Archive through July 09, 2011

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Dennis,
The rear end let go for some reason, I remember the wooden crate being dropped off by truck at our house.... My Dad mowed our lawn, 1/2 acre, as well as two other elderly neighbors. Snowblowed them also...

He hated to shift gears which explains the hydro... His current Tractor is a hydro crapsman..

 

[thoffman]

Pennfield pix please

 

[lrenaud]

Who will be going to the Zagray Farm Show this weekend 16-17 in Ct?I plan on going with my family and hopefully enter our first ever garden tractor pulls with my stock 104.I was thinking it would be nice to connect with other forum members there a "Meet N Greet" would be nice if anyone is interested.I'll put up some type sign at our spot.I tried to post a valid link to their flier but can't get it to work just search Zagray Farm for a link.Hope it's ok to repost this my origonal went into the archive as soon as I posted it!
Leon

 

[fcurrier]

Zagray Farms. I'll be there -- in spirit. What a great place and group of people! I was able to be there in May of 2010 and bought this 38" deck from Lewis Palma. Guess what - 38" decks aren't compatible with 8.50 rear tires.
This summer a friend needed to borrow a mower and I found a 123 in my stockpile with 6" rear tires. Mounted the 38" deck, sent it home with him and the drive train on the 123 promptly went south. We dug around and found enough spare parts to get it working again and now I want to tell you why this is a dangerous mower deck. No, not because the belt guards aren't on it. It's the quietest/smoothest running deck I have!

 

[rwilke]

Cory O.,
If I were to guess, I'd say IF you can get the 77" on, it would NOT go on easy; and even IF you do get it on without cutting it, it may put excessive strain on the pulley bearings.

Secondly, if IH calls for a 3/8" belt, I'd suggest you stay with their recommendations. I tried a 1/2" belt for a short while (on my 127 with a 42" deck) but within a few cutting sessions the wider belt was cut down on the sides by the pulley sheaves and the belt came apart. I've only been able to locate/order the 3/8" wide belts from my local CC dealer or (preferred source) from our sponsors listed at the top of the page. For that reason, I try to keep a spare PTO drive belt hanging on the wall above the work bench.

As you are learning, many replacement & wear parts for our 35+ year old garden tractors just aren't available off the shelf from most of your neighborhood farm & home supply stores. Just some of the fun in keeping these old garden tractors alive!

Ryan Wilke

 

[dfrisk]

FRANK - Your problem with the 38" deck is that it's the CI end deck, the rear gauge wheels hanging off those cast brackets hit the outside edge of the rear tires don't they? The nuts on the inside of those brackets even hit the 6-12 inch tires.

On my CC 72 I've run 23-8.50 tires with my later vintage 38" deck for ten yrs, maybe eleven, (can't remember when PD#1 was!) The gauge wheels are mounted inside the rear wheels of the tractor.

Anyhow, you never explained Why it's the most dangerous mower deck.

RYAN - I picked up a new mule drive belt for my CC 72/38" deck a week ago at my local CC dealer. Even though it's an OEM MTD belt I bet it's not over 5/16" wide and the parts man even said MTD knows it's not right, it'll run too deep in the pulleys but they still feel it's worth $30 for a belt that won't last a year! I think I have an older new one in my collection of belts, but since I put the K321 in the 72 those mule drive belts don't last NEAR as long.

 

[rwilke]

Dennis F.,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

As far as the belt width goes, it seems to me as long as the belt rides inside the pulley sheaves, and does not ride on the top edges, and the belt does not ride down in the very bottom of the pulley sheave, which can cause the belts sides to become loose and slip, it should run fine. Lastly, even if I have an ideal belt fit, if I try to cut HEAVY & TALL weeds, leaves and grass it will cause the belt to heat up excessively and result in pre-mature failure. Since I chop LOTS of leaves in the fall and have a tendency to let my grass grow resulting it cutting off more than the recommended 3/4" to 1" off, my target PTO belt life is: If I can get over 1 year of use, I'm doing good!

