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Archive through August 11, 2014

IH Cub Cadet Tractor Forum

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Denny,

Of course Cyclops's have "other" uses....
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Special Thanks to Brian for putting that 1250 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ back into wonderful condition and keeping it that way (the name is deleted to protect the innocent).
By the way, I'm gonna be back your way in a couple months, south of your MN border - about 60 miles due south and a little west of Worthington MN to be exact. Maybe there's a home coming parade down that way.
 
Maybe it's the puller in me, and maybe the Plow Day guys will agree with me. My cubs are ready and willing to put in max effort at what ever job I decide to do with it. Mowing, plowing, blading (snow plowing), pulling a disc.

I'm happy to drive a parade with my cub. But it would likely be covered in whatever job I last completed with it. And I'd probably mow the grass with it when the parade was over.
 
I find joy in getting dirt on a working tractor.
I find joy in the fresh paint of someone else's restoration (I haven't gotten that far yet).
But I don't find joy in getting dirt on a freshly painted restoration.

I realize there are some folks who don't feel like they truly own their new truck until they get it covered in fresh mud, dent the tailgate and/or the bumper and scratch up the bed.
It is just not me.
I'll use my equipment, mind you, but I try to take care of it as well.
Truth be told, I probably PREFER a worker, because then I'm not scared to use it.
I would be afraid to touch the hood of my tractor if it looked as good as Jim Harder's 782D (as seen on "The day finally came!" thread in the MTD/CCC section).
Seeing his tractor makes me want to break out the buffing cloth.
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Jeremiah - you just hit the nail on the head with me. Every tractor I restored I could just never get myself to actually use it - so I had to sell it off and start with another one, use it a little as a worker to get a feel for it (assuming it ran or I got it to run) and then when the season changed I began a restoration process, that generally took me 6 months.

My 169 was my last restoration because I knew I was moving out here to the left coast - and I barely got it done before hand. Still haven't done the snow blade or mowing deck, and the wheel weights are in primer - mostly because I wouldn't use them anyway, and it's hard to drag them to a show but not attach them to the tractor (so I don't chip any paint).

Maybe it's partly because it took me 6 months to do a restoration. It's not that I'm slow, but I had to be happy with every part I was gonna use, from cleaning and reusing the wiring or finding another harness, to re-fibering the dash, to finding a decent hood with no dents which was nearly impossible, to making sure I had all the correct IH stamped bolts if it was a narrow frame, or WP stamped with the wide frames. It all takes alot of time. I couldn't afford to run out and get new if I didn't like stuff, so I had to come up with used parts decent enough for a restoration - and all this was before the internet, so it becomes more apparent why I had half a dozen tractors hidden under my back deck. I gotta say by the time I was done with a restoration I was quite proud of what I did.

I remember a 107 that turned out just really sweet. My paint job even fooled one of the greatest CC restorers and CC Police out there - he just couldn't believe it was a rattle can paint job. With the right preparation and right finish conditions you can learn and really make a rattle can job look completely professional. (And I'll add I did alot of it outside, and we all know the weather conditions can change quickly some times - and as a result sometimes I had to re-do the job 3 or even 4 times. But I didn't have a choice, I didn't have a compressor or a paint booth area, just a garage and a basement (with some heat lights for winter time use), and the great outdoors in the summer.

So - this is why I could never bring myself to use one of my restorations, except after I sold it for some demonstration like how to mow with it, or running with a blade or snow thrower, etc.

By the way, I had a look over at Jim Harder's thread you mentioned, and that is a sweet looking machine. His still shots are great, and I noticed there are no attachments on the unit. I could never use his unit if I were him. To me it's like made for taking pictures. They ain't making any more of them so ya gotta keep the best ones as best you can. I have nothing against workers mind you. That's what they are for, and where it becomes a part of you over time. Hey, what's wrong with using it for 20 years, restoring it and retiring it just to keep, and then start the process again, use another one for 20 yeats, etc. In fact, do it again with the same model. It's nice to know you can make them just like new again if you want to.
 
STEVE B. - I will say the Cyclops was the First CC to gain from the engineering to correct some of the inherent problems that IH never really fixed in Cub Cadets. I'd be more likely to buy a Cyclops than a QL or Original.

HARRY - You've never seen my 72 in person... but the tractor was repainted with rattle cans in January 1981. The results of a paint job are all about the preparation, not what kind of container the paint came out of. Even my Super H had all it's sheet metal repainted with rattle cans back in the summer of 1969. Fresh paint on either tractor did not stop them from getting used every day. I don't have the money or the room to not have something earn it's keep around here.
 
Harry, the cub that made the full pull was my 106,I could only pull in exhibition due to the weight of the 106, but it did pull the sled all the way.

To restore or not to restore, I redid the 149 about 10 years ago and it looked like new. Now not so much, after ten year of use it shows. but It still looks better than a 30 year old tractor and would be any easy restore now.

I'm with Dennis, I don't have room to store stuff that I don't use.
 
Paint them.....then pull them hard!!!!!! My 2 bottom plow and 982S were in 100% fresh paint and the first thing I did was pull them into a (too muddy for conditions) field and plow all day with them......

And it was GREAT!!!!!!
 
Doug B - OH! I saw you make the full pull with your 106 Bucket Loader. I thought you meant there was another CC that made one. You and your 106 were great, and really quite amazing since it looked like you could just keep on going forever. You obviously have the right weight distribution and that 10hp just keeps going on and on and on.

Dennis - all my units had to earn their keep to, so since I couldn't use the restored units I had to sell them, and then start the process over. The 169 didn't really count since I got it at a scrap yard and it was just the frame, engine, rearend and manual lift, for $20. The parts I used from so many other units were squirreled away over about 7 years as excess parts from other units I picked up, until I had everything I needed. As I mentioned before, I used some pre and post production parts (i.e. NF front wheels since I like the wide offset to the outside, and a QL hood hinge). So even tho it had a lot of labor involved, and about $350 in new engine parts, and about $150+ in paint and materials, etc., it sorta paid it's own way to get to restoration (at least I have to rationalize it that way - and that's why I don't have to use but still get to keep it - that and because there ain't that many of them out there, especially with 13 fin blocks AND especially still running with grenade gears in them. I suppose some day I'll have to get around to doing something about those pesky little things. Is there some way to remove them without chipping the paint?
 
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