Archive through July 25, 2012

[mgwin]

It would be great if someone had info on mowing decks like there is on cc serial numbers. Pics would be great too.

Jeff and Dave,

 

[thoffman]

Dave, I'm hopinh to do some "leveling" myself soon, but it's just fn hot right now. Still 92 at 8:00pm. 8-(

 

[dross]

A camera wouldn't have done any good. Just imagine a dust cloud moving around the back yard.

Tom, I hit it this morning before the sun cleared the trees to the east, about 9 this morning was still in the mid 80's

 

[nbextermueller]

Brian W:

I have the latch on my 782. Seems it was on most of the 82 series.

Although it can cause damage, I actually love my latch. It works great and has saved my fingers and head from a falling hood a few times with no noticeable damage to any sheet metal. It also keeps the hinges off the grill surround. My 2072 has a pretty hard time with that "over extending hood".

And to all of you guys removing them. Please ship them to me. I'd love to bolt one on my 2072 and 1050.

 

[jbaker]

Marty I will get a few pics in the morning of the deck tags that I have.

I recently sold a 50C deck that had this on the tag
IH chicago il
50C rotary mower
6320021U131990

 

[dcmay]

Dennis & Wayne,
Thanks for the input.One thing I forgot to mention was that it does speed up and slows down but I think the friction needs tightened as the lever moves.Also when at top fwd. speed the lever is horizontal and at full reverse the lever is paralell with the tractor or pointing straight down between your legs.Out of adjustment?Dan

 

[dschwandt]

OK, here's the tag from my 44" deck

Here's the tag from the 50" deck

Here's a couple of shots of the 44" deck just about done and awaitng decals. But first, I'm gonna replace the belt idler arm, bolt and spring. Lotsa slop there and the pulley is close to rubbing on the deck reinforcement plate.
I also think the color is to creamy, what say you guys?
Dave Schwandt

 

[jbaker]

Marty here are a picture of the two decks I currently have. One says IH the other cub cadet, maybe someone else can help us decode decks..

I always thought the cub cadet deck was post IH era,


deck one

deck two

 

[dschwandt]

Question, Do I need to have the blades oriented a certain way when installing the belt??

Dave S

 

[kfreeman]

David,

No. It is not a "timed" deck. The blades should never be able to touch and they probably move through all positions during their use.

Your blades seem to have a lot of wear on the cutting edges. You may be prone to leaving a streak of uncut grass as you make a turn. There is enough overlap to get it all when moving in a straight line, but when you turn a small strip of grass may be able to make it though the gap between the blades.

Turn the blades until the cutting tips are as close as possible and see how much gap there is. New blades will be very close together.

 

[dschwandt]

Thanmks Ken!
That's kinda what I thought but a 2nd opinion is really welcome
The 50" deck is next on my list for resto.
My 1000 w/the 44" and the 1200 w/the 50" should really make a dent in the grass if it ever decides to grow agin!! 8/10" rain last nite, 1st in over 10 days.
Dave S.

 

[dfrisk]

I think the manuals for the mowers say the mower blades can be sharpened until the cutting edge is 3/8" away from the start of the wing on the back edge.

But speaking from Personal Experience, the wing gets in the way sharpening them when you get closer than 1/8th to 1/4 inch. I always try to mow in straight lines, so if I miss a small bit when turning I go over it 3-4, sometimes ten more times.

DAN C. - if I remember right, the hydro speed control lever on your 125 is removable, the connection is splined, sounds like your lever is off a few splines. Should be a set screw or roll pin holding the lever on the shaft, remove that, gently pry the lever off and reinstall in a position closer to the markings on the dash decal.

 

[nbartee]

Roland & Digger,

For no more contact area that the square ones offer, it's a waste of money. I'm going back to my original round ones! It would seem to me that CC would choose the round ones to supply because it would fit more models.
Go figure...

 

[bjamison]

Jeff B - I think the deck tag with Cleveland Ohio is a dead give away that the deck is Cub Cadet MTD.

 

[wcompton]

So a few weeks back the question was asked, "what does it take to convert from a starter/generator to a gear starter/stator setup". I did speak up and said it was pretty straight forward, as long as you pretty much gut the electrical system from the tractor from which the gear starter/stator was gleaned from.

Turns out there is one component that will give a bit of an issue; the key switch. The key switch on a S/G tractor has 3 contacts switch and has a 13/16" mount with flats on two sides that you'll need to change out to the 5 contact switch from later models. The problem is that the later tractors with a gear starter have much smaller 5/8" mount, one flat, and significantly less thread to mount in stock location.

