Archive through November 24, 2013

[drglinski]

More like the "don't check the oil while running" dipstick.

Dad has a dipstick in this spot on his 125 that almost got me into trouble once. The style he has was not a closed loop pull end. I was mowing next to a kids swing set- backed up from it and saw oil coming out of the side of the engine. Quickly shut her down and discovered the dipstick was missing. It ended up getting caught on the chain of the swing and stayed there when I reversed past the swing.

 

[lpalma]

Don...
Ask the owner if he has the manuals for the planter,but I am sure Kraig has a copy somewhere....

 

[jboelens]

Just plowed a little bit of snow with my 71 to see if any hiccups occur. do you guys that plow long distances use the float lockout clip to let the blade float all of the time?

 

[nbextermueller]

John, I have plowed with both hydro and manual lift. I like to keep a little down pressure on the blade. In my neck of the woods the blade tends to ride up the drift when floating. If it's that real icy stuff, it will ride up enough (when locked down) to lift up the entire front of the tractor, even with an extra 25lbs on the blade.

But I plow (or is it blade?) all asphalt and concrete. On gravel in site around here.

Edit: come to think of it, when using the manual 128. If it doesn't find a lock on the way down, I tend to hold it down and push with my arm for the down pressure. So that little clip would be nice in case you need a quick lift.

 

[thoffman]

John,
As a fellow Illinois native I ues the float. If you feel the need for some more down pressure on the blade, use a piece of some heavy bar or round stock that you can attach to the back side of the blade for some ballast.

 

[jboelens]

Thanks for the info. This is a first cub I've had a blade on, and picking up a bb36 on Friday as well for another one of my narrow frames - most likely a 70. Also have a homemade loader on a 100. I also have a skidloader with cab - and a 8' Western blade on my 3/4 ton - so the cubs are the "toys".

 

[dfrisk]

JOHN - When I push snow with my Farmall, I carry the frt wheels anywhere from a few inches to a foot in the air for down pressure on the blade. I'm sure you do the same or similar with your skid steer. But when I put the IH blade on the frt of the 70 a couple yrs ago, it always seemed to find it's way down to solid concrete quickly and cleaned the drive really well, even where I had driven on the snow before scraping it. The more snow you push with the blade the more down force the blade seems to have. Running with the blade in the "float" position always seemed to work best for me. I was pretty surprised how well it actually did. If you needed more down force, locking the blade in float and using manual down force on the lift lever or adding weight to the back of the blade while still using Float would be best.

I got the blade for the CC to move the little 1 to 2 inch snows like we've had here the last week. Saves a bit of time and gas from getting out the big tractor/blade. First couple snows with the big tractor always results in un-desired remodeling of the landscaping until the ground frose, but the spring trip on the IH blade eliminates that. The spring trip works as it should, won't trip in normal use but trips when you hit something.

I always rolled the snow "downhill" on my drive which made a pretty good pile towards the end, but even with only 100# of weight on the back and chains on the 6-12 turfs I could roll snow pretty well. The faster 2nd gear, 19T, would have been better than the 70's slow 16T 2nd. I did try 3rd, but that just seemed to cause more wheel spin once you spun to a stop.

I'd hate to try to move two feet of snow with a blade on a CC, but moving 1-2 inches was fun.

Couple years ago I made the mistake of pulling my Farmall into the shop after cleaning the drive. Next snow storm, "Storm of the Century", left a four foot tall drift 2-3 ft wide and 30 feet long about 5-6 feet from my shop door. Took me about 4-5 attempts to finally BACK thru it and get turned around. It disappeared in a hurry then! I had a nice pile of snow on TOP of the PTO shield from backing thru that drift.

 

[drglinski]

Always float with this blade operator. As soon as you go putting down pressure on it the rod bends.

 

[bjamison]

Quick question - cold starting a Cub Cadet.

My 1650 starts GREAT when the temperature is warm, but if it falls down to 50 deg or lower, it just doesn't want to fire at all. It's cold in my neck of the woods and with the storm hitting, I'm thinking it's time to fit this tractor with chains, weights and snow plow. But if the #$%^$@ thing won't start....

It's got gas, good battery, but seems like no spark. I know that summer and hot weather chores can make a marginal coil or condenser give spark troubles - but do what effects of cold/freezing weather bring to these points/condenser/coil equipped Cub Cadet engines?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bill, get a magnetic heater and place it under the differential so it can warm the Hy-Tran. There's a flat spot that works perfect for this. When you crank the engine on a Hydro the hydro pump is turning attempting to pump the cold Hy-Tran = Slow turning = no start. Just remember to unplug and remove the heater once the Cub starts. Click HERE and scroll down for photos and more details.