Cub 22 Sickle Bar Mower

[Dennis B]

Does anyone have a picture of the tapered head bolt. Is it a slotted screwdriver type or is it a hex head (5/8 is the bolt size I believe) Also what does the rear mount bottom bolt look like because the rear also hooks on according to the bottom hole for easier mounting.

[Don McCombs]

[Bus Driver]

Yes, it is a 5/8- 11 bolt with taper under the head. I figured out how to make them with my limited machining skills and a Taiwanese lathe. My pay would be very modest if I priced them at $2.50 each.

The rear mount lower hole also hooks over such a bolt. The upper hole accepts a bolt inserted through a hole in the bracket. The back of the bracket raises some questions. The upper hole- not slotted or tapered- has a spacer welded onto the back. The bottom hole - keyhole shaped- does not have the spacer, although I once saw such a spacer welded on as owner modification. If the missing bottom spacer is intended to accomodate the drawbar bracket, the bolt used in that hole would have to be longer than those typically used for the final drives. I would welcome more information about this.

Perhaps this original spacer arrangement was intended to permit use of the drawbar while the mower is mounted.

[Bigdog]

Bus Driver - I mount my 22 with the drawbar in place and your supposition is exacty right. The only thing required is the longer implement bolt.

[lloyd430]

OK guys I gotta get in on this-- only because I was uasing the mower today and noticed YELLOW paint on the cutter head I will go out and take some digitals in the morning, but if I recall the rest of it was blue with the cream pitman arm....more to come in the morning.

[Jim Becker]

Lloyd430,
If just one part is yellow on a mower that is otherwise blue, it was probably a replacement part. The replacement may have been taken from a yellow mower or come through spare parts with yellow paint.

[Jim Becker]

BD and BD,
The spacer on the housing side of the rear bracket was evidently not on the earliest mowers but added a short way into production.

The earliest manuals indicate removing the drawbar to mount the mower. Everybody quickly realized you could just sandwich the drawbar between the housing and mower bracket, leaving it in place. IH added the spacer to the bracket to match up with the thickness of the drawbar bracket. The later manuals show different bolts that reflect the change.

The early manual expected you to reuse the 1" drawbar bolts, one in the rear bracket and 2 in the bell housing for the front bracket. Later mowers came with a 1 1/4" long bolt for the rear bracket. They also came with one more 1" bolt, which with the one removed form the drawbar took care of the front bracket. The revised manual explained this.

I suppose the bracket may have been narrowed to bring the shaft back into the original position too, but have never measured them to see.

[Bus Driver]

Really good information from Jim Becker. The mower I have has two spacers welded in place, one for each bolt. The lower spacer is well done, but the slot in it is neatly torch cut, leading me to conclude that it is owner modification. Within 3 years of introduction of the Cub, they were being sold used- we bought one with several rather worn implements- and the new owners often knew few details about proper installation of implements. No Internet and the only source of publications was the dealer. Surprisingly large numbers of people in my area could not read.

[huntingpal]

Are the mounting bolts still available somewere? Possibly the IH dealer? I could uses a set if anybody knows were to get them. Thanks

[Jim Becker]

Dealer probably can get them. TM has 1" (drawbar length), maybe longer ones as well.

[huntingpal]

thanks for the help Jim!

[awander]

On the subject of the tapered head bolts, and also the front hanging bracket slots/mods:

1) I made up a bunch of tapered washers, just big enough to fit snugly over a 5/8" hex head bolt, to turn it into a tapered head bolt. I will be trying them out, and I'll let you folks know how they work. I am guessing they should be just as good as the actual tapered-head bolts, but you never know-maybe they willl loosen up more easily?

2) The slot on the left side of my front hanger bracket is worn to the point where the tapered-head bolt will not stop it from slipping up under load, no matter how tight I make the bolt-the original tapered seat is completely gone-it's more like just a regular slot. I rigged up a piece of 1/4" steel plate, with a hole for the upper implement bolt on the same mounting pad, and a notch at the bottom, which engages the top rear corner of the hanging bracket, and stops if\t from moving up. The plate is simpley biolted on next to the hanger bracket, and it seems to dfo the job. i like this becaus eno modification was necessary to the bracket on the mower.

[Steve Butram]

Dennis, the 22 cub mower I have with my original 50 cub is painted blue

[George Willer]

In the picture of the yellow mower posted by Jim Becker, the hanging bracket has washers welded over the bolt slots. I saw one mower modified by welding upper extensions on this bracket which had bolt holes (not slots) for the upper holes in the torque tube. The lower bolts would let the bracket hang as designed and the upper bolts would prevent the bracket from moving upward. That resulted in two bolts each side holding the mower. Perhaps this should have been the original design. The original system is helpful to permit lifting the mower with both arms and hanging on the bolt in place. Washers welded on require inserting the bolt while the mower is held up. I hope several will share their thoughts and experiences about these modifications. If yours is not modified, do you think it needs to be?

It's possible you've seen mine. The mounting slots were so badly mangled that I just cut the tops off and replaced them with new metal. I drilled holes instead of re-creating the slots. That's what you can do if you have a Cub for each implement and don't have to change them.

[farmallcub49]

I don't know if these are accurate or not, but they are on epay quite often.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Farmall-Cub-22-Sickle-Mower-Decal-Set-NR_W0QQitemZ110052783400QQihZ001QQcategoryZ11756QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem