Archive through October 02, 2009

[kide]

Dennis:
Nice thing about a hydro, you can set backwards on the hood and make like yer on a rear wheel steer fork truck......vibrates a little more than the seat, though.
I built a blockoff plate for my (OT) Scag, which I use when I'm sweeping the yard. It does windrow a little towards the right side of the deck, but the high lift deck/blade combo on that swirrlies the cut grass/leaves pretty good.

 

[mhomrighausen]

A little about replacement engines. In 1977 when my wife and I bought our 125 from H.D. Cline in West Liberty, Iowa it was fresh off the farm with a non-running engine. I asked the story behind it since it was such a sweet appearing tractor/mower. It seems the farmer came home for lunch while planting corn and his wife informed him that the Cub Cadet just quit running and she couldn't finish mowing lawn. So, the farmer went into town and traded for a new Cub Cadet to be delivered promptly so both he and his wife could finish their tasks. The salesman told me that if they fixed the engine with a new rod and set of rings it was a thousand tollars. If they installed a new engine again. $1,000.00 plux tax @ 3%. If I bought the tractor as-is $600.00 + 3% or $618.00. We bought it without a running engine and I ordered a new engine from Pyramids In Iowa City. It was delivered to Tipton the next day. Carol picked it up after work and when she arrived home she said to let her change and she'd help take the box out of the trunk and carry it to the awaiting Cub Cadet. I got te box from the trunk and upon opening it was a shiny IH Federal Yellow replacement engine. At that time they were still coming from the factory the IH Cub Cadet Yellow if you ordered the engine for a Cub Cadet. (The same was true for the Tecumseh engines for Massey Ferguson garden tractors. They arrived painted MF gray.) The short block assemblies always arrived unpainted since the original sheet metal was reused on the new block.

Now as to my theory as to why the 125's original engine broke a rod is this. After installing the replacement engine I put the deck back on and proceeded to mow lawn. Man the tractor didn't have any power when I put the mower into operation. I took the deck off and looked it over real good. Being new to Cub Cadets at the time it took awhile to notice that the newly sharpened mower blades were installed upside down. After installing the the correct way that little tractor had all kinds of power and did a beautiful job of mowing. Sad to say one of the head bolts worked its way loose and in time didn't do any damage to the head. It did blow a hole in the block. The tractor was traded in 1981 or early 82 for a 682 with the Series I engine. Kunau Implement of Preston, Iowa put in a new engine and that replacement was yellow from the factory.

I can't remember exactly when the black replacement engines started coming onto the scene. I do remember a little about some people thought the black engines gave their tractors a "cooler" look and thus painted their yellow engine black.

 

[jott]

Ryan W, Nice story and yes, that does make sense. the whole engine is painted black. I am already ahead of you as I carefully peeled the HP sticker back just a little bit and there is the true CC Yeller underneath it. how is your spreadsheet coming? Or dont you have enough info?

Marlin and

(Fancy), sounds like a quite a possibilty.

Oh BTW, my 123 must have been a friday or monday tractor because the hood ornament is Backwards compared to my other ones. The end with the point at the top is towards the rear of the tractor.

 

[sstanton]

I think by the end of next week I will finally be able to show you all a pic of my finished 104. I have a guy coming tomorrow to pick up that 1650, which will give me the fundage to get the 104 totally finished!

Charlie, I have an order coming your way!

 

[towildes]

I bought a 1250 and it has considerable play in the steering. All the front end components appear to be tight so I suspect it is in the steering cam assembly. The previous owner said he rebuilt that but it just needs adjusting. Can anyone tell me what the likely problem is and how to approach it.
Thanks

 

[bnolte]

Thomas W.
There are a couple of adjustments that need to be made. The side plate, to which the drag link is attached has a cam follower on it which is adjustable. Make sure the locknuts holding the side plate are not loose, and take up any slack present there. If you still have too much slack, carefully adjust the cam follower.

An excellent tutorial on servicing the steering box is here:

http://cubfaq.com/steeringrebuild.html

The FAQ describes the process better than I can here. If you have trouble getting the slack out of the box without making things bind up, you'll have to remove the cam follower and either dress the tip or replace it, otherwise steering box adjustment or repair is pretty straightforward, though it can be a bit messy.

