the tires to become prematurely bald. For most vehicles it can cost you $40-$120 depending where its done, plus any shim kits needed to adjust the wheel allignment back to factory specs. Most shops provide 2 or 4 wheel alignment, so always ensure that they perform a 4 wheel alignment. Always ask for the alignment test reports for both before and after the work is performed so you can see for yourself which were out of alignment. Pot holes, curb-hopping, railroad/railway tracks, etc. play a huge part in your vehicle alignment going bad. 4 tires on some cars can cost you $500-1600 to replace, but an alignment check every 2-4 years will only cost you a very small amount, saving you time and money.