Archive through October 02, 2012

[dfrisk]

STEVE S. - Thanks for the lengths of the blades for 38 & 42" decks. Like I said, I never had a 42" deck. That info would be a great way for people to tell the difference between the two decks. Too bad we don't have the ability to have "Sticky Posts" here on the forum. Maybe somebody should write up a comment for the FAQ's and include the 44 & 50 inch decks.

JONATHAN - The K241 is a short stroke engine, only 2-7/8" stroke. All the other engines of that style, K301/321/341 are 3-1/4" stroke. The oil flinging finger on the rod cap won't reach any deeper into the pan, so about the only result would be you'd be able to put more oil in the pan. Whether there would be any oiling improvements I can't say. I remember when I rebuilt the K241 I put in my 72 back in '85 I had to cut about 1/4" off the end of the finger so it wouldn't hit the bottom of the oil pan, I ground/filed it so it just cleared the pan without the pan gasket installed, so I had maybe .060" clearance. I never had any oiling issues with that engine, even when mowing on long steep slopes approaching 45 degrees.

 

[dfrisk]

WAYNE - I'm a lot more fussy when working on small engines than Dad was. My straight edges aren't perfect, but they're within a .001" or so. That block could very well have been warped, typically the heads warp but on those little engines, K161/181 they run so hard to move the tractor and run a mower they always have shorter lives than the bigger engines.

Yes, the aluminum paint was supposed to in effect "Glue" the head to the block, but eventually the paint solvents & aluminum particles would burn up and the gasket would blow again. It's one thing to mow a small yard that takes 30-40 minutes, and a totally different thing to mow a yard that takes several hours. SON's mowing time with the 982 is between 10 and 15 minutes. It takes me between 2-1/2 to 3 hours to mow my yard with the 982, and SIX hours with the 72 mowing in 1st gear. Ahhhh And to think SON & I used to mow the same yard in 1-1/2 hrs with the 72 & 129. But back then the grass was lighter in many places and I could mow in 2nd gear. Mowing with the old 70 with it's slow 2nd would be about perfect, and get me down around 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 hrs.

 

[dtanner]

Dennis Frisk

To bad we can`t buy copper head gaskets for our Cub engines . They would seal better on an engine with a slight out of square head or block face.another plus is they can be reused . I used to heat them with a torch and reuse .I bet they would out last any of our k engines.

 

[digger]

Don T.
You can buy them today from several places including MSC, Vogel and the like.
Pullers use them ya know.

 

[dfrisk]

DON - I don't have any experience with copper head gaskets, but I would think the block & head would have to be almost perfect for them to seal properly. Charlie's right, MWSC has .031" thk gaskets for $14.70 US & .062" thk gaskets for $21 US.

My last motorcycle, the OSSA 250 SDR used a solid soft aluminum ring to seal the head to the cylinder. The engine only had four cylinder/head studs, but the head was MUCH much stiffer than a Kohler head, the fins were over 2 inches tall and the base was very thick, think the plugs had a reach about an inch long. You could vary the thickness of the ring to adjust the octane requirements of the engine. It would ping with the thin 2.0 mm thk stock ring on the best leaded premium gas I could buy, but ran O-K when running 108 octane race gas. I put a 3.0 mm thk ring in and it ran fine on the leaded premium but I lost some low end torque and HP all the way up the power band. With the race gas it cost more per mile for fuel than my 4WD pickup to run that bike. Detonation is almost Instant DEATH to a 2-stroke engine. I found out the hard way (And EXPENSIVE WAY) on my old Amerachi Harley that 2-strokes are fussy about fuel and tuning. Their pistons are very fragile.

 

[cfischer]

Hey guys, I'm trying to build the super quietline tractor, and I was wondering, has anyone put power steering on a quietline? Does it take up more room under the dash or less room than the standard steering column?

 

[digger]

Chuck F.
Before we get to much off topic here on the main board.
I'd really like to see ya start a new thread in the,
Cool IH Cub Cadets Not OEM but better'n' new section.

