Archive through November 13, 2014

[digger]

Eddie C.
Click the Parts Look Up Button above, enter in 149 and it will have pictures of everything it's supposed to have, and you can find what your missing.

 

[ecaye]

Thank you I will check it out

 

[sshaff]

Dennis -- The outer blades are a little over 10 inches long on a 38 inch deck...I agree the front wheels do tend to lay the grass back on that part of the swath and this makes cutting more difficult. I mow in first gear with full throttle and overlap my swaths so the wheel tracks from my previous pass are actually hit twice...it's not a big overlap so not much time is wasted and the yard ends up looking great.

 

[dfrisk]

STEVE - Nine, ten inches, really doesn't make much difference, those outer 38" deck blades are the shortest blades I've ever seen on a mower of any brand and you KNOW there has to be a reason for that. Remember my comment about the blades hitting the grass a "glancing blow"?

I used to over-lap when mowing, run the inside edge of the front tires along the unmowed grass. But when you stop and figure what that does to your mowing width it really effects your acres per hour. You're actual cutting width is at most 30 inches. That cuts 21% off your productivity.

I used to mow a LOT in 2nd gear with the CC 70 with the slow 3.2 MPH 2nd gear. Was a good mowing speed. But my 72's 3.9 MPH is a bit too fast to mow to my liking, so I'm stuck in 1st gear with it too, 2.3 MPH. That cuts almost another 30% off my productivity.

With my 982/50C I can take a full swath, at least 48 inches, plus run at whatever speed I need to get the best cut which ends up being around 3 MPH.

I get a decent job of mowing out of both my CC's, but it's taken a LOT of time, effort, and money to get there. My 50C had a bad spindle, blade was tilted in the bearing housing, new water pump bearing & bearing housing was $170 + Tx. It would really streak the lawn when I'd mow. Now it looks like Brewer Stadium. The 72 & 38" deck does almost as good a job, but a Simplicity deck would do a better job without all the constant maintenance.

 

[jharvey]

Dennis
You may want to brush up on folklore. On days with no morning dew it will rain. Heavy dew means no rain that day. IIRC yadda yadda $.02

 

[dfrisk]

JERRY - I did have a meteorology course and climatology course in college 40 years ago.... but when a professional meteorologist making a SEVEN Figure annual salary tells the public it's going to rain by 2 PM... It DANGED WELL better rain before dark IMO.

The drought we had 2 & 3 yrs ago, grass was dry in the AM... and no rain for about two months 3 yrs ago and about 6 weeks 2 yrs ago. Farmers all across the Midwest would have liked to have seen rain on those dry mornings.

 

[jbaker]

It's been along time since I cut with a gd but I did use 2nd gear on the 128.

Dennis, who do you prefer, I like Carlos Tucker

.

 

[dfrisk]

JEFF - My favorite depends... I watch Shortino and his blond cheering squad in the AM for comic relief, and when I want to know what the weather is REALLY going to be I watch Bob Lindmeier on 27. Not sure Bob is any more accurate, but he takes weather seriously.

It was Shortino who said I had till 2 PM to mow this summer before I got rained out.

Back around '93 we had a really wet summer, with my work schedule I had to mow on weekends. Took SON & I about 2 hours to mow using the 72 & 129. Mostly I'd trim and SON would FLY around the yard mowing. I think we started in the dry and finished in the rain 3-4 times that summer. I remember mowing one day with the 72, still had the Pizza cutter 6-12 turf's on it. I started off across the back yard. Grass was dry, ground was saturated, and about ten feet behind the tractor the tracks were filling with water!

 

[nbextermueller]

Steve S. your comment about wet grass doesn't really deserve a reply. So I'll just agree to disagree. I mow with an OT CCC Super and a Haban 60" deck at normal speed. As a matter of fact I'm much more likely to be mowing at 7pm in the night dew with all the lights on leading the way.

 

[sshaff]

Nic B -- I was just kidding, of course. Mowing at night...I've never done that but I've been caught in the rain a few times

 

[jbaker]

I never used my cubs for mowing at night due to chipmunk and dog holes that appear out of nowhere, need daylight here.

Now pushing snow on my 169 cub at night with lights is fun.

I also put the 149 with lights to work at night with both thrower(winter) and rototiller(summer)and that was cool.

