Newly Acquired 149: Modified Deck

149CubLover · Jun 18, 2024

Just got a nice 1973 149 and hydroharry said he has some concerns about how it looked.

The previous owner and original owner said it was modified for a leaf blower attachment. I mowed about an acre today and it seemed to cut well and cut evenly. No concerns from what I saw.

Here's a video that shows the deck. And another showing the first mow. Pardon my long commentary. I'm just excited to own this machine.

hydroharry · Jun 18, 2024

My concern with your deck is the addition of the gauge wheels. They are actually done very well but they attach to the deck skin. As long as you use the deck in float a little higher than the gauge wheels you're probably ok - but I get a sense with the way the wheels are the previous owner probably used it with the wheels riding on the grass. Using it that way risks the deck cracking at the mounts. Not so much the way the front ones are attached, but the rear use the vertical steel attached to the deck skin and I've seen decks where it just cracks right up around the welds - very close to where you have some little rot holes right now. It's possible the previous owner had some reinforcement added on the underside which I couldn't see in your earlier videos.
Otherwise, you've got a pretty nice 149. I see the muffler has been modified to end farther beyond the side and the front of the mule drive assembly has a weld for some reason. Also, you're right about that little plastic bushing on the steering column. If you can get it back in place some people drill a small hole and install a small screw to hold it in place. Others remove the plastic bushing and install a bearing (like used on the front wheels and it really improves the steering.
Come back here often with questions or other requests for info.

149CubLover · Jun 18, 2024

hydroharry said:
My concern with your deck is the addition of the gauge wheels. They are actually done very well but they attach to the deck skin. As long as you use the deck in float a little higher than the gauge wheels you're probably ok - but I get a sense with the way the wheels are the previous owner probably used it with the wheels riding on the grass. Using it that way risks the deck cracking at the mounts. Not so much the way the front ones are attached, but the rear use the vertical steel attached to the deck skin and I've seen decks where it just cracks right up around the welds - very close to where you have some little rot holes right now. It's possible the previous owner had some reinforcement added on the underside which I couldn't see in your earlier videos.
Otherwise, you've got a pretty nice 149. I see the muffler has been modified to end farther beyond the side and the front of the mule drive assembly has a weld for some reason. Also, you're right about that little plastic bushing on the steering column. If you can get it back in place some people drill a small hole and install a small screw to hold it in place. Others remove the plastic bushing and install a bearing (like used on the front wheels and it really improves the steering.
Come back here often with questions or other requests for info.

Thanks for all the good feedback!

I did get the bushing back in place. It wasn't easy with the steering wheel on, but I got it done.

I'm hoping the modified deck holds up. She cuts nice but I do mow on the lowest setting. I do believe the decks been modified for many many years. My guess is the 90s. Fingers crossed!! I don't like a short grass. In full transparency, I don't plan on mowing every mow with this girl either. She's my little garage queen. But it was hot as no other today and the 149 performed flawlessly!! If she can hold up during this heat, she'll do anything! My son is 5 almost 6, and in a few years, he can help me mow so I'll mow and acre and he can use the 2020 and mow the other acre.

I have thee finishing touches I want to do to the mower.

1. Tail lights and lenses
2. Cigarette lighter installed (wiring is there)
3. Lined front tires like the original ones.

The lights and cigar lighter are darn expensive though!

149CubLover · Jun 18, 2024

Also, here's some pictures of the deck.

149CubLover · Jun 18, 2024

So what should my deck look like without the modifications? My dad '69 147 deck has rear wheels but only rounded bars on the front.

kmcconaughey · Jun 19, 2024

I'll see if I can find more photos of that version of 48" deck. For now, here's a picture from a brochure of the left end, the non-discharge end. There were three versions of the 48" deck, yours is the final version.

149CubLover · Jun 19, 2024

kmcconaughey said:
I'll see if I can find more photos of that version of 48" deck. For now, here's a picture from a brochure of the left end, the non-discharge end. There were three versions of the 48" deck, yours is the final version.

View attachment 157250

Oh wow! No deck wheels at all!

Would it be wrong if I removed my deck wheels and went back to stock? Also, how can you tell mines the final version? I tried to find a serial number on the deck and it's been painted so number is long gone.

Sweet baby moons in that pic! They remind me of the 1984 Shriners car I had a kid. I just resurrected that thing a few weeks ago. Some say I'm an old soul. I'm starting to believe it.

A Work in Progress: (baby moons!)

kmcconaughey · Jun 19, 2024

Your 149 indeed has a replacement seat. The original style has long been unavailable. Here's what the original would have looked like., this one on a 169 belonging, at least at the time of the photo (circa 1998/1999?) to a Mr. Jim Chabot.

