Archive through January 08, 2013

[rbeem]

David S.
You sure read the FAQ's Good work on keeping those quiet lines humming.
On your cylinder head. Since I know your a motor-head...hot rod tricks apply here.
A little polishing on the casting in the combustion chamber is helpfull. It may make a teeny bit of power, and gets rid of spots that carbon clings to.
The head on my "148" plow tractor is shaved as far as I could go and fully polished. Love it.

Going to look at a 149 tomorrow night. And I'm bringing the trailer. I've let too many slip thru my hands. Time for a keeper!

 

[ledwards]

Howdy fellas--My name is Lance and I am a new member. I live in the mountains east of San Diego CA. I was given a basket case by an old gal and I decided to make it run again. It sat for 8 years under a tree with no air cleaner or cover. The wood rats ate every piece of wire harness. Some of the harness was completely gone. The whole system--carb, wires, nuts, bolts,etc were frozen tight. I had no idea what it was exactly until I found out about this forum. There is no question that this is absolutely the best info source for these awesome machines I have seen. I commend the creators and the members for making such a valuable resource available.
My serial # is 618585 and I think it was produced in 1977. A 1450 or 1650? It has the tiller drive and tiller attachment plus a 38" mower. Someone had tried to work on it and gave up leaving it a mess. The air cleaner was gone so I made one out of an old Homelite chainsaw filter can. I re-built one of the relief valves following Christensen's FAQ. Worked like a champ but I hade to shim the internal O-ring to make it work leak free. All the switches and electrical parts wre ruined-including the old school clock and ammeter. I ripped the engine apart and to my amazement it was spic and span inside. Excellent cylinder condition--good valves etc. I had to helicoil the spark plug that had been stripped. I'm guessing it has less than 300 hours on it. No water in the hydro--clean oil in the motor. So I got it put back together and now it runs like a champ.
After putting the harness back the best I could I was unable to get more than six volts to the magnetic clutch. I bypassed with a new switch with a fuse direct to the hot side of the starter solenoid. The factory PTO switch on the dash is in the OFF position and has a factory stop that prevents it from moving to the ON position. This puzzles me--Why? If I could figure out what this machine really is then I could get back to where it should be. I plan on putting it back in service as a working machine. I could use all the help I can get. Also FWI--it gets a little chilly out here also. Thanks again and best regards. I will try to shrink some pics asap
Lance

 

[dcharette]

Finally got some seat time.All the cubs are in storage in a buddies shop while we are building.I got the 1650 out today to move some snow where the new shop is going.
My homemade potato digger did a good job for the footings for my floating slab.

 

[jbaker]

Lance here is a BIG

 

[kide]

Lance - great story! Welcome to the Forum, ask when you need to, contribute when you can - you may think that's an impossibility at this stage, but you'll be surprised how much is still being learned (and relearned) by our members every day. As far as I can remember, there aren't many Cali members right now (Charlie probably has those numbers at his fingertips).... I'm not sure who sold all the garden tractors in the far west, maybe IHC wasn't that big out there....

 

[brhodes]

Looks like I have 4 days of catching up to do. Work has just been getting in the way.

I do have one thought to share thou, In Michigan shouldn't we get our January freeze before our January thaw???????

 

[dschwandt]

Lance: 1st, WELCOME!!!

Your PTO switch is in all likelyhood siezed by rust/corrosion. The switch sleeve/cover is supposed to be free enough to actually turn/spin on the shaft and be picked/slid/moved up enough to clear the "stop" you mentioned in order to index the "ON" position. I have several that were that way and I was unable to salvage them and they had to be replaced. However it's worth a try to soak it w/PB Blaster or your chioce of penetrant. The electronics on These machines were not meant to be left to the elements as many of them were, and some, like yours and some of mine were, for great lenghts of time.

Good luck with that and I'd LOVE to see a picture of your potato digger and what's w/ all the white stuff in your picture???!!! You are in CA, correct???

Dave S

 

[jbaker]

David S. I think you cornfused Dave C. picture with Lance's post.

Lance what are the digits before the numbers you gave us, the 2 numbers before the letter U will give you the model and horse power that the tractor was born with.

Jeff

 

[dschwandt]

Jeff: You are correct!! Sorry 'bout that!!

Dave C: I'd still like to see that spud digger though!!

Dave S.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Lance, WELCOME!

Dave C., nice work.

 

[nbartee]

Welcome to the best forum around, Lance!

 

[bwittman]

Hi Lance, Welcome! I hope you enjoy your quietline as much as I enjoy mine. They are a great tractor, and yes, they can cause some head scratching, too!

Be well, and don't be afraid to ask anything. I was clueless a year ago and now know just about nothing.

 

[proessler]

WELCOME, Lance! You live in some beautiful mountain country. I attended my sisters (she lived in San Diego) wedding in Julian about 20 years ago. As I remember apple pies were Terrific! The ceremony was in a county park & the reception in the vicinity at a lodge with history of someone famous. I didn't see any Cub Cadets up there. Keep plugging away with that CC.

 

[bjamison]

Catching up here this afternoon...

Dave S - that oil pan looks like one that came off a JD tractor's Kohler engine. I've got a 14 hp engine from I believe a JD214 and from what I can recall, the pan looks similar. I'm traveling for work this week, but if I can think of it when I get home, I'll take a pic of it.

