Archive through February 06, 2008

[bmoore]

That was the wettest, heaviest snow I've ever moved. On the first pass, I could see the snow moving out to about 8 feet in front of the blade, until it got heavy enough to stop my forward progress. I had to do several turns and push from the side, way up into the yard to allow me to have enough space to put the snow. Our neighbor has a fence about two feet away from the edge of our drive, and I couldn't pile this snow there for fear of breaking the vertical 6' 1x4's. I have piles of snow up to about 4 feet high in the neighbor's yard past the downhill end of that fence. It's kind of neat to look at the convex edge of the bank along that fence, from the end of the 42" blade, and the curved marks in it from the wheel weight bolts rubbing the top and bottom of the curved wall.
I worked it in two stages, taking the first passes from about 12:30 until 3:30 yesterday afternoon, then went to pick up my wife from work. When we got home, I replaced a bolt that had vibrated out of the metal dash support on the 129, and since it had been getting harder to start, removed, cleaned, and replaced the battery grounding cable at the fender pan/frame connection. Worked much better. I guess I'll need to check through all the grounds now to get it to spin better. Went out again until it got too dark, since I don't have lights on that one, and I don't think that even a Cub Cadet has much of a chance against a car, let alone a city plow truck.

 

[tsanders]

hi,hope everyone is doing well. we had some bad weather here in al. but luckly it missed us. i would love to have that killer koler just to set around and admire it. after it gathered dust for a while i could put it in my 1250. well guess i will go out and wait for daylight. see yall later

 

[dfrisk]

WES - I wondered how You were getting along down south. They say We had about 14" just east of Madison. Between 4:30 AM & 5 PM last night I drove about 160 miles, from Sun Prairie to Brookfield to work @ 4:30AM, then Brookfield to Waunakee leaving about 2:30 PM, then home to SP finally by 5 PM. Only got stuck once, in 2+ ft deep drifts in My driveway. I got two hours of quality seat time on the Super H getting things opened up for this AM. I think the blade is coming off the loader and I'm putting the bucket on this weekend to move some piles of snow....We may even get the other loader on the M that has the BIG snow bucket on it.... Anybody wants snow to play with Bring Your own truck.....I could load a semi in about ten minutes with both loaders.

 

[dfrisk]

KRAIG - I remember a comment made back in the 1980's by famous engine builder ERNIE ELLIOTT during a NASCAR race @ Talledega, at one of the first restrictor plate races. "You don't make No Horse Power You don't burn No Fuel!" Brother Bill was leading late in the race but was rumored to be low on fuel. Your K301 will burn more fuel but by the time Your done with the normal jobs You've done with the 125 Your gas consumption will be VERY close to the same. Just make sure Your PTO clutch & belts are in good shape.... Don't ask Me how I know this...

 

[bbranstetter]

Hey Kraig,

How does your tractor keep up with all the lights on it? I have noticed that running my three lights that even with a new battery I seem to be getting behind on charge(kind of like on pd). I know you have that big car battery out back but you still have to keep it charged, right? I messed up the other night and let the tractor idle too long when I was loading the wood wagon up when it should have been throttled up to keep up with the lights, thing was dang near dead when I went to start it next time. Do you have to keep your motor throttled up to keep the battery charged or does the larger battery size help flatten out the peaks and valleys when using lights?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brian, I do believe the full size auto battery helps a lot, I've never had any issues with it discharging. Watch now that I wrote that the battery will be dead next time I try to start it.

Years ago I had mounted a rear work light on my other 125 and I could not leave the light on very long before the battery would start to loose charge. It's possible that there could have been issues with that battery or perhaps the regulator was not putting out a full charge.

Denny, I remember hearing that comment by Ernie.

Until I go through the #1 125 and repair/replace the drive shaft, spirol pin, solid pin, engine drive coupler, and the flexible coupling disc the 125 will be considered an engine test stand not a tractor.

I couldn't put an ugly PTO on a nice Kohler so I'll clean up, rebuild and repaint the PTO before it goes on the crank. I might not get the 125 painted before I use it though as I want to wring out any issues I might have missed with the chassis before I paint it. BTW, I was not able to find any photos of your straight pipe...

 

[bbranstetter]

Kraig,

I'm thinking that my rear light or just the extra in general is putting me over the limit for what the system has in reserve(10A total?) . My regulator and gen are new and seem to be working well otherwise. Maybe I should get another battery and mount it on top of my suitcase weights.

 

[cellis]

I went out yesterday afternoon with the QA42 on the 782 and moved about 6" of heavy wet snow. We've got a 1500' driveway plus parking area. The old girl hogged that stuff out of there in about 90 minutes.

I went back out at 8:00 PM and moved another 8" of not-so-heavy and wet stuff but nevertheless, it put that tractor to work. That old twin Kohler would hunker down and just horse the snow out. Amazing.