Hydro, do you recall what year this would have been when Jim took this photo of his 169?

149CubLover · Jun 19, 2024

kmcconaughey said:
Your 149 indeed has a replacement seat. The original style has long been unavailable. Here's what the original would have looked like., this one on a 169 belonging, at least at the time of the photo (circa 1998/1999?) to a Mr. Jim Chabot.

Hydro, do you recall what year this would have been when Jim took this photo of his 169?

View attachment 157251

Absolutely beautiful!!

On my bucket list, is to install the lined tires on the front. If I knew someone in my area, I'd pay them to repaint the entire thing.

kmcconaughey · Jun 19, 2024

The wooden roller on the front of your deck is original. As I mentioned, there were three variations. The first variation was not a Quick Attach deck, it's known as a "pin On" style deck. It had welded on gauge wheels on the rear of the deck shell. The rear of the deck shell was bent at a 90 degree angle. It was used on the non Quick Attach narrow frame 1x2/3 series. The second variation was a Quick Attach style mounting and also had welded on gauge wheels on the rear of the deck shell but the rear edge had a 45 degree angle. This was used on the Quick Attach narrow frame 1x4/5 and 1x6/7 series. The third variation dropped the welded on rear gauge wheels. It was only available for a short time it was used on the wide frame 1x8/9 series and was replaced by the more modern 44" deck. It's highly unlikely that the narrow frame version would have been used on your 149, possible but not probable.

Here's the exploded parts diagrams for the three variations.

First variation:

Second variation:

Third variation:

149CubLover · Jun 19, 2024

kmcconaughey said:
The wooden roller on the front of your deck is original. As I mentioned, there were three variations. The first variation was not a Quick Attach deck, it's known as a "pin On" style deck. It had welded on gauge wheels on the rear of the deck shell. The rear of the deck shell was bent at a 90 degree angle. It was used on the non Quick Attach narrow frame 1x2/3 series. The second variation was a Quick Attach style mounting and also had welded on gauge wheels on the rear of the deck shell but the rear edge had a 45 degree angle. This was used on the Quick Attach narrow frame 1x4/5 and 1x6/7 series. The third variation dropped the welded on rear gauge wheels. It was only available for a short time it was used on the wide frame 1x8/9 series and was replaced by the more modern 44" deck. It's highly unlikely that the narrow frame version would have been used on your 149, possible but not probable.

Here's the exploded parts diagrams for the three variations.

First variation:
View attachment 157252

Second variation:
View attachment 157253

Third variation:
View attachment 157254

So the front and rear deck wheels on mine have been fabricated on. Interesting!! Mines a bit of a Franken-Deck!!

hydroharry · Jun 19, 2024

kmcconaughey said:
Your 149 indeed has a replacement seat. The original style has long been unavailable. Here's what the original would have looked like., this one on a 169 belonging, at least at the time of the photo (circa 1998/1999?) to a Mr. Jim Chabot.

Hydro, do you recall what year this would have been when Jim took this photo of his 169?

View attachment 157251

Kraig - Oh Great One, Keeper of the Photos: that photo must be around 2001 since Jim and I finished our 169's up at roughly the same time. I wish I knew who Jim's secret NOS parts provider was. He sure came up with a lot of NOS parts. One thing I never quite got was why he didn't shorten the choke cable. You can see the big loop it makes in the pic.

149CubLover · Jun 19, 2024

My research the other night on what deck I had was right. Looks like all three decks used the same blades, deck and mule belts.

https://cc.shankslawn.com/oemparts/l/cut/5b744ee687a86606b070ebef/48-3-spindle-deck-parts

One thing I notice is since I mow on the lowest setting, my rear wheels which are bigger than the front, don't float. They ride, as hydroharry pointed out.

Any recommendations on good aftermarket blades?

hydroharry · Jun 20, 2024

149CubLover said:
Absolutely beautiful!!

On my bucket list, is to install the lined tires on the front. If I knew someone in my area, I'd pay them to repaint the entire thing.

Jim Chabot was a museum curator extrodinaire. His goal at one point was 2 models from each of the IH Cub Cadet series, generally the lowest and highest HP units. Along with his 169 he had a model 86. He called it his Surrey with the yellow fringe around the top. He had the rare option sun canopy with its fringe. Nice little unit.

As for painting, Jim over-researched the details. He found original colors including the 901 and 902 whites for their era tractors, and 935 white for the later production units. Not sure on the Federal Yellow because there was only one alternate for a short period. I know he used several different manufacturers brands to determine the best, and I believe he ended with using the Ironguard as best for originality. Ooh, and when I mentioned over-researching, his painting included the original factory paint runs on the inside of the frame rails. He inspected many original paint tractors to figure out exactly where they were.

