Archive through October 24, 2004

[aaytay]

John-
I've got one problem with having PD tomorrow...it's called WORK!

Seems like the weather sites went from talking about a "chance" of showers, to thunderstorms for the end of the week though.

Maybe John's idea isn't half bad...

 

[till]

Art does have a point. Though I do have a few sick days left...... And NOAA is looking dim on next week end.

 

[aaytay]

Hmmmmm...
I wonder how quickly we could "rally the troops" if we started making phone calls/emails today....

 

[wcompton]

Dave-
Problem with the dual-plug head for the ranger . . . it's an emissions head, high swirl, low flow. Folks can't even give them away.

As far as head contours go, the "dump into the center" of the cylinder is by far the best, taking the little area around where Torin did I see absolutely no problem with. Do some reading on the design of flatheads, and you'll see lots of work done by Harry Ricardo (father of what became Ricardo Research) including the Waukesha Comet diesel head and the Waukesha-Ricardo head for Ford Flatheads.

Bruce-
At the risk of carrying on the garden topic- simple fix- add more organic material, decomposing plant material aerates soil, earthworms eat plant material and also aerate soil, aerated soil drains well. Other best thing to do is see if you've got a agriculture extension or soil conservation service office in the area, they'll be most familiar with your local conditions, needs, and remidies.

 

[digger]

Dave K,
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?????????

 

[digger]

Hey Guys,
I know a guy in Tn. that KNOWS IT ALL ABOUT ALL NATURAL GARDENING!!!!!!!

Oh wait!

Nevermind!

He's just into Tall Grass now,

Disregard!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Tedd would say! My Bad!

 

[tmanley]

Thats why I decided to angle mill the head. I took the majority of the material off the valve side, while taking about .010 off the far end of the piston side. Its just an experiment. Also, I hope by cleaning up the ports and valves, I will get a bit more juice in the thing.

 

[balbrecht]

I need a little wiring help. I put a new wiring harness in my 127 today, followed the wiring diamgram, and even double checked it. BUT when I go to hook up the battery I get a spark like I have a short someplace. Any suggestions? The only thing I changed was the harness, and everything worked before that. -Bri

 

[mroxby]

Hi all

I could use some suggestions or help on an issue.

On my 782D I went out to the shed to try to start it today and it didn't like me at all. It was about 45 degrees. The battery probably needs replaced so I'll give it that but It really didn't like to crank at all. I let the glow plug run about 1-2 minutes (is this too short?) I did not have it plugged in and it hadn't been run in about 6 weeks.

Of note I had absolutely no trouble starting it all summer.

Now the question is being that I wish to plow snow with it this winter can anyone give me some tips to help it start easier in the cold? It'll see alot colder than 45 (we have weeks that hover around 0 at times) and we usually get 130 - 150 inches of snow per year. So a nice amount.

Is there any addative I can use to help it out? Or something else I can try? Thanks for any tips or info. I am not well versed in the Diesel world.

PS can someone give me a CCA for the battery I should buy for it? Thanks.

 

[kdunham]

Mark R.-I was down that road and got alot of help here on this forum. The largest improvement was putting in a gear reduction starter for drastically improved cranking speed. Your stock starter may be on it's last leg,colder weather ain't gonna help it any. Next make sure all your grounds are clean and corrosion free,the fatter the cable the better(I've found). Make sure the positive cable receives the same treatment. An additive such as Power Service treatment will help the fuel to remain stabile and not gel. It also helps to bypass your start indicator coil(the little glowing thing you look at through the hole in your dash) because that draws power away from the rest of the system. Glowing the plugs for a minute should be sufficient in any weather I'd think. Speaking of which,the glow plugs are 18.00 apiece,it's not a bad idea to replace those as well. Sounds like alot but in order to make your tractor happy and you not tearing out your hair it'll all need to be done.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Oak leaves are great for garden soil. I take all I can get. I don't have any oak trees on my property (except for a few dozen that are less than a foot tall). But I have a friend that'll bring me several trailer loads of leaves from his oaks. I pile a bunch of them up in the middle of the garden and then mow them up with the Cub 125 and 42" mower <font size="-2">or with my Allis Chalmers 620 with 60" rear mower</font>. Then I let them set until spring and I till them in. While they are breaking down they will tie up the nitrogen a bit but not as bad as wood chips do. With all the extra leaves that my friend brings me I pile them up and let them break down for a year or two and turn into leaf mold which is great for a garden. My soil is a sandy loam and can use all the extra organic matter I can throw at it.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bruce, I'll add to what Wyatt has said about adding plant material to improve drainage. If you don't have one yet, start a compost pile. Compost is the single best thing you can add to garden soil regardless of your soil type. If you have clay it'll improve drainage, if you have sandy soil it'll improve moisture retention and it has plenty of nutrients. Compost is a miracle material. Save any plant matter you can get, except weed seeds if at all possible. A hot compost pile will kill seeds but you'll have to make sure it's a hot pile 190°F or more. I usually use the cold compost method and just let the stuff rot over the course of a year or 2 but I have 3 large piles in various stages so I usually have plenty of compost. Coffee grounds are also good to add to a compost pile. I even bring a 3 gallon pail into work, all the coffee grounds, lettuce, banana and orange peels, apple cores, etc. go into the bucket. I've trained my coworkers well. They know that I'll be bringing in tomatoes, peppers, garlic and other goodies from my garden if they help fill the compost bucket. It's best to not put grass clippings into a compost pile as they tend to mat down and not allow moisture into the pile slowing down the decomposition. It's better to mulch them into the lawn or use them as a cover mulch in your garden to suppress weeds and by the end of the summer you can turn them under and they'll add to the organic matter in the soil kind of a 2 for 1 deal. Now back to our regularily scheduled Cub topics...... CubCubCubCubCubCubCubCubCub )

