Newly Acquired 149: Modified Deck

[hydroharry]

How hard to find are the decks and spindles for my 149?

Used are pretty plentiful. New decks just don't exist (except the NOS one now that I said that). Spindles I believe are still available. Check the CC Specialties website.

 

[149CubLover]

Used are pretty plentiful. New decks just don't exist (except the NOS one now that I said that). Spindles I believe are still available. Check the CC Specialties website.

Will the cc specialists know which 50" would fit on my '73 149? Or am I constrained using a 48"?

 

[hydroharry]

What happened to the gentleman and the mowers?

Jim Chabot retired and sold off most of his collection. Sold his home in the pics and built another (and when I say built, he did his own work, including the home in the pics and the museum bldg. and the new home). Last I knew he still has one of the pre-production Original's. Don't believe it's 409 but 40 something. He still lives in Mass. and a lot of the year in Maine (big time snowmobiling).

 

[149CubLover]

Jim Chabot retired and sold off most of his collection. Sold his home in the pics and built another (and when I say built, he did his own work, including the home in the pics and the museum bldg. and the new home). Last I knew he still has one of the pre-production Original's. Don't believe it's 409 but 40 something. He still lives in Mass. and a lot of the year in Maine (big time snowmobiling).

Very glad to hear he's still around. I understand the Cub fever. The only cure is more Cubs lol

 

[hydroharry]

Don't know what happened to the delete function but can't find it to remove this duplication.

 

[hydroharry]

Will the cc specialists know which 50" would fit on my '73 149? Or am I constrained using a 48"?

CC Specialties.org is owned by Charlie Proctor, aka Digger. He knows exactly what deck fits your 149. If you want to use a 44" or 50" newer style IH deck you will need an updated mule drive. The mule drive pulleys will have a slight angle to direct the belt towards the center deck pulley which is slightly offset.

 

[hydroharry]

Absolutely beautiful!!

On my bucket list, is to install the lined tires on the front. If I knew someone in my area, I'd pay them to repaint the entire thing.

One other thing I forgot to mention. Those lined tires as you call them are generally referred to as "ribbed" tires. Jim Chabot found a brand new pair of Goodyears for his 169. Another of his amazing feats, since they just don't exist. I have a pair of Carlisle on my 169, which are somewhat look a-likes. Here's an old pic from 2001 of my 169 where you can see the tires. You can also see the "pre-production" wheels (they are from an earlier narrow frame Cub Cadet and have the wide offset on the outside). I like the looks and stance. It doesn't show as much camber as the originals.
(Also, I don't know why the paint looks so yellow in the pic - it's not. It's Ironguard Federal Yellow. And by the way, I'm also posting a pic of how my 169 started out. Took me a little while to put it back together. It still had the original manual lift when it was scraped. The dealer had never installed the hydraulic lift IH sent him).

 

[149CubLover]

One other thing I forgot to mention. Those lined tires as you call them are generally referred to as "ribbed" tires. Jim Chabot found a brand new pair of Goodyears for his 169. Another of his amazing feats, since they just don't exist. I have a pair of Carlisle on my 169, which are somewhat look a-likes. Here's an old pic from 2001 of my 169 where you can see the tires. You can also see the "pre-production" wheels (they are from an earlier narrow frame Cub Cadet and have the wide offset on the outside). I like the looks and stance. It doesn't show as much camber as the originals.
(Also, I don't know why the paint looks so yellow in the pic - it's not. It's Ironguard Federal Yellow. And by the way, I'm also posting a pic of how my 169 started out. Took me a little while to put it back together. It still had the original manual lift when it was scraped. The dealer had never installed the hydraulic lift IH sent him).

View attachment 157282

View attachment 157284

Gorgeous 169!!

I did see that Carlisle makes the ribbed tires. They're actually in my cart for when I'm ready to pull the trigger. Not sure if I'll do it this season or next. I can't have the XT2 thinking I'm giving this 149 all the love. If she thinks that, she'll break down, and her 3 year warranty just ended. If I was betting man, I'd say the starter will go on my xt2. Since year one, if it's super hot and I take a break from mowing, when I come back to start it, the starter sometimes sticks. I found if I open the hood and let it cool during my break, the starter issue doesn't happen. Luckily the starters are a dime a dozen on Amazon. More throw away Chinese garbage. But, that's the world our forefathers have put us in.

 

[149CubLover]

Deck holes are now officially patched. In 48 hours, after the pc-7 cures, I'll primer and paint. It's not beautiful but the bleeding has stopped.

 

[hydroharry]

Deck holes are now officially patched. In 48 hours, after the pc-7 cures, I'll primer and paint. It's not beautiful but the bleeding has stopped.

Be interesting to see if the liquid steel pc-7 holds up to the deck vibration.

 

[149CubLover]

Be interesting to see if the liquid steel pc-7 holds up to the deck vibration.

I hope so. Fingers crossed!

 

[149CubLover]

Any advice on my previous question about greasing my spindles? I did notice in the 3 hour mow, they did lose just enough grease to grab dirt and grime. Nothing I can scrape off but a tiny bit did sling out. Should I give a pump of the grease gun before each mow? I don't wanna over do it either...

 

[hydroharry]

Any advice on my previous question about greasing my spindles? I did notice in the 3 hour mow, they did lose just enough grease to grab dirt and grime. Nothing I can scrape off but a tiny bit did sling out. Should I give a pump of the grease gun before each mow? I don't wanna over do it either...

I must have missed that question. I think it's best to open it up for an answer and opinion from everyone that wants to respond.

