Archive through December 31, 2010

[lpalma]

Happy New Year!!
Keep up the good work Charlie!!

 

[rleo]

Charlie,
Thanks for the 411 on the missing washer. I must confess that I felt a little sheepish asking for information about locating a washer, but it's not a commonly stocked item at the three locations I looked (two retail and one wholesale).

All,
55 degrees here in NW Indiana. The snow is all gone and the cubs don't know what to do with themselves. . .

 

[rklein]

Wow! I'm a newbie to this forum and Cub Cadets but recently picked up a 127 and can't believe how well it ws put together. After culling through the forum I notice that there's a lot more Q&A regarding the other models and not so much the 127. Can anyone shed some light oon this?

 

[jbaker]

Welcome Rodert K.
You will find this site is the best resource for anything IH cub cadet.
If you have a specific problem just ask. And you will get some great answers

I am currently pushing snow with a cub made in 1974 and was found laying in a field rusting away with no rebuilds
Now that is a well built machine

 

[kmcconaughey]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Robert, WELCOME!

 

[jchamberlin]

Hello again, everyone.
Well I've got the 782 running again after having to mow the grass with an old Sears 6000 (circa 1991) most of the year. The Briggs & Stratton motor in the "confugliation" that was bestowed on me by a "friend" gave up the ghost 10 hrs into the season. The saving grace of the Sears unit was that it came with a Kohler Magnum 18 in it, in fact that's why I parted with $500 to acquire it. (If you're wondering why I would pay money for a parts tractor to fix a "free" Cub Cadet, you haven't driven a Sears unit or surveyed the mess it made of your lawn afterward.)

The engine swap went (mostly) OK, but I learned a few things along the way. First, although it made sense to me to bolt the motor to the frame of the lawnmower (see picture), as I finagled the last bolt in place over the frame cross-member late one Sunday night, I realized the only way the motor could truly be secured with bolts of standard length was to remove the mounting plate from the mower and bolt the motor to the plate (bolts pointing up), then re-install both motor and plate. (Besides, I had a devil of a time with the mounting bolt at the starter and had to resort to installing it upside down too.)

The re-install (not shown) went much more smoothly, although I still had to remove the blower housing to drop the bolt down through the motor's mounting hole at the starter, I just couldn't seem to manipulate it any other way.

With the block in place (without any "pillow blocks" as on the Sears 6000) the drive shaft bolted up cleanly. When the bolts on drive shaft are aligned vertically, the clearance between them and the blower housing is equal, so I figure the motor is installed "level" with the hydralic unit in the rear.

The motor started fine (after I opened the valve at the gas tank) and ran strong. If fact, it seemed eager to chew up as much grass as I could through at it. There is no comparing the Kohler to the Briggs & Statton engine that I pulled out of the unit as I received it, despite the previous owner's endorsement.

(The previous owner was very proud of the B&S and trashed the Kohler that he had replaced. In fairness, I'm not sure how the B&S would compare to the Kohler 17 Series I that I'm assuming he removed. Serial# on my 782 2030601U714899 --June 1980.)

I'm very pleased with the result of the motor swap and I am confident the Kohler will serve me well for at least another ten years. I'll post a note about what I found when I removed the shrouds from the Kohler and compared it externally and internally to the B&S unit.

I'll also post a bit of knowledge gleaned from finally re-wiring key switch so that it now works correctly, and offer my own logic diagram if none exists (its easier for me to trace issues using ladder logic). My thanks to the many people who have posted on the topic through the years, especially forum member Steve Blunier from Metamora, Illinois.

Finally, I put the last of my 15 year old can of Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase (about 6 oz, although I calculated it could have taken 12 oz) as well as a bit of MMO in the gas before I put it in the tank. I turned off the gas at the tank and let the motor die -- I should be ready to go in the spring, and I just can't wait!

 

[mgonitzke]

Jeremiah C.-

There need to be spacers between the engine mounting plate and the engine; I believe they are 0.49" thick.

 

[jbliler]

Charlie,,, the only good thing about a tornado is that is misses most of us. Folks that live on the east coast in the hurricane areas lose everything for miles. If a tornado misses your house all you have is free stuff from the neighbors!

 

[jchamberlin]

Matt,

Are you absolutely sure, when I tried the spacers that I inherited from the Sears unit, it seemed as if the drive shaft was "tilted" up to meet the motor.

Never mind, I checked your website and see that you're running the same configuration as me: 782 w/Magnum 18. I guess I'll re-install it a third time!

Also, how did you run your exhaust? I can't use the Sears muffler.

 

[mschutz]

Happy New Year everyone, hope we all have a cubtastic year. And as always thanks to Charlie and all the other sponsers for keeping this site going and providing us all sorts of info.

 

[glippert]

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thanks to everyone for the info on keeping the QA42A belt tensioner bolt from moving. I was obviously overthinking that issue - every one of the solutions is so simple that I'm embarassed for not seeing it myself!

Thanks again - this really is a great site with great members. Thanks, harlie and all the sponsors, for keeping it going!

 

[mgonitzke]

Jeremiah-

The original 782 muffler would have worked, as would any muffler from a similar Cub Cadet with a KT-17 or M18, i.e. 782, 1710, 1711, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1872, 2072, etc.

The driveshaft does tilt up to meet the engine, as both the transaxle and the engine are tilted up about 3 degrees.

Edit: unless the Sears spacers happened to be 0.49" thick, they wouldn't have been right anyway. They can be made easily with lathe or even a hacksaw and a file.

 

[lbury]

Happy New Year from NESD, for all of you who are itching for some "seat time", we are just clearing out from 15 to 18 inches of snow. It was a good old fashioned South Dakota blizzard that started Thursday at noon and the wind is just now going down, so if you are really bored, just stop on over.

 

[digger]

Lyle B.
I hear ya!
I just got done with round two myself.
A total of 13 hours cleaning up this white crap!
We've got enough snow for the rest of the winter now.

 

[jchamberlin]

Matt

I checked the thickness of the spacers from the Sears, and they come up 0.475" with my cheap digital calipers. I can't believe that less than .002" is going to hurt anything, and the Sears spacers are really nice solid, smooth rectangular jobs tailor-made to the motor's feet.

 

[mpatterson]

We have green grass everywhere now thanks to the rain. New Years came in with warm weather and next to no snow. Now its almost ALL gone. Time for the MUD again.

 

[wmakowicki]

Jeremiah

So you pulled a briggs and put in the kohler? Just did a engine pull/put back in on my 582 (brigss 16HP) no spacers, mine is gear drive. I found it very easy to unbolt the front grill and just unbolt motor and slide it forward. No need to remove any tin.

 

[wmakowicki]

Jeremiah

I also find working on the machine goes faster with the deck off the machine. Hope the 782 does good foy you

 

[rtunison]

Tues. and Wed. of last week were in the high teens. Really cold for this neck of the woods. Here is this weeks forecast.

 

[mpatterson]

Richard,

How do you like your 149 & 129? Been trying to figure out which model I would like to find next. Like the style of these tractors. You have any more pictures of yours?