(Message edited by kmcconaughey on October 24, 2004)

 

[scastleberg]

I'm new to this site, so bear with me. I recently purchased a Cub Cadet 1250 Hydrostat with no mower or snowthrower. I picked up a C44 mower and a H42 snowthrower from another party who said they came off a 16hp Cub. I got the mower to work with a shorter, narrower belt, but the snowthrower has me baffled. I got it to mount up untill the pulley on the thrower hit the locking "bail" on the tractor. I took it off to see if it would mount and to see if the PTO pulley and the thrower pulley would line up - not so. The thrower pulley is about 1-1 1/2" forward of the PTO pulley. Further more, after "mounting" the thrower, I attached the lift bar to the tractor lift bar and tried to lift the thrower. I must be missing something as it took quite a bit of torque to raise the thing. I have no manuals for the mower or thrower and with winter coming I'd like to know if this thing should work, or if it's designed for a bigger machine plain and simple. Thanks for any help anyone can give!

 

[bmcmeen]

Scott C. -

The H42 was made in 1980 and beyond and I don't believe it was intended for use with the Quiet Line tractors (which your 1250 is one of a series - 800, 1000, 1200, 1250, 1450 and 1650) - Quiet Line production ended in mid-1980. The "proper" snowthrower for said tractors is a QA-42A or QA-36A.

That said, I believe it's possible to cobble it together to work. First of all, the pulleys on the QA snowthrowers also hit the latch bar - you will have to adjust the pulley into it's lowest position so it can clear the latch, then adjust it all the way up so you can put on the belt.

Secondly, I believe the pulley is meant for the 5/8" wide belts found on the red "x82" tractors, whereas the PTO on your 1250 is designed for 3/8" belts. You'll have to find a narrower pulley at a farm store or industrial supply house.

Finally, you will likely need a spring assist for your manual lift. They can be obtained from just about all our sponsors above, and are sometimes offered for sale in our classifieds.

If you REALLY want to have some fun, you can convert your 1250 to hydraulic lift. Perhaps not for the timid, but definitely doable with the right parts and a thick enough wallet

Also, as I say to all newbies, buy manuals! It makes life so much easier. Read the FAQ at the link above, too.

 

[sblunier]

John,

That's the south bound end of MY north bound 169 at Travis's place last fall. Note the odd drawbar (off of some type of collection system), the SPECIAL yellow sleeve hitch that Dan H. gave me, and the yellow plow painted to match.

 

[sblunier]

I'm not going to worry about the weather until later in the week....could have plowed today (this afternoon), but Saturday was definately out. If it rains we'll do what we can to make something happen.

I fixed a couple weight brackets tonight (to keep the weights from ratteling, and put on both plows...probably a sure-fire way to make it rain.

 

[elamott]

I am starting to get my feet wet on the parts of my 129. I just installed a hydraulic lift and while it was apart I painted all of the yellow (I will paint the white next summer)
As I was putting it back together I starting fixing little things that have been overlooked and decided to check the points as I want to use it to blow snow this winter. The book said 20 degrees (I did not read all of the instructions)so I adjusted them, and when I started it, it backfired. So back to the book I go. Now I learned that the points set the timing. (A new one for me.) There is suppose to be an S and a T on the fly wheel that can be seen from the timing hole, but I cannot find any. The only hole on the left side is where the blades are not the wheel. There is one on the right side but I could not find anything on the flywheel
Where should this hole be, and is the S or T painted or part of the casting?
I set the points back to where I thought there were (about 8 thousands). It now runs pretty good, but I don't know what it should be. What point gap does anyone have? This seem pretty close.
Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks
Earl
Burnsville, MN

 

[scastleberg]

Bryan M.
Thank you so much. You probably gave me more help than anyone who "knows" Cubs in my area. As an auto mechanic and someone who gets paid to "figure things out", I will both try to get this thing to work and look for a QA-42A or QA-36A at the same time. I'll also look for manuals - my job as a technician would be impossible without them!

 

[hsimon]

Earl- Point gap is twenty thousandths when the points are open. Kohler has a manual available for free to download from their website.

 

[dkamp]

Earl- the timing mark on the flywheel can be pretty hard-to-see sometimes. If you're patient, and have a good flashlight, you can turn the crankshaft really slow (by hand) and eventually you'll see the marks... but they're not big and blatant... just lightly marked into the metal.

But if you're willing to use your 'ear', just fire up the engine with the point-cover off, and tweak the points 'till the engine's running nice, then load it up and see how it responds... then tweak a tad more, 'till you achieve a good 'loaded-up' performance... that'll usually be the correct setting. The point-gap WILL fluctuate over time... as the point-cam surface wears, etc... so it isn't (in my opinion) rocket science.

Wyatt- My dad had a friend with a Model "T" racer with a Ricardo head, and a Hallibrand quick-change rearend... way cool... but in this day-and-age, it's out of my price range! :-D