I doubt you can really over grease them. For myself I think I only ever grease them at the start of the season and at the end of the season when I really cleaned the deck up for storage. When I did it at the start it was to make sure it was fresh and full, and clear anything that settled over the winter. When I did it at the end as part of the clean up it was to insure the old was kinda pushed on and they were fresh and full. I probably did also do it if I had any issue during the season like an idler pulley spring failure.

Now that I have said all this I wonder if the manual calls out any recommended intervals.

 

[149CubLover]

I must have missed that question. I think it's best to open it up for an answer and opinion from everyone that wants to respond.

I doubt you can really over grease them. For myself I think I only ever grease them at the start of the season and at the end of the season when I really cleaned the deck up for storage. When I did it at the start it was to make sure it was fresh and full, and clear anything that settled over the winter. When I did it at the end as part of the clean up it was to insure the old was kinda pushed on and they were fresh and full. I probably did also do it if I had any issue during the season like an idler pulley spring failure.

Now that I have said all this I wonder if the manual calls out any recommended intervals.

Manual calls for grease every 16 hours.

 

[hydroharry]

Manual calls for grease every 16 hours.

Wow - there's apparently a lot of difference in the recommended maintenance. My first and go to tractor was a 1450 with a 50A deck. This is a Quiet Line tractor and the next 14hp Hydro tractor after your 149. I worked on and restored a lot of tractors over the years but my 1450 was the around the house always use unit. Guess I should have read the manuals for others a little closer.

Here's page 9 from the 50A deck manual which calls out grease every 200 hours. Big difference.

 

[149CubLover]

Wow - there's apparently a lot of difference in the recommended maintenance. My first and go to tractor was a 1450 with a 50A deck. This is a Quiet Line tractor and the next 14hp Hydro tractor after your 149. I worked on and restored a lot of tractors over the years but my 1450 was the around the house always use unit. Guess I should have read the manuals for others a little closer.

Here's page 9 from the 50A deck manual which calls out grease every 200 hours. Big difference.

View attachment 157289

Could the change be the bean counters trying to scheme up ways to make more money on repairs and parts? Longer grease intervals means shorter life.

BMW tried this mentality with the e46 models. Lifetime manual transmission fluid. Even put a sticker on the transmission to make you feel better. Garbage!! I change my e46s gear oil every 40k miles. I'm at 200,000 miles and the transmission is smooth as butter.

 

[hydroharry]

Could the change be the bean counters trying to scheme up ways to make more money on repairs and parts? Longer grease intervals means shorter life.

BMW tried this mentality with the e46 models. Lifetime manual transmission fluid. Even put a sticker on the transmission to make you feel better. Garbage!! I change my e46s gear oil every 40k miles. I'm at 200,000 miles and the transmission is smooth as butter.

Well, interesting question about the bean counters. I actually don't think so. At the time the 50A deck was built (1974-80) IH was in one of it's best production periods (at least as I understand it for the famous Quiet Line Series tractors. I don't know what else IH was building. If I recall correctly it wasn't until late in this period or maybe even just after that new management was brought in from Xerox and things went down hill, but not so much in the Cub Cadet or Lawn Products Division).

I think it was more of a change in the type of bearings used in the spindles in the mowing decks. I believe your style deck used the ST745 type bearing (I believe commonly called a pump style bearing) in the spindles. Maybe it just required more maintenance than the later style used in the 44A and 50A decks. This question probably needs input from someone like Charlie to really address the bearing style differences. Which might be better? Which might last longer or require more maintenance, etc.

I did go back and check earlier decks than your 48 and found IH always recommended grease at 16hours for the 38, 42 and 48 decks. I then checked the later decks after the 50A which were the 44C and 50C, which IH reduced slightly from 200 hours to 180 hours. I actually thought that was strange to reduce it by 20 hours. (Further evidence it may not be bean counters - or was it really the bean counters and they admitted they counted to much?).

 

[mgonitzke]

The 48" deck should have spindles with tapered roller bearings, or at least the earlier ones did. 44/50" decks had the "water pump" style bearings until MTD developed the aluminum housing spindles, which use the same tapered roller bearings as the earlier spindles. Post a pic of the portion of the spindle on the underside of the deck and we'll be able to tell what you have.

You can over-grease a bearing. Too much grease will cause it to overheat. The grease interval in the manual is in part to prevent this. Also note that the seal on the bottom of the spindle should be installed backwards so that the excess/old grease can escape. The 'water pump' style bearings are a non-serviceable assembly, and there is less space inside and for excess grease to escape, so the interval is longer for those. They will last about forever if they are greased properly and never get wet.

Could the change be the bean counters trying to scheme up ways to make more money on repairs and parts? Longer grease intervals means shorter life.

BMW tried this mentality with the e46 models. Lifetime manual transmission fluid. Even put a sticker on the transmission to make you feel better. Garbage!! I change my e46s gear oil every 40k miles. I'm at 200,000 miles and the transmission is smooth as butter.

These tractors long predate the bean counters taking over all the corporations. Most everything on these machines is overbuilt.

 

[R Mass1]

Also, here's some pictures of the deck.

My 149 has deck wheels on the 44" deck just like yours. They're just mounted higher up, that's all, and has been that way for 30+ years, no problem.

 

[149CubLover]

My 149 has deck wheels on the 44" deck just like yours. They're just mounted higher up, that's all, and has been that way for 30+ years, no problem.

Good to know. I don't plan on using the 149 heavily. Maybe every 2-3 mows vs my 2020.