Archive through June 17, 2012

[mhomrighausen]

In regards to comparing putting say $2000.00 into refurbishing a 149 Cub Cadet or a 125 or any other older Cub Cadet with a mower deck and then using it for lawn yard duties such as mowing, pulling a fertilizer cart and the wonderful lawn roller. After knowing of a couple of people that have purchased hydrostatic lawn tractors and done just the above mentioned duties with their tractors. And ... AGAIN... they spent right around $2000.00 for the nice little lawn tractors. I can only say this... Those neat lawn rollers when pulled up and down slight inclines with those $2000.00 lawn tractors seem to develop a thing called a worn out hydro in no time. Ssooo... now you need to be praying the tractor is still under warranty and the hydro is covered. (These people got lucky and the tractor had one year of warranty left.) Now take that reconditioned old Cub Cadet Hydrostatic tractor and do the same duties and see how long you go before installing a new transmission.

Just my firsthand observations of today's versus those old tractors....

AND... Off topic here... My Pow'r Pup should be in Iowa no later than Friday.

 

[lhinds]

Denmnis i went and looked at the 127 with the 44 mower deck. I could not get pictures but it is a simple hookup using the humpback subframe and turning the pulleys toward the center deck pulley. I think a 44C with front gauge wheels and a speed up pulley is what I will try on my 104. I tried the gator blades on a 44 and they didn;t get the grass out from the deck as good as regular highlift blades on my 169.

 

[jchamberlin]

Denny, Marlin

I think you guys are proving my point.

Marlin: Your neighbors discovered that a lawn mower is not a garden tractor, they can't be compared (which I tried to point out).

Denny: I notice you admit that you didn't get your money out of your 129, proving my point, that often repairing & maintaining a tractor doesn't make ECONOMIC sense vs. buying and discarding a cheap lawn mower. Your listing of all the things you repaired would scare the H-E-double-hockey-sticks out of someone who was NOT as handy as you are.

However, I agree with you both, I love both my Cub Cadets. I didn't care about yard work at all until I got my Cub Cadet. I enjoy working on it, and I enjoy working it. I may never put a front loader, or even a Brinley plow on it, but I wouldn't trade either of my tractors for a new model, even if it came with power steering.

Bill Jamison: Good luck with the 149, it came stock with hydraulic lift, although the cylinder is not as large as the 82 Series versions; it doesn't use the separate pump like the earlier narrow frame attachments, but taps off the hydrostatic pump. Also, they had enough in supply that they all shipped with the lift, not like the 169 where there were supply problems and some of the tractors had to be fitted with hydraulics by the dealer --at least that's what I read on this forum.

Edit: Your family is getting the best deal; a newer tractor, well-maintained --by you!

 

[nbextermueller]

Luther,

The intentions of the Gator Blades is to recirculate and mulch the grass with the "teeth" on the top of the blades. So of course they don't clear the grass out the chute like the high lift blades, they aren't designed to.

Gator Blades make a great alternative for our 44a, 44c, 50c, and older decks that don't have the high tunnels and high rpm's the later GT decks have.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeremiah, quote: "Denny: I notice you admit that you didn't get your money out of your 129, proving my point, that often repairing & maintaining a tractor doesn't make ECONOMIC sense vs. buying and discarding a cheap lawn mower."

Keep in mind that you wouldn't "get your money out" of a lawn tractor if you sold it after using it for 15 years. I doubt you'd get ANY money out of a 15 year old used lawn tractor, it'd be scrap by then. Denny's old IH Cub Cadet 129 still had value after about 30 years, (and I bet it's still running somewhere and still has value) keep in mind Denny bought the 129 in ~1990 when it was already about 15 years old. I do agree that for some people it is probably money better spent buying a throw away lawn tractor every few years than a quality brand of used vintage GT. Besides, if everyone bought a used CC there wouldn't be enough of them to go around for us to have multiples of them.

 

[wshytle]

All of this talk of box store mowers compared to the older cubs is just silly. There is no comparison at all. Time has taken quality out of our lives in more ways than lawn mowers. Look at todays cars/trucks and compare them to automobiles 40-50 years ago.

I think the bottom line is you can put $1000 in a box store (bs for short...and fitting) mower and it's might be fine for five years. Put $1000 in an old cub and mow for another twenty years. The bs mower has so much thin, stamped steel with inferior fastening throughout. Plastic is everywhere and decays with time in just the air. Even the ingredients used is very different like the plastic used on the steering wheels. I don't think the manufacturers strive as they use to for longevity. They build them expecting them to be replaced in a few years following todays "disposable attitude". I doubt you'll even see a tire made today forty years from now on any machine. It's just a different world and that's the main reason for the lack of comparison.

I can finally get back on the 1250 now. Tomorrow I plan to get the pump back together then it's time for reassembly. I've got all of the hydraulic components installed. If this works out ok then I might start thinking about putting hydraulics on the 109 since I have the stuff to do it with. I bought a 129 that has hyd lift and the tractor is very ruff plus I'd just love to have hydraulics on the 109. I guess I could put the manual stuff back on the 129 and sell it but like I said...ruff.

 

[sblunier]

Paul F.

Hydro speed issue....

If they took apart the hydro to replace seals, etc., then Wayne is very likely right on the money....the sswash plate was installed upside down and the limiting tab on the back side is limiting forward, not reverse.

 

[jbaker]

Wayne, your right on

I have been cutting 2 aces for two years now with a 129 that I pulled from a field with a 108.
the motor in the 129 was bad so it recieved the motor from the 108, plus a few other parts swap

total cost in dollars of this mower set up was
$275 for 2 tractors
$60 in hytran and filter
$1.50 for spark plug
total of 336.50

starting its 3rd summer of mower duty usually driven by a 14 and 11 year old

 

[mhomrighausen]

Jeremiah C. The people were using their lawn tractors the exact way the dealer and brouchure said they could use it. The lawn roller although not overly large was one of the implements that could be used with the tractor.

With Steve B.'s and Wayne S.'s thoughts on the hydro of Paul Funk's friend not working properly. Yes... more than likely that could be the problem. What the REAL ISSUE IS simply put is this. And I'm stating this for future reference for everyone to think about. I'm not in any way or form picking on Paul or anyone. Remember what I wrote when I said that it is tremendously hard to troubleshoot and be of assitance WITHOUT knowing what has all been done? Re-read what Paul has written and see how much information has truly been supplied to anyone of us other than what the problem is. There is too much room for assumptions to be made as what the fix should be.

Off to work so everyone have a wonderful day.

 

[eford]

Cubs themed Cub is very neat and appropriate I think. I happen to agree with the opinions stated on buying new and discarding versus keeping the old GT's alive and working. Then again for those of us who are in the mechanically inclined category, repairing may mean more to us. I love the time I get to spend in the garage working on any of my tractors or other "projects". Feels rewarding to me in the end knowing what and how it was done. My next thing on the to-do list is to open up my K-301 in the 1200. Started knocking real bad at plow day this spring and haven't had time to look at it until now. Runs good still when "cold" though, so I'm not too worried at the severity of it yet. Don't want to blow it either, so it's just sat until now. Still haven't mowed with it, but have done plenty of other fun work with it. Enjoy your day all!