Jumping in head first with my first Cub

[Gumby]

Recently I posted my Ford 601 on craigslist looking for a smaller tractor. A few days later a guy called me up and asked if I would be interested trading for a Farmall Cub. Having a no experience with cubs I headed across the county to check out what he had. Arriving at his house he had a Farmall Cub and this is when it all started. I feel in love with the little Tractors. After talking to him back and forth for a few days we finally decided we couldn't come up with a agreement for a trade. I started searching for a Farmall and it took up about 80% of my day for atleast a week. Finally I got one yesterday. Its a 1952 Farmall Cub and it came with a 59 woods mower., 3-3 1/2 Bush hog., and parts to a sickle mower. It runs excellent and starts up easily and it runs with no smoke. I pulled a trailer with it last night to put it under a load and it didnt even stutter a step.

I did take the top of the tranny off last night and drained the hydraulic fluid that looked like butterscotch pudding. I could hear the rear end roaring but nothing I havent heard before. I was told by someone that some roaring was normal. The gears appear to be in great shape still because there is no rust on the gears themselves. I also drained the rear end last and it was the same way. Does the rear end fluid also feed the hub. Is there anything else I need to look for? Like I said I am completely new to the machines.

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

Welcome to the forum, I saw you pop into the chat last night, so welcome to that too. The transmission and differential all have a common oil supply, and can be filled with either 90wt gear oil or HyTran or it's equivalent, whichever you prefer. The final drives (drop downs) each have their own oil supply, and the only way to drain them is to remove the pan on the bottom. If you look at the links on the right side of the page near the top you will find links to manuals, owner, parts, and service you cna read on line, or download and print as you want. You can also order manuals from a dealer, or from binderbooks.com.

[Matt Kirsch]

The "hubs" we commonly call final drives. They have their own oil. You drop the pan and clean it out, then refill with fresh oil.

Lots of reading and most manuals are stored here on this website. Look for the link called "(NEW) Manuals" and the link to the Cub book of knowledge, "CBoK." That'll take up about 80% of your day for a few weeks

[Gumby]

My laptop is down at the moment and I'm having to navigate the site with my wife's kindle fire. Its not letting me open the manuals for some reason.

[Paul Wells]

Gumby,
I know you will enjoy your cub. Scroll down the index page to the How To Forum there is a lot of great infomation there. If I can help in any way let me know.
Paul

[Don McCombs]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you need to intall the Acrobat Reader for Android before you can see PDF files.

[Stanton]

Your Cub sounds great! Congrats!

Use the "How To" section on this forum to get a BUNCH of info in addition to the manuals.

Here's a link to a thread on what to do when you first bring a Cub home: viewtopic.php?f=145&t=16305

Enjoy your Cub and post some pictures.

[Gumby]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you need to intall the Acrobat Reader for Android before you can see PDF files.

Yeah, it was already installed but I was expecting it to automatically pop up whenever the pdf was downloaded. Instead I have to go thru program adobe to be able to view it.

[Rudi]

Gumby:

Oooh ok... I like that userID I guess you are of a certain age that would remember that program years ago G'day to you and congrats on acquiring your very 1st new to you Cub Yup, and you already know how these things can attach themselves so don't be too surprised if you end up a member of the MCC in short order

One of the best things you can do before you jump in too far on your Cub is to read the Owner's Manual - click this link - McCormick Farmall Cub Owner's Manual 1950 or McCormick Farmall Cub Tractor Operator's Manual 1-5-55. I don't have a '52 up on the server yet, but there is very little difference between them at that point. Either will do nicely.

One of the great things that we have for our Cub Community is resources. Suggest following the links below and get familiar with them as well as your Cub.

to Farmallcub.com Forum Family. And you have come to the right place for all things Cub related. If you click on the Site Rules, Regulations, & Important Information, it will point you to the Welcome Wagon wherein you will find links to many useful sites and topics. One of which is the Cub Manual Server. Enjoy!.

Oh yeah:

My laptop is down at the moment and I'm having to navigate the site with my wife's kindle fire. Its not letting me open the manuals for some reason.

[Gumby]

I told my wife about the manuals and while she was at work she printed., 3 hole punched and placed it in a nice binder for me. Shes such a good wife and with a little more training I think she might want to buy her own Cub (crossing my fingers on that one).

Tonight I went to O'Reillys and spent 60 dollars on fluids for the Cub. New oil, rear end oil, hydraulic fluid, antifreeze, light bulbs and oil pan gasket. Like I mentioned above the rear end oil was horrible and looked like water downed peanut butter. I sprayed the gears last night with wd40 and they everything was looking nice and clean today when I was refilling it with gear oil. The oil pan.... how in the world does a man tighten up the middle bolt that's right next to the clutch????? I some how got it loosened and pulled out to get the oil seal off to replace tomorrow. I'm sitting here wondering how I'm going to be able to tighten it back up now. Any tips or tricks let me know.

Always when I get a new machine I drain ALL fluids off and replace. Even if someone tells me that he changed all the fluids I will still change ALL of them. It allows me to do 2 things.

Learn about the machine I'm working on and tells me how well the machine was cared for. Ill post pics tomorrow.

[Barnyard]

Gumby, I have always tightened those bolts with a 1/4" drive swivel socket.

['Country' Elliott]

Hey Gumby...CUBGRATULATIONS on your 1952 Cub AND...WELCOME to the WORLD'S GREATEST web site for Farmall Cub and Cub Cadet owners ...'Country'

[Gumby]

Gumby, I have always tightened those bolts with a 1/4" drive swivel socket.

I tried a 3/8" drive it wouldn't allow me to completely get on the head of the bolt. Ill have to buy me a 1/4" swivel. I believe the oil pan gasket was still good but I believe someone just hand tightened that bolt and gave up. Is there anything I should inspect while I have the oil pan off? Is there any tips or tricks to straightening out a oil pan? Appears someone try to play bigfoot (monster truck) with the machine and put a nice dent in the oil pan. Is the oil filters hard to find?

I'm pretty sure ill have some more questions thru out the day. Thank you all for the responses thus far!

[Buzzard Wing]

An option may be to buy a pan?? The used real steel back then.

Filter is 1153 at NAPA. Too bad you are not closer, I just ordered 2 dozen of em and they came too late to pass along at a mini-fest up here.

I am not fond of water around bearings, but the ones in a Cub transmission/differential are pretty stout. It's a common thing to have water in there, often it seeps in around the shifter on Cubs kept outside. Can't hurt to change it again after you run it a bit.

Enjoy your new Cub!

[Eugene]

Is the oil filters hard to find?

Oil filters are available at auto parts stores and at big box farm and ranch supply stores. Rural areas the auto parts store will probably have the filter in stock. If not they can be ordered. Some brands come with a new gasket. Be sure and check for the gasket before purchasing.

You can purchase the pan gasket separately or use rtv gasket maker. Oil pan lip can be straightened - usually bolt holes are dented in. Piece of flat stock in vise and hammer. Bang out major dents. Or purchase one in good condition.

Hastings oil filter number is: LF320