Archive through December 18, 2009

[dfrisk]

WES - I'm in the lead! Yes! I've sheared TWO driveshaft pins!

KENDELL - Good luck catching a lathe chuck.....I'll be standing over there behind the solid concrete wall.

Having just been elbow-deep into a Ford 8.8 two weeks ago, SON & I agreed that the wear on the traction-loc clutch plates was what probably caused the side gears & cupcake gears to start failing. As the plates wear the clutches compress which forces the gears to engage closer to the tips of the teeth, not close to the roots.
From what I've heard from pullers the actual failure mode of a CC rearend is the bearing retainer plates, the three bolt triangular retainers breaking. MWSC makes billet alum. replacements that are unbreakable. Also You occasionally hear of a twisted axle, and top splined sliding gear shaft in a GD. But You'll be happly to know the Hydro's seem to be almost indestructable.

Last summer hauling dirt/rock with my big hyd. dump cart on the sleeve hitch adapter on the 982, the adapter moved the hitch pin higher for more complete dumping and further back by a foot, which when loaded put SO much more weight on the 3-point the frt end was often as not off the ground. I almost pulled the mower deck off and put my suitcase weights on the frt. The loaded cart must have put 400-500# on the rear. I was more worried about the hitch on the cart breaking than the 982.

 

[fsnerd]

yes. the rod broke.

i have oxy/acetylene torches and an arc welder, but i am afraid if take them out i will chop the tractor into pieces, stuff in garbage bags and dump in the ocean. like a serial killer.

i ordered the new rod, but i am going to check today to see if there is enough threads on the other rod to move the turnbuckle down and use the broken rod, for now.

but, i still have the weight problem to solve. i need to get weight for traction using the junk i have around here, as i have not found affordable wheel weights yet.

 

[kide]

Frank:
Get a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with water, let it freeze and strap to the back....or get a milk carton, fill it with scrap steel and do the same.
Note that the threads on one side of that turnbuckle are left hand (1/4 - 20 IIRC) I found replacement lock nuts at the local TSC ...I haven't found a left hand die for rethreading that half of the rod.

Admit it too - you love that 'ol hunk of iron...

 

[fsnerd]

i had no idea a 5 gal bucket would be enough. thanks, i will try that.
i was thinking more like a 55 gallon drum filled with crap.
but, i would need a way to attach it to the tractor.

the rod snapped at the threads, about 1" from the turn buckle, that is why i am thinking i might be able to run the turnbuckle down to the end of the good rod and that should give me just enough room to thread the broken rod into the turnbuckle. but, i have not looked at it yet.

 

[aschumacher]

Frank, water is a little over 8#/gal. So you would gain about 45#. Could be some help. Next year maybe put in innertubes and fill with RV antifreeze. Had a chart to tell how much weight it would add, will probabily find it later.

 

[aschumacher]

Item 19 on the 2nd CubFaqs gives some idea of weight gain for tires.

 

[speterson]

Hanging 45 pounds off the back would actually give you more weight than just 45 pounds to the rear wheels since it would counter balance some of the weight of the front of the tractor and snow thrower and put it right where you need it for traction.

On my IH 782 with the haban 42" thrower, I put a 100 pound weight on the three point and it makes a huge difference in traction. This is in addition to the loaded tires, 65# wheel weights and chains. I find with that much weight I can slowly creep into and through the drifts in my driveway even when they are over three feet tall. I do have to raise the thrower and push into the drift, then let the snow settle and then push into it again when it's that tall. Those rock hard drifts take a good amount of traction to push into slowly without spinning the rear tires.

 

[bnolte]

Here in MD, I measured about 14 inches on the ground while I was putting the 129/QA42A through its paces. I took it on a run this morning to clear the first 6 inches or so. The narrow Tri-Ribs I put on the front wheels performed very well, even when I was backing up dragging a snow overload with it. One issue I did have was with the quick attach bracket, which came loose on the left side. It looked like a standard feature on the NF tractors, my 125 has it. I was able to pop it back in without too much fuss, then I drilled a hole through the snow blower bracket and attached it to the tractor frame with a 3/8 inch bolt. On the second run, I ran it for about another good hour and put it through its paces, and it stayed where it was supposed to, and performed well. It was all the 129 could do to push through some of the foot thick drifts, but she held together just fine.