I went out at 7:00 AM this morning and moved another three inches of snow and cleaned up the entrances to roads and whatnot.

I guess I don't really have a point except to say how much I admire this little Cub. I don't even want to think about how I'd move that much snow by hand. And with 800 hours on the clock and nothing more than routine maintenance for 26 years - 26 years - this tractor continues to get the tough jobs done. I would rather have this old somewhat the worse for wear tractor than three new ones. When the engine finally gives up - though it is showing no signs of stress - I'll repower with another KT17 (a series II though). The modern stuff might be "better" but you will have a very hard time convincing me.

Anyway, haven't posted for a while (wife has had me helping her buy a horse...and since I know NOTHING about horses, it has been time consuming).

BTW, when my QA42 broke down a couple months back what had happened is the rock I picked up bent the auger which jammed causing the chain to leap off the gear and jam. Took a couple hours to bang it back into shape (sorta shape) but she's movin' snow like nobody's business today.

What a machine.

 

[bcorn]

Kraig: Have you started it up yet? After doing my little 10hp the milling, porting and polishing; I swear that they actually sound stronger. The engine seems to just smooth out. Also I did have to do a little fine tuning to the carb but that was easy enough.

For the gang done south prayers with all of you that got hit by tornado's. Chain saws and Cubbies will get the work done.

Pops

 

[cellis]

Kraig: BTW, that little knuckle from McMasters you put me on to for the chute control on the QA42 is the cat's meow. Took all the bind out of the mechanism and it works smooth as can be. Best $8 I've spent in a long while.

 

[bjohnson]

Kraig/ Craig, can you share the McMaster part number for that knuckle? Thanks!

 

[aaytay]

Brian-
You are right that a bigger battery can help flatten out the "peaks and valleys" as you put it, as long as you're able to run the tractor during daylight hours to get a recharge for the battery.

That said, a bigger battery just stores more energy (amps), but can't make up for an over-taxed electrical system.

If you're taking more out than you're actually putting in, eventually it's going to be 'empty' at some point.

Just something to thing about before you rig up a bigger battery....

 

[kmcconaughey]

Ben, no!

I want to get the PTO off of the existing K301 before I remove it from the 125 chassis. Then I'll need to clean up the frame a bit before I mount Killer in there, don't want a greasy oil pan!

Then I'll need to clean the rust out of the gas tank and mount it and plumb it to the carb. Install the starter/PTO pulley, install a starter/generator and a new battery, fill the crankcase with oil and the fuel tank with fresh gas with MMO. Install a straight pipe or more likely the new muffler that I have. Check and recheck everything, read up on adjusting the governor. Charge the batteries in the video camera invite over a good friend or two that live nearby. Then set up a tripod adjust the zoom click the record button then insert the key and turn it over.

I should get this all done by April...

Craig, good to hear that the u-joint worked out for you.

Brian, It's in the CubFAQ

 

[bbranstetter]

Art,

I agree with what your saying but how is Kraig get away with this 747 landing lights

with no problems

? Earlier searches through the archives showed a figure some were around 10Amps(system total) or about 110 Watts of extra power were avalible, thats not much. My two driving lights at 55W apiece are all it should be able to handle, the work light on the back is tipping the scale too far at least thats what I'm thinking.

Now before everyone jumps me, I know, get the proper lights and harness that was made for it, it's on the list believe me

. I can already hear Bryan and Ken as I sit here and type

. Just need to get the system balanced for PD and to finish the snow plowing season but the first of which, being way more important.

Thanks for all the input,
Brian

 

[rporter]

Can anyone point me in the direction to find information on building/installing a "rocker" pedal on my 127 cub? It seems that I saw it on the forum a while back, but can't locate it now. This would be a spring project because of shop heat issues (as in LACK there of!)

Thanks.

 

[etyler]

Chris Cote-
Is that my old 106 you're plowing with?? Nice machine.
Got rides lined up for the Vermeer/Cub Cadet Trenchers I posted earlier. Those "Diggin Dutchmans" will be in NH soon!!! Eric T.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brian, my #2 125 has four 35watt 4411 bulbs, the charging system is 15amps and the factory fuse for the lights is 10amps, not sure what it's actually fused at... I also have a single tail lamp, not sure what bulb is in there, and a strobe that I usually only turn on when I'm clearing the end of the driveway.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Steve B's foot controlled hydro.

 

[rporter]

Kraig, Thanks, I thought it was somewhere out there

Rich

 

[ccote]

Eric, nice to hear from you! I picked up the 106 from a guy in Weare last spring. He hadn't owned it long, and I'm not sure where he got it from. Anyway, it's a great runner. A little rough around the edges, but not bad for nearly 40 years old.