Cub Cadet Original, 38'' mower Paint scheme

coolkp · Oct 30, 2019

Not that I am a purest on restores, but looking for paint scheme for Orig. 38" mower deck, were there multiple ones?
<Back Story, Son was able to buy the 1962 Cub Cadet Orig. that my dad had sold/traded to a neighbor in the 70's. The Neighbor passed a few years ago, and my son remembered that the neighbor had his grandfather cub cadet, so he wanted to see if he could get it, thankfully was able to purchase it. I had not seen the tractor in 10-15 years but knew the neighbor restored it. When we went to pick it up, the mower deck was not with it and the bracket holes were painted so I knew he must have sold/traded the deck away during the restore. Son wants to restore it like his grandfather had it.>
Picked up a used deck. The guy had two, one was all white with white mounting brackets, wheel brackets, and pulley covers and one deck had yellow. (Son got the white one it was in better shape). Also looking on line see both even with mule white and white mule cover (most mules seem to be yellow).

So was this was year specific or just whatever the production run was? Looking on line see multiple orig. with different paint schemes. Are the restores just individual preferences on what they pieced together?

Thanks.

bought white one

kmcconaughey · Oct 30, 2019

I believe that the all white one is a very early one. If I recall my history correctly, the implements were to be painted white and later they added the yellow details to the mower decks while the front blade, tiller and snowthrower stayed all white. Most mower decks seem to be the white with yellow. The front belt guard can also be either yellow or white, I prefer the white front belt guard and the white deck with yellow guards and brackets. Interestingly, the early wheel weights were yellow and later (during the 1x6/7 series Cub Cadets and on) were white. The really early wheel weights are red as they were for the front wheels of the Farmall Cub.

coolkp · Oct 30, 2019

Thanks.

Not sure what son will end up doing.

first got to tear it down to prep it before painting it. the one spindle has a grease fitting and one does not.

Got a lot to learn about these old machines.

coolkp · Jan 27, 2020

Well making progress on the mower deck though it is slow going. Have it completely disassembled and working on paint and rust removal and primer the parts. So question now is after market or ONS decals for deck. The few sites that I have found don’t seem to have the exact ones that are currently on the mower

On this all white deck it had 3 decals. Safety, arrow (assuming for deck timing), and IH logo (with wider black boarder right and bottom).
See pic

Would be nice to get same ones.

If anyone knows of a source would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

rkuik · Jun 6, 2020

i was researching the colors for an original and saw your post, then looking in what i had saved from before and found the attached. not sure where or how i got, but dated 9/1960, top of page 4, and confirms Kraig's recollection, they were all white first and then later, must have added the yellow accents.

mfrade · Jun 7, 2020

My memory says this was originally provided from the documents of Mr. Paul Bell of Kentucky.
A huge fan of cub cadets and all around nice guy. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon
with him and Paul Funk.