Dripping oil

[SundaySailor]

My cub is getting an oil bath near the front of the engine. From the looks of it, I'm thinking it is coming from the oil bath air filter. The little wire that holds the cup is a bit on the worn side, and I was wondering what you'd use to replace it. I was somewhat thinking of using a brass rod and cutting and bending it to the shape the old one is. I remember using brass rods long ago when I built my own slot car racers. (Bring up any old memories here? )

TIA

Rick

[Matt Kirsch]

It has to be made from something a little springier than brass wire. If you take it off and look at it, it's spring steel.

[Bigdog]

Rick, You can pick up a replacement from J.P. Tractor Salvage or T.M. Tractor Parts.

[SundaySailor]

I unfortunately have to store my cub outside until I get something built to house the truck, car, cub, etc. For the time being, I have the poor cub under a Lowe's tarp. When got home late yesterday, I noticed the tarp was not covering the muffler, and the rain cap was partially moved over to the side. We received a LOT of rain from Jeanne, and I'm worried that some rain may have gone down the muffler pipe. I haven't started the cub up as yet, and wanted to ask you folks is there any reason for concern? I thought I had the tarp tied down well enough, but there were some very powerful winds associated with Jeanne.


Thanks for the help!

Rick

[Bigdog]

Rick, There has not been enough time for serious rust to set in yet. Start it up and run it for a while. It may spit for a while but it won't hurt anything. After running 10 - 15 minutes shut it down and then check your oil. If it is cream colored or frothy, change it. I doubt that you got very much water in it.

[Jim Hudson]

We had 4 inches here so that much in one cylinder that was coming up on compression could bend a rod from the other cylinders that my fire. My advice is to take plugs out and spin till water is out.

[Jim Hudson]

Here is the item you need. $5 bucks
http://www.tmtractor.com/ai/259.htm

[SundaySailor]

I don't know the amount we had here, but there was some serious flooding of the creeks in the area because of Jeanne. I'll wait until Saturday and pull the plugs just to be sure. By the time I get home after work, there's not enough sunlight to be able to see properly. Better to do it right, than to take a chance.

Thanks,

Rick

[SundaySailor]

Jim,

Saw the item you referred to right after I posted. The one you show has a curly spring in the middle. Mine has the hooks on the end, but the middle has a flat spot about three inches long. Mine must be an imposter. No wonder it is leaking oil! I'll take care of that pronto.

Rick

[Jim Hudson]

If you have a hand crank see if it will turn one complete turn. Then your safe cranking it. Longer you wait the more rust on those shinny cylinder's.

[SundaySailor]

Just electric starter. Geez, I hate to try and get those sparkplugs out this evening. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Rick

[Jim Hudson]

Put it in high gear and try pushing it by hand till engine turns one round. Then again hit the starter Bigdog knows more about these Cubs than I.

[Bigdog]

Jim, I must defer to you on this one. Yours is the safer route to take. I anticipated any residual water leaking down into the crankcase, not holding in the cylinders. You are by far a better mechanic than I could ever hope to be. I'm just an old farm boy who likes to tinker.

[SundaySailor]

Gents, I fired up the cub last evening. I had already done a trickle charge on the battery, so all I had to do was reattach the positive ground cable, turn on the gas, wait a couple of minutes, pull the ignition switch (I think that's the right term), give her some throttle, and hit the starter. She fired right up and purred like a four cylinder kitten. Made me feel so good that I started up my Chevy Nova with the 305-V8 engine and let her run too. Life is good.

Thanks for the help. Jim, I will be ordering the oil bath clip this morning. I looked again at that part of the tractor engine, and there is definitely a lot of dripping in that area. Thanks so much for the help!

Rick

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

sailor, it probably not the cause in this case, but if you put too much oil in the fan hub it will also make a big mess. One guess how i know.