 

[snicklas]

I have run our Cubs at all times of the day and night, with various implements in-use. I have mowed, tilled, plowed and moved snow in the daylight and dark alike. With my schedule here lately, I've even thought about getting a small set of LED work lights and mount under the running boards so I can light the ends of the deck, so I can see where they are, and maybe re-aim them for winter to light the area to the sides of the blade/blower at night. Seems like 80% of snow removal for me is in the dark.

I agree with Denny, I do not mow wet grass unless I have no choice. I normally mow in the later afternoon, or early evening. My "rule of thumb" is, if the toes of my shoes/boots get wet walking to the mini-barn to get the trim equipment out, the yard does not get mowed. I don't like the clumping of grass for one, but I really don't like the mess it makes of the underside of the deck. I have much better things to do with my time than remove the deck and take the putty knife and wire brush to the bottom of the deck to get the matted mess out of there before it sets up like concrete, or starts to rust the deck. I have not tried the slip-plate or graphite paint trick yet, but have thought about it.

I do agree with Jeff, there is something special about being out on the tractor, after dark working under the glow of the headlights. I am glad the Cubs have real headlights. I had an OT lawn mower at one time, and it had "headlights".. or at least that's what the switch called them.... when they were on there was just a faint glow about 5 feet in front of you....... But out in the dark, in the cool of the evening "under the lights" is something special.

Has anyone installed lights to light up the ends of the deck? I've seen several rear work lights for using a tiller or plow, but nothing for the sides. We even had one we used years ago for a rear light.....

 

[kmcconaughey]

Scott, Denny installed some lights under the foot rests on his 982. I have photos on my PC that I will post soon. I'm using an iPod touch to browse and post this and do not have access to the photos at the moment.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Denny's 982:

 

[snicklas]

Kraig,

Can you E-Mail me the full size, high quality original picture of Denny's 982. They are hard to see on my PC. If Cubs had lights in the top/front of the rear fenders like a full size farm tractor, it would be a perfect setup.

 

[dfrisk]

SCOTT - Your test to see if the grass is dry enough to mow is the exact same test I use.

The lights under my foot rests on the 982 are to light up the ends of the 50C deck for trimming after dark. They're on a separate switch, along with a white work light on the back of the tractor. The normal head & tail lights are switched with the key switch.

The 72 with the 38 inch deck really doesn't need lights aimed to the sides to trim with.

Up until a couple years ago almost ALL my snow removal was done in the dark. Lights were very important on #1 snow mover, and actually still are. I actually find people driving by my place slow down and drive with more caution when they see something with unfamiliar lights after dark than they do when they see me pushing snow in the daylight.

 

[sshaff]

Dennis: I mow with my 100 in second gear only when in a time pinch -- I find it's just a bit too fast, especially when there are numerous trees to dodge and trim around. IMO the cut quality is also better with first gear so I go with that most of the time, even though it's a bit slower than I'd like. Personally I feel the ideal speed lies between first and second gear, which is why I find my 123 hydro is very well suited for mowing.

 

[sblunier]

I also use same test......unless absolutely necessary due to weather.

I had a Cast Iron 42" deck that would mow like a dream under my 100 in 2nd (19T).....BUT, it was very finely "tuned".

Dry grass, a good "deck tune", 3600 rpm, and reasonable speed is what it takes to do it "right".........I can't stand seeing a lawn done "wrong"....makes me cringe.....

 

[dfrisk]

STEVE S. - When gas is $4/gal I find I'm less fussy about how the lawn looks when I'm done mowing. Costs me around $20-$22 just for gas each time I mow. At $3/gal I'll be a little fussier.

You mentioned dodging trees.... I've set out lands just about every possible direction across my yard changing up mowing patterns. And I have yet to find one where I can mow a round from edge to edge with the 50C deck without having to dodge a tree or bush.

In the 21-22 yrs we've lived here I bet I've cut or pulled about two dozen trees & bushes, maybe a few more than that. The ones that are left are a WHOLE bunch bigger than they were when we moved here.

 

[kmcconaughey]

I use a similar shoe test to see if I should clear the snow off of my driveway. If the snow comes up over the toe of my boot I figure there's enough to clear out, unless it's still falling. I have a gravel driveway, I like to keep it in the driveway so I don't clear the first snowfall or two, I just drive on it to pack it down into a nice base.