Ryan Wilke

 

[jchamberlin]

Dennis: I understood Frank to be saying that the deck is dangerous because it is so quiet he can't tell if it is running. Without an electic PTO with its seat switch for safety, this can be a problem . . .

 

[dfrisk]

RYAN - Yes, I mow more than the recommended 3/4-1 inch per mowing too. And I get about the same mule drive belt life, +/- a year. With the "New Improved OEM belt" I'll be lucky to get that. I have about 60 trees on my 2+ acres, mostly B-I-G Maples, some Ash, and a Oak and Walnut or two, so I chew up lotsa leaves too.

Jeremiah - O-K, I understand Frank's post now. I've been around a bunch of CC's & mower decks and never heard one that I couldn't tell was running.

 

[aschumacher]

My neighbor has a Crapsman rider, but I can tell from 50' away when he engages the deck. Sounds like a small turbine come up to speed.

 

[kweaver]

Allen - That's 'cause crapsman knows how to build a deck !!
Blade speed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just mowed (first time since mid May) and my 50 IH deck skips if I turn 5 degrees to the left ...

When little bro was mowing he turned to the right (guess he doesn't watch NASCAR!) and it never skipped but the grass pile !!

As for belt life I get several years service as long as the sheaves don't puke out the bearings.

The blade belt on the 50 has been going 2 years now on just the back strength in one place 'cause the "v" has been broke at one spot.

 

[glippert]

Ken - Can't you JB Weld that V back together? (I'm ducking...)

 

[dross]

Greg, I suprised at you, for Ken we have to do it right. Rubber cement is the only thing that'll hold a belt.

 

[kweaver]

Buckle holds my belt ... yankees ...

 

[dfrisk]

Speaking of BELTS and Cub Cadets, how long do most of you get from the starter/generator belt on your CC's? I've had my 72 for over thirty years now and I think I'm on my third one and it still looks like new.

On the 129 I had I remember replacing it once in 15 yrs.

I know I have two spares hanging in the shop now so I should have both the 70 & 72 covered for at least ten more years.

 

[dtanner]

KENtuckyKEN

My 96 Crapsman has had the belt replace once and one spindle because of hitting a root.I have a 125 that I was repairing for the back up mower when the crapsman dies. I think I got all kinds of time to get the 125 ready. It works great as just a ride on mower and it will go a few more years yet.

 

[fcurrier]

KEN: This Yankee can unabashedly fly 3 flags:

 

[kweaver]

Dennis - The S/G belt should last til the cows come home ... or until we put a man on Mars.

If the engine never has a bad backfire to try and change direction while it's running there shouldn't be any serious strain as long as the S/G doesn't lock up.

I did have to replace the one on the 127 once though but that was because I was mowing in the rain and it was getting wet enough to start slipping and screwed it up.

 

[dfrisk]

KEN - We'll never even try to put a man on Mars, our country is BROKE, but the cows still come home every night.

Trying to crank a hot Kohler over can be really hard even with the ACR. My old K241 the ACR always worked, but this K321 it sometimes sticks off and the S/G will spin until the engine approaches TDC and the S/G pulley will slip inside the belt. I run my S/G belts slightly loose, no tighter than the manual states.

But once the engine is running it doesn't take much of a belt to run the generator to make it's maximum 15A.

I did break a mounting bolt on the S/G bracket holding it to the block on the 70. I have NO idea where Dad came up with that bracket but I put the one off my 72 that I modified to fit either a K161/181 or a K241/301/321 on the K181 in the 70. I got lucky, the broken end of the bolt spun right out of the tapped hole in the block.

 

[kweaver]

Dennis - Use a belt with the notches cut in it on the "v" they grip better. I think the 127 has an outside notched belt on it ... or was it the homemade monster ... oh well they grip better too.

The heat index hit 98* while I was mowing , no wonder I got hot !!