Here is what I rigged:

She's been put away for the night

 

[rwilke]

Jim L,
Sounds like your 147 and 149 Cubs (with the LH, short oil dipstick near the cam cover) may have/had balance gears.
I'd bet the rest won't have them.
Once you do the visual inspection, let us know your findings.

Thanks!
Ryan Wilke

 

[jbaker]

with all the talk about weights i got to thinking can i put my tiller on the 1200 with a qa36 upfront? has any one tried that and if so how would i lock the tiller in the up position and still lower and lift the blower mounted up front

 

[fcurrier]

Is there a significant difference between a gas tank from a 125 and a 149? What prompts this question is that I can find a gas tank in Parts Lookup for a 149, but not for a 125. Looked, lately? $279 for a new 129 gas tank.

Cleaning one, fumes heavy, where's Wilbur when ya want him?

 

[jott]

Sounds like everyone is having some kind of problem lately. All i know is that we are getting another big storm over Christmas and my Cubs are rarin' to go!

Frank C, Are you sure you are looking at the right gas tank? Cuz that just ridiculous!

 

[dtanner]

I just have to ask who is Wilbur
(Cleaning one, fumes heavy, where's Wilbur when ya want him?)
And so we can put a face to the name Frank is the guy on the left. lol later Don T

 

[fcurrier]

Don: Ah, yes, he WAS a fine figure of a man. (the light bulbs have been changed to those squiggly new ones)
Josh: Check out Partstree.com for new (if available) prices. Ten years ago that tank was $75 (primed). I know this because after being lucky enough not to get hurt soldering one with a propane torch I went and bought one.
Picture this: Sicily, 1922
Oops, sorry Sophia!
Gas tank on pickup tailgate. Man with propane torch and solder. Fumes in tank. Man fortunately standing off to left when large end of tank blows at least 50 feet horizontally past his right hip. Ten years ago that might've made a difference in his life. Now?

 

[mjrobilotta]

besides putting ice in the five gallong bucket you could also use stuff like extra chains and such. on my 100 i got 1 #25 cement wheel weight on each wheel, then a five gallon bucket with 2 sets of tire chains, a log chain, my old starter and pto clutch. 3rd consecutive year in use and its worked great. only problem so far is i got in a hurry this year an now have a 2 inch hitch ball sticking up the bottom of my bucket.

 

[rpalmer]

frank snerd, Often when a spark plug gets flooded it will etch the porcelain and grounds it's self out. With winter here there will be a lot of flooded engines. 9 times out of 10 a new set of plugs will get the engine running again. Of coarse this does not fix the flooding problem.

Frank A. Currier, No major differences. To be correct you have to remove the threaded fitting from the 125 and install the filtered shutoff valve for the 149. Then there is the color. That's it.

 

[fcurrier]

Good morning, Rich. That brings me to another thought -- new type in-tank filter V.S. sediment bowl. I'm leaning heavily towards changing the 149's over to sediment bowls.

 

[aaytay]

Frank-
I know it's difficult to see in this photo, but that's EXACTLY what I did to the 169...

Jeff-
There's no way to do that as far as <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT> was concerned, but there really is no reason you couldn't rig something up so it would happen. Actually, with all of the handy-man/fabricators on these forum(s), I'm surpirsed someone doesn't sell a chain bracket that bolts to the top of the rear transmission cover-plate allowing you to use the tiller chain to hold up the tiller without using the tractor's lift mechanism. Like you imply, it would be basically "free weight".

 

[bnolte]

I'll add to everyone's tale of woe. At least it didn't break in the road!

 

[dclinansmith]

Jeff Baker,
I made a bracket with angle iron to hold my tiller up on my 1650. I bolted it in place of the hitch plate which has to be removed to use the tiller. It held the tiller up by the bottom mount arms. I used it with a blade for pushing dirt. Ihe tiller wasnt to good for that because it hit the dirt if the front of the tractor went up. Next time I will use some other kind of weight for dirt.The lift for the blade worked fine except for that.