Archive through April 17, 2007

[jhangartner]

Thanks Charlie

 

[cbusch]

Thank you for the flowers at my father's wake today. He was really looking forward to plow day and it would have been his third.

 

[rbedell]

Seth:

NO...I have no experience of replacing with a DC Circuit Breaker, but if I did, I would use something like these..

15A would be the maximum size for a Cub Cadet.

 

[dfrisk]

CHRIS O. - I drained the JD Hy-Gard out of My 72 gear drive I put in it in about 1990 a couple weeks ago. I used it because My local IH dealer seemed to like to charge Me double for EVERYTHING PLUS shipping and I had the Hy-Gard avail. in a 55 gal drum. The rearend looked fine but I wouldn't use it in a Hydro...the design spec's between the two are totally different... Hy-Tran absorbs water & condensate and Hy-Gard repels water and causes it to puddle in the bottom of Your rearend. If that puddle got sucked thru your hydro pumps it wouldn't be pretty.
KEN - I always thought the 38" deck was the WORST DECK IH ever made?!?! Those tiny little blades out on the ends don't seem to cut worth a darn! And they pull hard because the mowers have to speed them up so much with the pulley ratios!

BRIAN L. - If You get more questions just ask.

 

[bbranstetter]

Lonny,

Thanks, if I get out that way this summer I'll drop you a line.

(My next challenge. Spelling 101)

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, like KENtucky mentioned, the original style rubber ISO mounts are NLA. I recall something about using the original lower rubber ISO with a new upper rubber ISO, that is, if the original rubber would have to be in good enough condition to reuse. I don't have any QL tractors so I never remember all the details on this. Here is a LINK to some posts on hte subject. Be sure to read through the whole page as there was a discussion on it and some corrections were made to some posts. On the amp gauge I have seen a couple different styles perhaps they changed the style during the QL series.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brian L., nice turkey!

How close were you able to get? They are getting quite common around my place. Here's a pic I took a few years ago. I got lucky and was able to get one of my Cub Cadets in the photo to keep it on topic.

 

[dsauve]

I have run JD Hy-Gard in my hydro for many years because that is what dad had in the shop for his Deere's. I put it in when we figure the tractor was on its last leg and I didn't know any better. It will be change out this weak. It turned cloudy from moisture and the drive seems a little week. The Hytran will replace it. The Hy-Gard work in a pinch but not long term.

 

[digger]

Kraig,
Boy your lucky there's a Cub in that picture!

 

[blanasa]

Kraig Mc :
My daughter took the pick from about 5 ft away. Turkey didn't even walk away. She said that it was pecking at the neighbors window.All the times that I've hunted turkeys I could never see one when I had a gun in my hand. Sorry that we couldn't get a Cub in the pic. Try next time. Brian L.

 

[kweaver]

Dennis - (and Tim) - The 42 IH blades have the small outer blades too. The main problem is as I said years ago on here... They made the blades "wore out" from the get go. Every farmer that cuts hay or bush hogs will tell you that when a blade loses it's leading "corner" it is wore out and needs sharpened or replaced. The 42" IH deck blades made then and up to when I bought my last ones (and I do mean last ones) were made with a long diagonal leading edge that omitted a leading corner. |\ Kinda like that. I ended up putting a push mower blade in the center of the deck and still running the outer blades but doing a lot of over lapping passes.
My 2166 that I bought new in '02 is 42" cut too. It leaves a lot of rode over standing grass as it doesn't suck it back standing to cut it. The roller under the deck flattens it down and it stays there. That is the case with either the factory "potatoe chip" blades or the Gators I put on it last year.

Morale of the story , get a different size deck or put a older Craftsman deck under a cub to have the ultimate mowing workhorse.