Dave C - nice trench you got there. That soil must be right soft to plow such a nice straight, rock free trench. I did a similar job with a Gravely 2 wheel tractor and a rotary plow for a garden fence that I put below grade to keep the critters out from under it.

Lance E - Sounds like you got a nice tractor to work with. Don't forget - those QL tractors are very modern as compared to the older more rusty IH models and the pattern for the 82 series to be developed (except for the K-17 series I engines - which are more problematic than the ISO engine mounts in the QL tractors...

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!

BTW - Lance E, I am going to be out near San Diego Thursday, flying out here in a bit. If I had the time, I'd swing by and see if I could give you a bit of help for a few minutes.

On another note...

Quick question. Back in the day when I had my trusty 1970 IH Scout with the mighty 196 cu in 4 cylinder engine (8 cylinders were never necessary in low range...

), it had points and condenser which I recall changing out from time to time. I don't recall it being a big deal. Question is - how much of a hassle are the points/condenser ignitions on these IHCC Kohler engines vs a solid solid state electronic ignition - which I gather one can upgrade to if desired.

Last quick question for this post: Can someone tell me the good, bad and ugly for the triangular mowing decks used on the some of the 1x8/9 tractors and earlier models, vs the later 44 and 50 inch decks. Reason I ask is I have a deck hanger assy (for lack of a better name) and see some of the triangle shaped decks for sale from time to time. Maybe I can use one of these decks on my 109 or another IHCC purchase yet TBD.

 

[dschwandt]

Rick B. and Matt G......Is this what you had in mind??
I'm getting anxious to get this 'ol gal fired up now!!


Dave S

 

[jcarlton]

Thanks Allen and Paul, I thought it might be a short before I posted. I couldn't find any where the insulation was bad on wires or where bare wires touched...it's the original harness and was cobbled up by some previous owner. I will probably just get a new harness and that should fix it.

 

[dfrisk]

BILL - With a "Points-Saver" or "Points Slayer" from Dave Kirk you should NEVER have problems with your points & condensor ever again. The condensor isn't even used with either of them and the points only have to make & break 1/10th the current of the conventional ignition so they last much much longer.

I've never had a solid state Kohler ignition but from what I gather from these forums they can have magnet problems which are located behind the flywheel and can be expensive to fix/replace.

On the 38, 42, & 48 inch decks, "Triangle decks" as you call them, I'm partial to the newer 44 & 50 inch decks. I think the three equal length blades mow better and pull easier than the older decks since the older decks have a step-up pulley ratio from the center spindle to the outer spindles. The newer decks may have too, but since the outer blades are longer it's not as high a ratio. The 44" & 50" deck housings are thinner steel and prone to cracking where the rear outer gauge wheel brackets weld on and the blade spindles can get out of alignment if you beat your deck over rough ground but then the old decks will too. The water pump style bearings in the newer decks are expensive to replace compared to the opposed tapered roller bearings but if you keep them greased as recommended they last just about forever. I mowed a L-O-T of grass with my old 129 & 44A deck and after 15 years it still had the same set of blades and spindle bearings in it that was in it when I bought it very well used.

You had the "BIG engine" in your Scout. The more common 4-cyl. was the 152 CID-4, half a 304 V8. Back 30 yrs ago I subscribed to 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine. Every few years they would write an article about the small engined 4WD pickups, the Ford 300-6 & Chevy/GMC 250-6, and sometimes the Dodge 225-slant-6. They always made sure the readers knew they would go just about anywhere the V8 versions would go off-road, but what they never really mentioned was the fact they were such slugs on the highway and really didn't get much better MPG than their V8 counterparts. I put over 200,000 miles on two F150's, a '78 with a 1 bbl carb and an '87, first year for EFI in the 300-6. The carb truck got the best ever MPG between the two, about 16-1/2 MPG on a long road trip, the EFI truck ran better, had a bit more power, never flooded like the carb would, but never got much over 15 to 15-1/2 MPG. I had 3.55 gears & no O/D, & 4WD in both trucks. With 3.08 gears, O/D, and no 4WD people could get up to 20 MPG if they didn't hurry them. When I ordered out the '87 I test drove a new 4WD truck with 4-spd O/D & 3.08 gears and it was S-L-O-W, really a D-O-G. My F250 4WD Diesel weights 45% more than either of my old F150's, has at least 50% more HP, and gets 20-25% better MPG at 70-75 MPH than the F150's did @ 65. Don't know about You and your Scout but I sure wouldn't want either of my old F150's back.

 

[drglinski]

Bill R

I hear you. I live in SE MI (wayne county) and I am disappointed at the way the snow has gone-- last summer, no grass to mow, this winter, no snow to move. At least we got some at the end of december. I keep watching the forecasts but they keep saying the same thing, warm or cold, no precip.

 

[tturner]

Got a question... Bought this 100 because it has a rear PTO. Didnt pay much attention to these fenders until I got home. Is this one of those "Golf Cart Fender Kits" with the twin seat? I just assumed it was cobled up... But when I started looking at it closer it looks like it matches up too good for cobling?? Idk, what do you guys think?

 

[drglinski]

Tyler- IMO those fenders look like POO and need to be removed ASAP.