 

[dfrisk]

HI MARLIN! I agree with You 100%, every CC replacement engine for a CC I've ever seen back in those days was 483 Federal Yellow, Like I've said it was pretty common for a complete 10 HP replacement engine to be sitting on the parts counter at Your local IH dealer since they had the flat oil pan.

Even the K241 I picked up direct from the Salesman for Kohler that handled the IH account, a complete K241 minus the PTO clutch & S/G was painted 483 yellow. That was Sept. 1981. Salesman told Me that I should disassemble the engine before buying rebuild parts if We ever rebuilt the engine because it may have been something other than a 3-1/4" bore but it had the flat oil pan so was a 2-7/8" stroke. Salesman said it had been assembled in the test lab and they may have used some parts that really weren't correct for a K241, but it was painted 483 yellow. That engine sat until about 1985 when Dad called one Saturday AM and wanted Me to help him install it in a 104 He'd bought a couple years before. We got a WICKED Deal on that engine too, about half retail price. I got the old K241 from that 104 which I did a cheapie rebuild on and ran in the 72 for 20+ yrs. It's out in the shop in pieces waiting for $$$$ to rebuild and install in the 70 to make it a 100. The cylinder walls still look fairly good for the standard OEM bore, not sure how many hours it had before I rebuilt it but I put 1400 hours on the rebuild! The 104 was sold at Dad's sale 3 yrs ago and that engine from Kohler was never taken apart so I don't know if it was stock or not but I suspect it was. A 3-1/2" bore K241 would be an interseting engine to build.

TOM W. - Another ajustment to check is watch when You turn the steering wheel from side-to-side. If the wheel & steering shaft raises up further out of the steering colume when You turn right I think it is the big slotted nut on the bottom of the steering gearbox needs to be tightend a bit, don't over-due the tightening or the top thrust bearing will push it's way THROUGH the gearbox casting. There should be a cotter key locking the adjustment of that nut that has to be removed. ANY kind of a small BENT NAIL or RUSTY PIECE OF WIRE will work to hold the nut in place after You make the adjustment. (Now THAT ought to start some

 

[mhomrighausen]

There is frost on the Dakota this morning. 37* outside right now. I'll have to plug the 782D in so I can change oil in the little guy. Two weeks until Southeast Iowa Plow Day. I sure hope it is a little warmer those days.

Josh O. When Fancy went out for his morning stroll that cold air almost stopped him in his tracks. I asked him if he needed Kitty Carharts. He just brushed up against me, looked up and smiled.

 

[rwilke]

Marlin H.,
Thanks for sharing your 'replacement engine' story!
It just goes to show how things could have/were handled back in the day!

Josh O.,
No, the latest engine spreadsheet isn't getting the 'volunteered data' as I had with the 'dual tube' sheet.
So, it doesn't have much data on it yet. But I'm still getting some dual tube info and I'll keep collecting balance gear info too.
I'd like to at least see a dozen or so sets of data to be able to draw "some sort of a line on the graph"......

Good thinking to check under the HP sticker! Were you able to get your engine to 'say' anything else to ya?

Dennis F.,
I enjoyed reading your replacement engine stories as well, especially the one regarding your dad's 104.
Sounds like it ("...A 3-1/2" bore K241 would be an interseting engine to build.") would have been a neat review!

Ryan Wilke

 

[bbowman]

Dennis;
Ok,I'll bite!
Down here we'uns use bent nails fer buildin' shootin' houses and rusty wire fer keepin'
our hogs in!LOL! Big ol' cotter pin works pretty good on that lower nut!

 

[sstanton]

I remember when I picked up that 1650 it had a terrible hydro whine. I decided to check it today now that is at my house and before it went off to its new home. It had almost no fluid in it at all! I filled it up with the right stuff and the whine totally went away. PO said he changed the filter and put new fluid in it. I think he changed the filter but never put the fluid in. Seems to be working a ton better too.

