The revival of another Cub Cadet 126

[mlundgreen]

Hello all. A couple off years ago I posted some photos of a tractor that I needed to know the model number of. To my horror I found it to be a Franken100. So I set about trying to find a cure for it. Then someone came along with a 107 But I wanted to use my gear drive transaxle so I studied and studied and found that the 107 is basically a 10hp hydro version of a 126. So what the 107 didn't have the Franken100 did. I tore them both down and commenced to build a 126 that was as authentic as it could be in a realistic sense. So here are the pictures of the progress. If anyone sees something wrong then please let me know so I can make corrections if possible. I will admit that I have made a couple of modifications that wouldn't normally be seen by purists that I thought would be better for actual usability. Most of you should understand what you're looking at but if you any questions please ask.

 

[mfrade]

Good Job. Now please go back in and edit your pictures with at least one stroke of the enter key between pics so we don't have to scroll right the rest of the day!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Holy Photo Upload Batman! Now that I've edited your post to add the space between the photos I'm going to have a look at them.

Under edit: Looking good so far.

 

[dross]

I think I like your steering bearings a lot.

 

[mlundgreen]

Sorry 'bout the editing part. I'm not used to
dealing with scripts in the attachments. When I get the next set ready I'll remember to space them. LOL I wondered why it did that.

Actually I had a few words to say about each picture but it would have taken a couple days work to do as there are 78 pictures here. On the next ones I'll try and get some info to ya. Do I need to add spaces between each line of text?

 

[dross]

Hit enter before and after each picture

 

[fcurrier]

A few pics per post would be appreciated by at least one old man on dial-up.

Your electrolysis set up is sure working nicely!

 

[mlundgreen]

Thanks Dave, I had to hunt down just the right set to cover all the parameters and then still had to do some machining on the housing and the worm. The worm and the brake disks definitely gave my lathe a workout. It actually lit the metal up as it cut. I chipped several inserts but I finally got it done. I used a dremel on the lathe with a silicon carbide wheel to finish the worm.

 

[mlundgreen]

Ok, Frank there won't be near as many pics this time. LOL What you're seeing is the results of two years work. Now I'll just be adding as I move from one thing to another. Dave, thanks for the tip. I think I'll remember. What'd you just say? LOL

 

[mlundgreen]

Frank, the electrolysis USED TO WORK GOOD until the old Harley golf cart charger finally burned the wire coming out of the coil just inside the coil where I couldn't get to it. I'll get another less powerful one when I get started on the Camaro. I had to keep chasing the kids away that wanted to watch because at 24V & 15A I couldn't stress enought the fact it would kill them. It made me nervous. I kept wanting to move parts around and had to keep my guard up that it wasn't going to be like a car coil shock.

 

[wshytle]

Mark-

Is that bearing designed for thrust? It doesn't look to be. The OEM bearings work by having/putting pressure on one another by adjusting with the bottom plug. I'd like to know how it works after several hours of use.

That's a good idea but I've found nothing wrong with the 5/16" bearings Ross used originally. I mean....they only last about twenty years per rebuild.

Just my .02 worth.

 

[mlundgreen]

Hello Wayne. The bearings are tapered roller bearings. That housing you see has been bored through slightly for the bearing outer race to fit down through then I bored out the ruined race seat to accept the roller race. After that the adjuster plug had to be shortened and recessed so as only to press on the outer race. I couldn't find a thinner set of rollers so in order to have enough adjustment threads I decided to use a set screw to lock the plug once adjustment is made. I doubt that the set screw will ever have to be touched more than twice in the entire life of this machine. The reason I did this was because on three units that I had the races were completely distorted and had imprints of the balls in them so I assumed that this was one of the weakest points of this system. From my observation of this system once there is a little slack in the balls the shaft can cock in the races and shove the balls up toward the edge of the races causing significant damage under pressure to the race AND the housing seats. Once impressions are set in those thin pressed races increasing distortion begins and if unnoticed will even ruin the housing. If they are even slightly over tightened then again you have impressions that will start damaging the races. After all they are not precision ground races, they're just mild steel stampings. They don't take a beating from the side very well at all. Another design flaw is that it is not a completely sealed system which I am also working toward solutions. If even a little bit of water gets in there it evaporates and condenses over and over until it starts to rust all the steel surfaces in there. Also with tapered rollers the worm can get cocked a ways and still not destroy that highly hardened race. They won't just slide over and start eating the race, it will actually be noticeable as rattling in the steering wheel telling you they need adjusted. I believe that the housing would shatter before the tapered roller bearings fail and if kept sealed and greased I don't think they will ever wear out. They don't turn fast enough.

More than anything it was basically an engineering exercise. I can say for sure that it only takes two fingers to turn it from one side to the other now and much smoother than the the ball races I've observed. Next I'll put the bearing on the cam plate and figure out how to put in o-rings to competely seal it. If I'm not making something or finding solutions for problems I'm not really having any fun.

I plan on this tractor being given to one of my great grandchildren with the hope that it will be as maintenance free as possible. I'm just going to have to write them an additional manual to instruct them on how to keep it that way because most kids today don't even understand how a bottle opener works.

 

[jchamberlin]

Mark, great post. I agree that the Ross system could use a little tweaking. The stock bearings remind me of the bearings used in bicycle forks.

I'm like you in that I enjoy making "improvements where I see a need.

One of the wear points I've identified is the hole in the aluminum housing in which the hardened "actuator assembly" rides: mine is wallowed out an is the biggest source of play in the system.

 

[elincoln]

Great job you've done. I hope my 127 looks half as good.

 

[mlundgreen]

Ok guys here's some more pictures. I know there's quite a few but it was because when I uploaded the original set only the 800 x 600's went through but not the 600 x 800's because it doesn't allow anything over 600 pixels high even though it was withing the 800 x 600 range and no more than 100 kb. I uploaded and uploaded for a couple hours before I figured out why they were being rejected even though I made them smaller and smaller.

I am uploading them in three sets and each picture has a numbered tag so you can kind figure out the sequence.

 

[mlundgreen]

Here is the second set of the missing photos. There is no provision for sorting messages last or first that I can find so when you look at them realize these should actually be below the last set and the next set should be below the bottom ones. Now I'm confusing myself.

What we really need here is a way to rearrange and edit our postings because it can get confusing as you can see. As long as you follow the numbered tags you should be able to figure out what I've done.

 

[mlundgreen]

Here are the last photos I have to date so now as I finish more stuff I'll take pictores and send them at once instead of so many at a time since I've finally figured out how to get them uploaded properly. Sorry for the problems.

I'm going to remake this piece out of stainless because I think that the broken narrow piece will hold up to vibration much better than mild steel will.

This photo better illustrates where I bored the seat for the roller race which would actually be at the top of the housing where the shaft comes out.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Mark, wow, looking great!

 

[jbaker]

Mark that is some Very nice work,,wish I could do that...
but paint on the cylinder fins?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff, that paint will burn off. They came from <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT> painted.