If you do decide to paint your 149 in the future (or your Dad's 147) it's gonna be costly to have someone do it. I would recommend the Case/IH Ironguard paints and you can get it from CC Specialties linked in the colorful boxes at the top of the page. Charlie (Digger) owns, operates and runs the entire place and is a tremendous asset in keeping these IH Cub Cadets running. You should visit his website just to check out what he has at CCSpecialties.org

149CubLover · Jun 20, 2024

hydroharry said:
Jim Chabot was a museum curator extrodinaire. His goal at one point was 2 models from each of the IH Cub Cadet series, generally the lowest and highest HP units. Along with his 169 he had a model 86. He called it his Surrey with the yellow fringe around the top. He had the rare option sun canopy with its fringe. Nice little unit.

As for painting, Jim over-researched the details. He found original colors including the 901 and 902 whites for their era tractors, and 935 white for the later production units. Not sure on the Federal Yellow because there was only one alternate for a short period. I know he used several different manufacturers brands to determine the best, and I believe he ended with using the Ironguard as best for originality. Ooh, and when I mentioned over-researching, his painting included the original factory paint runs on the inside of the frame rails. He inspected many original paint tractors to figure out exactly where they were.

If you do decide to paint your 149 in the future (or your Dad's 147) it's gonna be costly to have someone do it. I would recommend the Case/IH Ironguard paints and you can get it from CC Specialties linked in the colorful boxes at the top of the page. Charlie (Digger) owns, operates and runs the entire place and is a tremendous asset in keeping these IH Cub Cadets running. You should visit his website just to check out what he has at CCSpecialties.org

Awesome information. I am OCD to some degree but not that OCD lol. I love my 149 and would like to keep it nice but I can't dedicate my entire life on what color paint to use lol. I just came in from the garage patching one of those two rust holes in the deck. I ended up using PC-7 epoxy and bough some flat white paint.

On a side note, in the town down the road from me, is an IH museum. I've never visited but now that I have this 149 I may have a walk through.

https://ihcc17.org/

hydroharry · Jun 20, 2024

149CubLover said:
Awesome information. I am OCD to some degree but not that OCD lol. I love my 149 and would like to keep it nice but I can't dedicate my entire life on what color paint to use lol. I just came in from the garage patching one of those two rust holes in the deck. I ended up using PC-7 epoxy and bough some flat white paint.

On a side note, in the town down the road from me, is an IH museum. I've never visited but now that I have this 149 I may have a walk through.

https://ihcc17.org/

When it comes to IH Cub Cadets, I definitely have OCD. To the extent my 169 only has original IH parts, down to the bolts having the heads stamped with WP (which is for West Pullman , Chicago suburb where IH had their hardware manufacturing plant. If you look on page 3 of the service manual you'll see drawing pics of the bolt heads with WP. Your Dad's 147 will have bolts stamped IH, which is shown in the earlier service manual. IH changed the stamping to WP just prior to the time your tractor was built, because they started selling hardware to other manufacturers). Now, my OCD is showing.

You definitely need to have a walk through the museum and have a look see. Maybe they'll have some Cub Cadet related things. In case you didn't know or realize, the rearend on your tractor is the same one used on the IH Cub and Cub LoBoy tractors. In my opinion it's the biggest reason for these tractors to still be working, along with the Kohler K series engines and the basic design and engineering.

Another thing if you get a chance, maybe you can borrow the book "A Corporate Tragedy. The Agony of International Harvester Company" by Barbara Marsh. I read it quite some time ago. Some say the unions ruined the company. I tend to think it was the corporate management brought in from Xerox, close to the end. No experience in the farm, agriculture, and truck business.

kmcconaughey · Jun 20, 2024

A few photos of Jim C's collection/ museum (from around June 1999):

hydroharry · Jun 20, 2024

kmcconaughey said:
A few photos of Jim C's collection/ museum (from around June 1999):

View attachment 157265

View attachment 157266

View attachment 157267

View attachment 157268

View attachment 157269

View attachment 157270

Wow wow wow!!!!
You even show the loft. Jim never would disclose how he got the tractors up there. And I couldn't keep looking up because of a crink in the neck. Your last pic is of his 125. That was the tractor in the window that he walked by on his way to school (at least according to as much research he could do to verify it).

149CubLover · Jun 20, 2024

How hard to find are the decks and spindles for my 149?

149CubLover · Jun 20, 2024

hydroharry said:
Wow wow wow!!!!
You even show the loft. Jim never would disclose how he got the tractors up there. And I couldn't keep looking up because of a crink in the neck. Your last pic is of his 125. That was the tractor in the window that he walked by on his way to school (at least according to as much research he could do to verify it).

What happened to the gentleman and the mowers?

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