Archive through October 08, 2012

[lcarter]

Gerry, mine leaves strips at the turns also, but our hard clay here in in N.C. is like concrete in warm weather. Jeremiah, my mulching push mower has three 1/2" holes in the deck, I remember reading that someone here drilled holes in their deck. Wonder how that worked?

 

[jsalatino]

Dennis...Thanks for the info buddy, I thought if somone knew the answer to that question,it would be here.think I'll stick with the same color I'm painting the hood, " Almond " thanks again

 

[bjamison]

With regards to the 44 inch deck - I've got one on my 109 and it is cutting beautifully. I am mowing at max height - which is somewhere around 3 inches. Any lower and I get scalping. I have changed all my tractors and push mowers for 3 inch height going forward. Note, the yards I mow are not baseball field flat, but are somewhat rolley, some hills, they are lumpy and not all that smooth, so the higher cut just makes for a more even cut all way round. Less wear and tear too by not grinding any blades or deck parts into the ground. My grass looks much better too - almost velvet like. The only thing missing is a nice striping effect I see with the zero turn mowers.

The big difference I've seen on my 44 inch deck is with the speed-up pulley and running full throttle. I also have new/sharp blades too. I may add front gauge wheels to it in place of the sled runners one of these days.

I hear lots of good stuff about the gater blades, but wonder with the slots cut in the rear/lift portion of the blade, if that doesn't reduce the amount of "blow" or fan effect - clearing the grass from the deck/out the chute. I can't imagine it helps - but haven't tried them so I really can't comment.

I mowed a Church lot this past weekend with my MTD Cub Cadet lawn tractor and the grass was especially thick and about 5 - almost 6 inches tall. For whatever reason, this low end box store tractor, LTX 1042 (which I bought from a dealer) really sent the grass flying out the deck - zero clumping. I would have liked to have tried the 109 with it's 44 inch deck to see if 1) it would have the power to wade through such dense grass and 2) blow the clippings out the deck without clumping. Somehow I think it would.

One of my pet peeves with any "premium" heavy duty garden tractor is that even though there is an abundance of steel and cast iron, sometimes their quality of cut leaves something to be desired. It's almost like the cut was second thought to pushing a blade or pulling a plow. My initial impressions with my 109 was that this was the case, but with great help here, a little common sense and some adjustment, the 109 gives me a premium cut IMHO.

If you can't tell, I very much enjoy talking about mowing with these IHCC's!

That's what I think I know...

 

[elthomas]

Need some help, I have the k301 block out of my 128, and was looking at the piston trying to determine if the block had been bored, the numbering on the top of the piston reads 235302 instead of std. So I have had no luck tracking this number down, if any help could be provided it would be helpful.

 

[pbell]

Eric,
Because the piston numbers have changed over the years, it would be best to just measure the bore, measure at the top where there would be the least amount of wear. Standard bore should be 3.375". Clean any carbon buildup out of the bore (above the top ring mark) before measuring.

 

[elthomas]

I will try to check it, not sure if my micrometer is that big or not, thanks for the info.

 

[elthomas]

according to the micrometer, it is 3.3705 at the top of the cylinder wall.

 

[dwilkinson]

Need some help on my QA42A snow blower. The u-joint at the transfer shaft keeps coming loose no matter how tight I make the set screws. Have even added a second set screw and lock tighted both in place. New shaft and both bearings and all seems tight. Looks like the u-joint runs at a pretty steep angle and I wonder if a longer chain would help but the set up on mine looks pretty much like the picture in the manual. Has anyone run into this before?

 

[elthomas]

I only have a digital dial caliper that will only go about 1/2 of an inch into cylinder wall. so I may be off, and if so it sounds like so far it has a standard bore.

 

[jchamberlin]

Bill Jamison: I'm glad you're having good luck with your 44A with the speed-up pulley and new, sharp blades; I have the same set up, but I'm seeing, or think I'm seeing, a "not-so-well-cut" streaks the day after I mow. They look like tire-tracks all across the yard, and when I get close, the grass in the "tracks" is just a bit higher than the grass on either side. The "tracks" are really little "humps" of grass that can only be due, as Larry Carter has suggested, to the grass being pressed down by the front tires and not being cut at right angles by the blades.

Dropping the cut height seemed to help the "humps" but I'm left with scalping, because my yard is like yours, a bit bumpy and uneven. I also slowed WAY down when I cut the grass 2-3/8" high. Perhaps I ought to raise the height to 2-3/4" and keep the speed down, eh?

 

[dfrisk]

JEREMIAH - Have you tried spacing the outer blades of the deck lower by putting a thin flat washer under the two outer blades? A 1/16th to 1/8th inch is plenty.

 

[sblunier]

Eric,

Make sure the u-joints on each end are "in phase"

 

[jchamberlin]

Dennis: No, I have not tried to set the outer blades lower than the center blade, I've got the washers, I'll give it a shot.

 

[klorenz]

Paul Bell,

You are right. There is just something about a 70/100.....

And here is my new cub shed that I moved into the Saturday of Cub-Arama.

 

[prtombaugh]

Paul B.. Thanks for the clarification of the 100 steering wheel. Paul T.

 

[jbaker]

Paul T, I can't believe you noticed that.
So I checked my cub book and it does not state anything on the nut/cap, but it did have a picture of a O with a acorn and a 70 with an acorn and a 100 with a center cap.

cool observation Pauls

 

[pbell]

Kirk, I like the 70 and 100, and I like the "Cub shed", wish I had one like it in my back yard......

 

[klorenz]

Paul,

Thanks. I bought the corner lot next to my house 22 years ago with the vision of building a shop on it someday. Many neighborhood ball games were played on that empty lot. So I waited for my kids to get older and saved up the money for the shop in the meantime. The day came when no more ball was being played on it. So the time to build the shop came!!

 

[hydroharry]

Hey Steve B - that was Doug W asking about the snow thrower driveshaft. But now you're raised a question from me. Are you saying the driveshaft is "supposed" to be phase as shown in your pic, or is that a possible solution to help Doug. I'm thinking I've had them out of phase but didn't realize there was a difference. Can you add some explanation? Also, in the pic you posted there is a note about "Spacer for 42" Throwers". Is that just the extension on that half of the driveshaft?

Paul and Paul - geez, and I thought all the 100's got the cap and all the 70's got the acorn nut.

Jeff B - next thing you know someone will be posting what the difference is between the original "rubber" brake pedal pad on a 126/127, and the later replacement rubber pads.

 

[bbranstetter]

Good Cub day today. Got the rear end fluid changed out in the 122 with some fresh Hy-Tran and a genuine CNH replacement gasket. I'm pleased to report that after several seasons of use, the fluid poured out nearly the same red color it went in and with no visible amounts of moisture build up.