 

[dfrisk]

KEN - Dad had a 42" deck that sold with His 129 last summer...He never mounted the deck in the 15 yrs He had the tractor. He sent pictures to Hank Will of the furrow attachment He made for the tiller that lived all year on the back of that 129 that got published in RPM. We always mowed with 38" decks since We only had 7 & 8 hp tractors until I got the 129 I had in about '90 that had a 44A deck. My 982 has the 50C deck.
But the outer blades on the 38" decks are only about 9 inches long...and about 11" long on the 42" deck correct?....BIG difference but not enough. The center blades were the same I think the last time I looked. Another thing about IH blades....the hard coated blades aren't worth the $$$$$ at least for Me.
With My 38" decks I get maybe 2-3 yrs on a set of blades....on the 44A on the 129 I mowed with the tractor for about 15 yrs on the SAME set of blades...sharpen 1-2 times a year. The 38" blades needed sharpening every 3-4 mowings. The 50C blades seem to wear as well as the 44A's did. I haven't used a set of GATOR's yet but will try them some day on the 50C. Gator don't make blades for the 38" or 42" decks. You may be able to get a Gator to fit the center spindle but never the outer spindles.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Hmmm, I'm quite pleased with the way my 42" (not cast end) deck cuts. Must be the type of grass that makes the difference in the quality of the cut.

 

[kweaver]

Dennis - The hard coat blades are worth the money. I had to clear this place when I moved here and by the time I got to the old garden spot next to the woods it was "wild" again. I ran over a sand stone as big as my boot before I could get stopped, the blades made sand out of it. I shut down and got off to see how bad I tore up the blades ... not a nick! (I seen the leading edges were sharpened so much they had wore out the blade) When I went to buy new blades at the Case/IH dealer they didn't have the hard surfaced ones so I got the plain flavored ones since I needed them that day. When he handed me the new ones , guess what? I seen that the old ones hadn't been over sharpened after all, they're made that way! With IH in the farming biz as long as they were how the h*** did they EVER come up with that design! Funny that they didn't do that with the other size decks (other than 42 & 38). You think they found out that they made a mistake ? If so then why the h*** didn't they re-design the blades? Why the H*** does MTD still have them made that way ?? (or whoever oversees the production)
I catch flack everytime I bad mouth the IH 42" deck but I've spent to much time in a tractor seat to not know the difference between good designs and bad ones. I've used 5 foot to 15 foot bat wing Bush Hog's , disc mowers , sickle mowers , haybines , reel mowers , push mowers and riding mowers. I even watched a flail mower one day. I think I've pretty well seen all the types of mowers and know what cuts and why it cuts / doesn't cut.

 

[kweaver]

Kraig - You better hum!

 

[jniday]

The 42 inch deck on my 123 (cast end), mows better than any of the 48 inchers I used to use. I have a 42 inch for my 127 (not cast end) that mows terribly!

 

[dfrisk]

KEN - Like I said...the hard coat blades at about three times the price are not worth the $$$ to Me. Last set I bought for the 38" on the 72 were not H/C and it seems they don't need sharpening as often as the H/C ones did but I haven't mowed as much with them either. I used to buy them all the time until I got the 44A on the 129. The 50C on the 982 also doesn't have H/C blades.
I probably sharpen My blades too sharp...They won't cut paper when I'm done but will cut baler twine. The cutting edge isn't as durable. The only rocks I get are along the road and small.
KRAIG - My 38" deck is also a non-CI ended deck & It mows nice too.... But I still have to rework the mower for the 70...or run the 72's deck on it. I've made a few "Changes" to improve performance....mostly the Stuff Steve B put in the FAQ's.

 

[kweaver]

I think the best way to improve the 42's cut (mine is CI ends) would be to speed up the blades. I know the tips of the 11" blades (42") are already flying on the ends but I think it'd sure help the deck overall.
I think it was Steve years ago talking about not breaking the sound barrier with a blade but look how fast a disc mower spins and they don't leave anything standing! I've even cut bullrush with them in a foot of standing water. I don't believe in 540 rpm either, hammer down and get 'r done!

<font size="-2">Back to putting a V6 rearend in my 4banger Toy</font>

 

[rwilke]

KENtuckyKEN,

How would you suggest to speed up the outer blades - install bigger pulleys on the outer spindles?
I'm confused

on your description of what the end of the "better" mower blade should look like.... can you share any pix of good & bad examples?
Thanks!
Ryan W

 

[kmcconaughey]

Ryan, I think this is what KENtucky is describing.