Farmall Cub

This all started out because I needed to replace the radiator on my Cub. A number of months ago I found and ordered a new radiator, made in Ireland, and looks real nice for $180.00. I took the hood off ond proceeded to drain the radiator (I haven't done that since I've had the tractor) and found a chunk of wood jambed into the drain hole with a bunch of sealer gobbed around it! The casting was broken out where the plug should screw in. Up to that point I thought it was just covered in grease and grime. Upon further inspection, the top of the housing had a bunch of braze and filler as well as a number of hairline cracks where the radiator bolts on. I attemped to clean the brass off to get an idea of how bad it really was, I ended up with a few pieces of the casting in my hand. To my amazement that particular area never leaked. I went ahead and ordered another radiator housing for $150.00, recieved that the other day and it looks pretty good! Thanks Cubguy47! The front main seal has a slow leak so I thought I'd go ahead and replace the seal while I had the old girl apart. This is where the bargin hunting begins. Thanks to this website I was able to figure out the best way to take off the the front pulley, I ended up making my own puller for $24.00



I started looking around for a new "speedy" seal set (with the shim) for the front main seal, and I gotta say they're not easy to find. According to my Case IH dealer they are no longer available. They are available from a couple of select Cub specialty places for about $28.00.



While I was at my favorite new place to shop (the scrap yard) picking up the 1/2" plate I stumbled accrossed this.



They are 2 1/4" od, double action cylinders. Closed center to center is 43" and extend to 69 1/2". I'm not sure what they are off of but when I saw them I immediatly thought of a front end loader for the Cub. I'm not sure if and when I'll get around to that project but I couldn't pass them up. I thought I had a pretty productive couple of days.

Nothing beats success does it.

Funny story...I did laugh out loud reading about the wood chunk in the radiator drain. Sweet snags and nice pix!

What was the address of the scrap yard??????

Every time I go to the scrapyard I spend all the new jingle on other peoples scrap! Hard to find anything at the transfer "dump" station anymore, everyone sells their scrap or it gets stolen. New mower blades, new metal weed trimer blade, lawn mower cart, battery, hour meter, chain link fence, pump sprayer, 6 t post, working lawn mower, 5 hp. tiller motor, water tank to make roller, and the list goes on.

I know where you're coming from Danover! We have quite a few scrap yards in the area and they all do a large amount of business, many people in N.E. Ohio are struggling finacially. There are new scrap yards opening up all the time too. It's truely amazing what people will scrap out. This same yard had a double bottom plow and several sets of discs, all of which were very salvageable. I've seen several 7 1/2' snow plows, all sorts of very usable scrap steel, tanks, tools, even brand new welding rod. That piece of 1/2" plate I picked up was virtually new. A few years ago I found a hydraulic log splitter minus the engine and the pump. I bought it for $30.00, bought a new two stage splitter pump, added an eight hp motor I had and viola, I had a very nice, dependable log splitter (it will split about anything I throw at it, it will cut a pine 4x4 in half, across the grain) for about $200 out of pocket. My son and I bought a plow under-carriage for his pickup at another scrap yard for $50.00, plumbed in a set of control valves I had to his power steering pump, I do NOT recommend anyone do this, but it works really well, very strong, and also very reliable, hooked up a plow and he was good to go. I've done many other projects using things people have scrapped. I think in general we Cubbers are cut from a similar cloth and if we set our minds to do something we generally accomplish our goal. Speaking for myself, I/we can build or repair about anything with "seat of the pants engineering" (as I call it), torches, and a welder.

Good deal! That's the way to save bucks and reduce waste. I like stopping by our local yard now and then. They have an area where they put salvageable stuff for anybody to buy. It will usually sit there for a while and if it doesn't move they crush it and send it on.

A home made puller like that works real good. A word of caution though is making sure distance is the same on both sides before applying pressure with the jack or pulley can be damaged. Ask my wife how I know that.

I'm making progress on ol' Smokey. I figured since I had everything torn down I might as well see why the oil pressure was not as good as it should be. I dropped the oil pan and plastigauged the rod and the main bearings to find out the mains were at .006" clearance, .003" over the max and the rods were at .003". I mic'ed the rod journals and they measured about .0015" undersize, do they make a .001" oversize rod bearing anymore? So I went ahead and ordered new std. bearings and rings and gaskets. By the way NAPA seems to have the best price for gaskets (Fel-Pro). Someone had been in there before me as the rod bearings had been replaced, the mains appear to be original, everything was standard size. I had once thought the engine was never torn down, HA!, what was I thinking! The inside of the crankcase was pretty clean and the intake and exhaust valves were pristine. The only carbon build up was in the combustion chambers themselves but not too bad at all. While I was there I found another surprise or two, like John says, I really hate surprises!





I decided since the braze job is still good I'm going to leave well enough alone.



It's starting to go back together, it's been quite the process since originally only wanting to replace the radiator a while back. So to recap, a new radiator, a replacement lower housing and gasket, a new front main seal with a speedy sleeve, new rings and checked the end gap in the cylinders and checked the clearance between the rings and the piston, new rod bearings (still at .003") and main bearings (std, now at .003"), gasket head set, push rod cover gasket, oil pan gasket, new steering shaft seal and gasket, new hoses, repaired the arm on the choke linkage, repaired the govenor shaft, cleaned up the head, and some paint. I figure it should be running and back to work in another day or so and ready for plowing, just don't know if it'll be the driveway or the garden!

Man, your going to have a New Cub! Thanks for the update!!

Sounds like you are going about things the right way if they need replacing, it takes longer, but in the long run you will be happier with the end result, keep up the good work.

So far I have been able to purchase from the scrapyards. Some yards won't sell no mater the profit, siteing insurance and liability reasons. Several years ago a yard I go to bought for .15 cents/lb and sold for $1.50/lb. bought scrape there for several projects. Another yard I go to holds interesting pieces to see if any takers.

danovercash wrote:Some yards won't sell no mater the profit, siteing insurance and liability reasons. Several years ago a yard I go to bought for .15 cents/lb and sold for $1.50/lb.

Man - the scrap yard guys down your way are tough! Around my area they are more than happy to take your cash. Many are small operations with only one or two people working them, tax free pocket money for them. Larger junk yards (somewhat different than scrap yards) charge by the item(s) loosely based on the value of the piece(s) and some have computerized inventory of their stock, especially auto and truck junk yards (they even give you a reciept and sometimes a warranty) and charge even more.

Ray:

I am a big fan of using what you have and re-purposing material when possible. I really dislike throwing stuff out. Recycle, reuse and reduce is one of my favourite mantras. I do a lot of it. Nice to see others doing it as well. I wish we had more scrapyards up here that allowed sales. Most of them are geared toward chipping everything and loading it up into rail cars or tractor trailers. A lot of good old iron gets lost that way. But I am still searching...

I like how you did your pulley puller