Newbie intro and hello

[Arthur Dent]

That is interesting news.
Unfortunately the video doesn't work for me. Can you post a link?

Later...

Never mind, I got it to work, thanks.

[Bob McCarty]

Arthur, You can remove the seat and drill additional holes in the two rails that mount to the vertical supports. This will allow you to move the seat back several inches (if your legs are long enough ).

Bob

[Arthur Dent]

I thought about that Bob. I do have the leg length for it, just hate drilling holes in the old gal. Once we get it running well I'll think more about it.
Dad suggested chopping a couple of inches off the steering wheel shaft, I really don't want to do that.

[gitractorman]

Trust us, just drill a couple of more holes in the seat frame and slide it back. Most of us folks on here over 6' tall have to do it, and you'll never see the new holes. You can actually just drill one hole on each side of the frame, spaced forward enough so that the rear mounting hole uses the old front hole. That's what I did on mine.

[Xperimental]

You can see your 18" steering wheel in the Cub parts book TC-37F. The manual is available above in the pdf manuals. The parts book shows that this steering wheel was supplied when the Cub Lo-boy was equipped with the 105 mower. You could gain a little room by changing the 18" steering wheel for the more common old style 15" wheel. If I did this I would keep the original steering wheel so that the tractor could be returned to original.

I have a 61 Farmall Cub that has a large diameter wheel but in the old style. It also has the deluxe seat. I have the same problem with little room between the seat and the wheel. I had thought that the large diameter wheel on my Cub was a replacement. But I am not sure. I plan to change it for the smaller 15" wheel to gain some space.

[Arthur Dent]

My dad also tells me that this Cub has always been hard to steer. I always figured that was just the nature of the beast, but is there something in particular I need to look at? I will of course grease all the fittings.
I figured that the over-sized steering wheel was to provide a little extra leverage to help overcome inherent steering difficulty.
Thanks for the discussion on the seat adjustment (or lack thereof). I'll probably drill the holes and move the seat back as suggested. I'm 6' 1".

[Barnyard]

My dad also tells me that this Cub has always been hard to steer. I always figured that was just the nature of the beast, but is there something in particular I need to look at?

Check the steering gear box and see what is used for lubricant. I had one that was pumped full of axle grease instead of gear oil. That is a tough one to steer.

[Garvin Gatewood]

I bought one that was full of axle grease and it was a mess to clean up. I put a new seal on the bottom and filled it with gear oil. It worked fine then.

[Scrivet]

..............
Dad told me that the guy he bought it from said it had "a bunch of extra speeds" but he never figured that part out.......

You have two Howard Despeeders. They are mounted on each side of the transmission/rearend before the final drives. There is a lever on each one. The right one is on the left side of the battery box. The left one is flipped around and is on the back side of the housing and just inside the left rear fender. Engaging one will slow the tractor ground speed down. Engaging both will rrrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyy sssssssllllllllooooooowwwww down the ground speed. That'll give you nine possible different forward speeds (and three reverse). Of course you'll need a calendar to measure the slowest three.

[Arthur Dent]

And these are useful for...? Going up steep hills? Pulling heavy loads? Just wondering why they would put 2 on.

Later...

Oh, I answered my own question by reading the brochure on the TM site.

[Hengy]

Definitely NOT to increase pull! There is a strong warning about that in the manual (which I think you may have seen). I believe that there was a member here who actually sheared off the differential shaft on a cub by trying to increase the pull using the despeeder.

Mike

[Scrivet]

And these are useful for...?

Winning every slow tractor race you enter If you really want to show off you can most likely win them all at full throttle

[Hengy]

And these are useful for...?

Winning every slow tractor race you enter If you really want to show off you can most likely win them all at full throttle

That's funny right there, Scrivet!!!

Since highway mowers were used to mow the sides of roadways and because municipalities typically like to let the grass get good and long between cuttings. Slowing the tractor speed down while keeping the RPM's up on the engine allows the tractor to cut longer, thicker weeds along a roadway. The extra wide feature on this tractor also allows it to be more stable on the sides of hills along roadways.

Interesting combination!

Mike

[Arthur Dent]

Yes, I looked at the manual and saw the warnings about not trying to use the despeeder(s) to increase pull, but thanks for mentioning it anyway.
Gosh, I never thought there would be so much to learn about this little tractor.

[AL Farmall Boy]

and to add on your previous comment(s).......Just about the only thing this tractor would be good at doing would be mowing grass. You mentioned that you'd like one for a garden and get a cultivator and other implements in the future. You'd DEFINITELY need a different tractor (Cub) for those tasks, as the LoBoy isn't able to Cultivate and your "Custom" model wouldn't be able to use standard implements since the final drives are spaced wider. I'd say it is safe to say yours is quite a collectible tractor and maybe you could sell it and find one to more suit your needs?