 

[kide]

Speaking of balance gears.... still no TSBs from either Kohler or IHC/CCC.. My conclusions shortly...

I always figured that the yellow replacement engines were via IHC, while the black ones were direct from Kohler.. Did Kohler paint 'em yellow? - I though IHC did sprayed 'em (from about 10 feet back..). Did the changeover to black occur during the Quietline period when the engines were no longer visible?

 

[jharvey]

Kendell
I think you're correct that the QLs were the start of black engines. I've never seen one that wasn't black.
On the elusive TSB you'er hoping to find. Wouldn't a document like that put Kohler on the hook for lots of lawsuits if not written correctly? Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[mhomrighausen]

Ryan W. Of all the things that I can remember I can't recall the price of the replacement engine other than it was around $300.00 with tax.

Scott S. A coworker/friend taught me how to listen when those John Deere track tractors are working in the field. If you listen closely you can actually hear the 90 Series pumps ever so subtle whine when they turn corners. I've since noticed those subtle hydrualic system whines in makes of tractors. You develop an ear for that.

Kendell I. The company, Pyramids in Iowa City was a supplier to Breese Company the local NAPA store in Tipton and other stores. It wouldn't have made any difference where I bought the replacement engine as they were painted IH Federal yellow for the Cub Cadets and green for the John Deere, etc from the factory. I noticed in a couple of 1650 manuals that some of the engine photos show a yellow engine. Those must have been the prototype tractors.

It is 48* so we are head outside. See everyone later.

 

[kide]

Marlin:
Yup, I know my black crate motor (specific for a Cub) was from Kohler through a jobber.. CCC (this was '95) wasn't in the picture. I was just curious whether Kohler painted 'em yellow for IHC during the IH CUb days or IHC re-painted them (I don't have the original K301.. sold it, like a fool..). There seems to be inconsistencies on what was done at the factory, just like Cushman did with their scooter production - parts changes during model runs, older parts being used when somebody found a missed pallet, etc. With the Cubs, that's what it looks like from 40 years down the road, based on many current owner reports. Maybe we can get a comment here from "someone" who worked there and then...

Jerry:
I <u>don't</u> think there ever was one, either, but the "wisdom" being repeated is that the factory recommended removal and that the factory quit putting them in...

 

[lrehm]

I seem to recall my father, he was an engineer in the Engine Division at Kohler for 36 years, that the engines were painted yellow at the plant in Kohler. Before he passed a couple years ago we had a discussion about the troubles they had with the yellow paint. So my guess is if the engine's original paint is yellow it came from Cub, if it came straight from Kohler is will be black.

On the balance gear issue, I have been in contact with an engineer from the reliability area at Kohler, no information yet. We have exchanged a couple of emails, he is checking with another engineer who has been with Kohler since 73. I hope to get a response soon. The problem is my father retired 15 years ago and I don't think any of his buddies are around anymore. I do have another contact that I might try. A guy that worked in the lab at Kohler Engines goes to my church so I will try to hook up with hook up with him.

 

[mstetar]

OK Ive got a problem, i finally got my new to me 149 back together and now, it wont crank, when i turn the key i can hear the solenoid click, but the s/g doesn't turn. i can jump the S/G directly and it works, i can also put the key in the on position and jump the solenoid, and it will crank, I'm pretty sure that means the solenoid is bad, but i figured i would run it by you guys and see if it could be something else... thanks

 

[sstanton]

Marlin, that 1650 had a very loud whine, almost sounded like it was coming apart. I just waved goodbye to it and the guys who picked it up are going to go through everything any way. They are going to use it for a puller so I'm sure they will be changing some gears in there! I recomended this forum to them and told them about the "pulling" section so we may be getting some new members!

Now I guess it's back to working on the 104, I'll finish that up only to start work on the 123!

 

[kide]

Matt:
Sounds like you've done your homework correctly..If you hear it clicking but it won't pass current through it, the contact surfaces are probably burned/corroded or missing.. That solenoid can be replaced with a garden variety Ford style solenoid..

 

[aschumacher]

Matt...<font size="-2">If you have a Sears in the area, they have solenoids for about $13</font>