Hi All,
A lot of you already know about this preventive device but some may not.
About 12 years ago my "Original" had a catastrophic gear box failure. I lost 2nd and 3rd. A couple months ago I finally got around to restoring the tractor and fixing the gear box. I found a loose fine thread 3/8 nut that had taken out the gears. Not sure how it got in there. Neither my dad nor I ever took the cover off. We have had the Cub for 38 years and there is no reason the original owner would have needed to open the tranny. A factory implant?
Anyway, a magnetic drain plug may have prevented this. I have them in all my vehicles and racing bikes but never got around to the Cub.
Neodymium magnets are now reasonably priced and the most powerful. If you think your gearbox will ever get over 180 degrees then use Samarium Cobalt as NE will loose strength at that temperature. Both rare earth magnets in the drain plug size are about $1 and can be found on several web sites. I used a disc magnet 1/2" diameter by 1/4" thick, nickel plated.
1/2" pipe plugs are the same as the Cub plugs. You can have them made up before you drain the oil. Use high temperature epoxy. Do not use JB weld as the magnet will pull the metal filler out. I have the plugs in both the gearbox and the engine.
You will not believe what you will find attached to the magnet when you do an oil change. It is especially helpful with drives that have internal chains such as timing chains. It will alert you to a failure in process. It will also keep the fine metal shavings from wrecking open bearings.
Hope this helps someone. If you need a supplier email me and I will give you some places to look.
The broken gear and yellow culprit that did it.
Use a 1/2" drill to a depth of about 1/4"
The finished magnetic drain plug
(Message edited by hlinden on November 09, 2005)
A lot of you already know about this preventive device but some may not.
About 12 years ago my "Original" had a catastrophic gear box failure. I lost 2nd and 3rd. A couple months ago I finally got around to restoring the tractor and fixing the gear box. I found a loose fine thread 3/8 nut that had taken out the gears. Not sure how it got in there. Neither my dad nor I ever took the cover off. We have had the Cub for 38 years and there is no reason the original owner would have needed to open the tranny. A factory implant?
Anyway, a magnetic drain plug may have prevented this. I have them in all my vehicles and racing bikes but never got around to the Cub.
Neodymium magnets are now reasonably priced and the most powerful. If you think your gearbox will ever get over 180 degrees then use Samarium Cobalt as NE will loose strength at that temperature. Both rare earth magnets in the drain plug size are about $1 and can be found on several web sites. I used a disc magnet 1/2" diameter by 1/4" thick, nickel plated.
1/2" pipe plugs are the same as the Cub plugs. You can have them made up before you drain the oil. Use high temperature epoxy. Do not use JB weld as the magnet will pull the metal filler out. I have the plugs in both the gearbox and the engine.
You will not believe what you will find attached to the magnet when you do an oil change. It is especially helpful with drives that have internal chains such as timing chains. It will alert you to a failure in process. It will also keep the fine metal shavings from wrecking open bearings.
Hope this helps someone. If you need a supplier email me and I will give you some places to look.
The broken gear and yellow culprit that did it.
Use a 1/2" drill to a depth of about 1/4"
The finished magnetic drain plug
(Message edited by hlinden on November 09, 2005)