Checking with the Indak website, I found the right switch mounting and with the right plug style. I called Indak to order one and was informed that this is a proprietary part to Navistar/Komatsu/Case dealers, and it is part # 107682-C1. As it would happen, its the OEM switch for the 686-1586 series of IH tractors. After a quick call to Carter and Gruenewald I have the working parts. Fits like its supposed to, and works like its supposed to.

Here's the mounting end of the switch, new switch in the center.

Here's the contacts, again with the new switch in the center.

And here's the switch installed in the pedestal of a narrow frame.

 

[bjamison]

Update on the 109.

I decided to install the bronze/brass PTO button on my 109 and mow with it a bit to further flesh out what I've got with this machine. Here's what I've found:

1. Can't get the PTO button down the hole - going to have to ream out the hole a tad. Probably has some build-up.

2. Had to run the 109 (carefully) with the mower PTO engaged at all times. Even with this extra load, the tractor started on the first crank - very easily.

3. I've still got some smoke at the rear of the engine on the carb side. One of the reasons I ran the tractor today was to get a better fix on where the smoke was coming from. It is white smoke - nothing blue or gray. It isn't from the belt, spindles, etc. I can't tell for sure, but it's almost pulsating - maybe coming from the crankcase breather. Question is - what's the problem if the breather is letting go visible smoke?

4. The engine seems very powerful. I've never mowed with a 10 hp engine, always 14 or 20 hp. Not sure what to expect from a 10 hp in terms of filling-up the 44" deck with grass before bogging things down or spinning the belt. Any comments/thoughts/experience on this combo 10hp/44" deck from a power standpoint? Do you really need more hp for mowing? I'm thinking this 10 hp ought to be somewhat thrifty on gas too.

5. The 44" deck doesn't throw the grass out very far. I think I might need the speed-up pulley to get more velocity. There's also a deflector at the end of the deck I could remove that probably would help too. Not sure if the speed-up pulley would cut into the engine hp and bog it down.

6. At the end of the mowing, the deck belt broke. The main deck to PTO belt is OK. As an aside - the belt covers appear to me as something more useful for collecting grass and moisture and rotting the deck. Any concerns (other than lawyer driven ones) for taking it off and leaving it?

7. Back to the smoke. It was more prevalent when I would unload the engine, i.e, stop forward movement or go from uncut to cut grass.

8. Steering wheel is loose at the top. It seems to have ridden out of the steel collar at the top. I need to investigate how to fix this.

9. The temp outside was 89 degrees F. It had been 100 earlier in the day and very humid. I waited for things to cool down a bit for both me and the tractor before mowing. Question is - what is the hottest outside temperature you run your tractor hard without concern?

It was GREAT to get some seat time today!

 

[bjamison]

Another quick question - how fast do you mow with your Cub Cadet? Reason I ask is - I saw a zero turn mowing a ball field today and the guy driving the mower looked like his ground speed was really fast, much faster than any tractor I've got. The zero turn was giving a great cut too. Makes me wonder how fast one could realistically mow with the IHCC and still get a quality cut. I'm sure a ton of these Cubs were used on ball fields, college campasses, etc., where the zero turn dominates today and I can imagine the Cub Cadets were driven at high ground speeds too.

I tend to mow at a speed that ain't so fast or slow - but comfortable from the drivers seat. With this hydro on the 109, depending if I'm going up a grade or going down, the ground speed changes somewhat. Haven't used it enough to figure if the belts slip when I go to fast or hit taller grass - that is another limit too on ground speed.

How fast is your ground speed when you mow?

 

[digger]

Speaking of C&G!!!!!

Most all of you don't know that they SCREWED Bob Necker out of over $2,000.00 in Sponsorship fees for the forum. Jake Gruenewald Ken Updike said they did not owe it BECAUSE they never had a signed a contract with Bob to advertise!

 

[thoffman]

Bill,
The Toros run at 11mph and do a great job. The tip speed of these mower is REALL REALLY fast <font size="-2">(Don't know the exact speed)</font>.

If you think of the movie "Forrect Gump" you can see Tom Hanks cutting the grass at the ASU Statium with a Snapper. You have to realize that mowing grass at what now seem to be a slow speed was actually state of the art back then.

 

[jbaker]

Fired up the 129 and cut all the weeds that grew in the dead grass out front by the road.

I also fired up the 169,,,
Wayne,,, you have to get one of these 16 horse cubs they have a sound of their own