 

[jsalatino]

Dennis...I didnt think there would be much / if any to gain by switching it over,other then being able to put more oil in.Anyways it was just a thought

 

[kide]

Dennis:
My first 2 wheeler was a '57 Lambretta... Dad brought home a piece of laminated auto glass and valve grinding compound.. We lapped both the head and top of the jug totally flat and put it together with NO head gasket... Ran for a couple of years that way. My last flathead Cushman , I "milled" the head .030 with a belt sander and lapped that on plate glass. Checking for flatness with a machinist's rule is iffy, because you're not getting surface contact on the entire cylinder at the same time - you can have one end in a valley and never know it. There's not a really good way of checking without a surface plate and a strong light or some machinist's bluing..

 

[wshytle]

Please fill me in once again on the four rarest cubs. I can remember the 800, 169, 86, and that's where the crs kicks in. I keep thinking the 126 for some reason but I'm just not sure.

TIA!

 

[wsdrake]

Wayne, the 147 is pretty rare....

 

[dfrisk]

GERRY - Checking a head now wouldn't be a problem. Last place I worked had a granite inspection table that was 4 ft X 6 ft and weighed over a ton, plus a $250,000 CMM that was accurate to within .000002". I could dress the head on the granite table and have it checked for flatness on the CMM.

Dad didn't have access to that kind of stuff when he was farming.

I don't think my old OSSA would have run very long with NO or even the 1.0mm thk sealing ring. OSSA offered the different rings for different styles of engines, they made awesome flat track circle track race bikes, moto-cross bikes, enduro bikes, both hot versions like my SDR and a more mild version called the Pioneer, then trials bikes for riding obseved trial competitions, and for a few years made a street bike. There were some differences in port timing, ignition timing, and of course carb size, but EVERYTHING interchanged from one type of engine to the other. The trials engines had extra heavy flywheels, while the race bikes had really light flywheels, but even the clutchs & tranmissions were all the same.

Sometimes I'm really sad I gave the thing away to a former co-worker.... but it was pretty much a money pit, needed some "Un-obtainium Parts" like a new Moto-Plat ignition, probably a ring, maybe even crankshaft seals.

ANYHOW, 10-12 yrs ago I almost bought a small bench-top surface grinder for resurfacing heads, had a 8"x18" reciprocating table with a 6"x12" magnetic chuck which would be worthess with a Kohler diecast head, but you could clamp things down to it too. But it had issues with the reciprocating mechanism for the table which made it worth about what I'd have had to pay for it, scrap price, plus it needed 3-phase power which would have cost a BUNCH to create out of single phase back then. It's just easier to let the machine shop true the heads up when I rebuild a Kohler. Not sure how most shops true them up but I assume they sand them. I do have a BIG 12" disk sander with a 6" x 48" belt sander attached, it would get them fairly flat in a hurry.

 

[wshytle]

Thanks Billy but I don't think the 147 is one of the top four. It just doesn't ring any bells.

Come on guys...you know the fourth one I'm speaking of. I guess I could do a search for rarest cubs.

Again...TIA!

 

[fcurrier]

Wayne: I just did a search -- for my Hank Will's book! Go with the 126 at 5,247 units built.

15,678 147's
8,489 86's
4,005 169's
2,345 800's

 

[bjamison]

So - what were the 4 top selling IHCC's?

 

[wshytle]

Thanks Frank-

I didn't think there were a lot of 126s built. I had a friend call today and ask if I would be interested in one (another one) about three miles down the road. I also learned NOT to use the word cub when searching anything. I believe every page ever archived came up.

Bill-

I don't know the top four but I do know the 129 was very popular in the early to mid 70s. I heard it was the top seller. I didn't even know they existed when Pop brought home the 128 in '73.

 

[fcurrier]

Bill: If they all got sold, wouldn't the 4 models that the most were made of be the top sellers?

 

[jbaker]

My guess is
1200
128
129
149

and its a toss up between best selling series,,,,QL probaly made a few more than the 1x8,9

Just my guess's

 

[wshytle]

Well, as I was posting a few minutes ago here comes my friend hauling a nice 126. All I said earlier was "I'd probably be interested". The price was very right and it has a black replacement engine, factory headlights/taillights, and the old K301 complete with carb and a nice muffler. It also sported the original manual. It is covered with barn dust and was located only 3 or 4 miles down the road. I'll get some pics out tomorrow.

It's really nice when good deals are delivered.

 

[jchamberlin]

Wayne: At the rate you're going, you will be giving Charlie some competition from the "Southern Contingent."