Farmall Cub

have been pulling a stone rake the past few days, 2 hours last night, and 8.5 hours straight today, today for the first 5 hours or so the Cub ran strong, but then lost all power, i checked the radiator, and put almost a half gallon of water in it, and that seemed to do the trick, ran storng again, then about an hour or 2 later was losing power again. Could it be that i just worked the tractor to hard today and its running hot? or rebuild time? im defintly gonna need it tomarro, so im really hoping it will make it through a few more hours of raking! thanks

1farmall95cub0 wrote:Could it be that i just worked the tractor to hard today and its running hot? or rebuild time?

Doesn't sound like you need to overhaul the engine. Couple of probable causes.

1) Overheating, coolant loss. Flush the engine block and bolster. Also check for coolant leak(s).
2) Overheating could be ignition timing related.
3) Running great for hours then running like crap - condenser breaking down. If this is the cause a complete tune up will solve the problem.

thanks, i will run it tomarro and see if i can narrow it down between thoes things

I forgot to mention, that all through out the day i found i had to run it more and more with the choke pushed in, until i had it fully choked to run, when it all at once lost all power it would only stay running on full choke, if i even slighlty moved the choke rod, it would stall, would this make any diffrence to my problem? thanks, Kile

Yes! Could be clogged fuel filter if you have one. If not clean sediment bowl and carb.

1farmall95cub0 wrote:would this make any difference to my problem?

Yes. Remove the carburetor main jet. Check for fuel flow. Clean the main jet orifice.

Beginning to sound like you have several different problems.

Check the main metering jet in side of carburetor. Clean with copper wire compressed air and carb cleaner.


Here is a home made cleaning tool to clean block.

Find the Blue Ribbon Service manual on cooling by following one of the 2 links above and you will find out what to do with that flushing tool and where.

thanks for all your help, my only problem is i need it for a job that HAS to get done today, and very limited time to do it, would seafoam at least help a little bit to clean the jet and possilby get me through a few more hours?

i would look into the problem before i go, but know me i will screw soemthing up! thanks for all yourhelp

Shut off the gas, then pull the jet from the side of the carb and clean with wire like the photo shows above, then blow out with carb cleaner and compressed air. Shouldn't take but just a min to do this.

If your tractor was running lean, and evidenced by having to pull the choke out to get it to run right, it will run hot, which may explain the loss of coolant and overheating.

You might check and be sure gas cap hasn't become clogged and is no longer vented.A cap that isn't vented will cause a gradual fuel lock and cause problems like you describe by gradualy running leaner and leaner till it quits.

thanks for all your help, ill defintly be checking a few things out when i get the chance

Another vote for the Gas Cap.
When it starts running poorly, shut off the tractor and open the gas cap. If you hear air suck into the tank, then it is a venting issue in the gas cap. Close gas cap, restart tractor. If it goes back to running fine then you have found the issue.