Paint?

[junkman1946]

I just broke down a 62 "original" in prep for resto. and paint. I noticed the undersides and hidden areas were painted a different shade of yellow. Something I would call "mustard yellow" or close to the old Caterpillar Yellow. I also saw more than a few Originals painted this color, several at Red Power. I referenced the Master Paint chart and it only lists Federal Yellow for C.C.s. Did IH do something different with the originals or is Federal Yellow the right color. Thanks for your help. Frank

[gitractorman]

Here is some good refernce info for you.
http://www.ihcubcadet.com/IHCCFAQ/Paint.htm
http://www.ihcubcadet.com/BobsPage/cubpaint.htm

There are a couple of different colors of yellow, but they are awfully close in to each other.

If you want to be really correct, there is actually a 901 white, which has a slightly olive tint to it. It is different than the 935 creamy white that is commonly referred to as IH White. 901 white was only used during the early production Cub Cadets, 1961 up through 1963 or 1964 (I think). Then they went to 935 white, then they played around with a different color in 1967 through 1970, which is 902 white. 902 white is actually more white than the creamy 935 white.


Bill

[cub61]

How's it goin' guys.

Here's a little something for the paint vault. I painted my 61 Cub Cadet's hood with Dulpi-Color Engine Enamel Universal White, I figured why not paint the hood with engine enamel so that way the heat from the engine won't burn it off like it would with regular paint and at the same time it still matches the white that the tractor came with and it also gives off a nice shiny finish. The rest of the tractor is painted in Craylon Brand paint Old Equipment Yellow.

[Paul B]

The IH 901 white was used from the beginning to serial number 218009 (Nov 67), and then 902 white was used to serial number 375938 (Feb 71) and then 935 white until the end. The yellow was 483 Federal Yellow with a period where 483B was used, then back to the 483. To my knowledge the 483B is not available from anyone. The 3 whites are hard to tell apart unless you see them all together. 901 has a green tint, 902 a gray tint, and 935 has a cream tint, but when the original color faded after a few years, they all look the same. A mistake some people make when repainting is to try and match the faded white color they see, but that is not what it originally looked like. You can see the original color of the white on the inside of the hood, or the wheels (the part the tire covers) sometime if it isn't too rusty, or some other are that has not been exposed to sunlight.

The 901 and 902 whites are only available from the auto paint stores as far as I know, although I have been told that a match may be available from International Truck dealers. The IH white that you find at Case IH, TSC, or other places that sell "tractor" paint, is supposedly a match for 935 white.

[BigBill]

There are two different cub cadet white colored paints. The older cub cadets like my 70 & 100 & 122 use the cub cadet beige found at tractor supply. While my int154 cub loboy(70's) and my cub cadet 108 use the international white or IH white also at tractor supply. The IH white and the cub cadet beige are different shades, the IH white is much lighter in color yet not a white its more of an off white.

I use the cub cadet yellow for all the years also found at TSC.

With the farmall's I only see IH red at TSC.

The spray cans at TSC are much cheaper than the IH paint too.

At TSC,

Valspar Cub Cadet Beige #5339-26 spray can

Valspar Int White #5339-15 spray can

Valspar Cub Cadet Yellow #5339-25 spray can

[Paul B]

BigBill
Of course you are free to use what ever you choose, but Cub Cadet beige is for the late model Cub Cadets built by MTD, such as the models TSC sells, not the early models. A Cub Cadet dealer sells a white for "early or old" models, but it does not match 901 or 902 white. They also have a yellow that has a more orange tint, almost like an egg yoke, that is not the same shade as the 483 Federal yellow.

[BigBill]

If you go to my pics of my CC70 with the large rear tires I painted the hood with the cub cadet beige it matched the orginal color perfectly. While the INT white matches the lighter color on my CC108 & 154. The INT white is way to light for my 70.

[Jim Becker]

I figured why not paint the hood with engine enamel so that way the heat from the engine won't burn it off like it would with regular paint . . .

If heat from the engine is burning the paint off the hood, it is probably time to break out the fire extinguisher.

[cub61]

How's it goin' Jim Becker???

You've got a point there. But you would be surprise on how hot this little 7hp engine can get after mowing 3 acres of land with thick green grass and continously running the engine at full throttle. Believe it or not, when I had recently just painted the engine a beautiful cub yellow and allowed it plenty of drying time for the paint to hardend, I took the ol' girl to work and after about 3 or 4 hours of mowing nearly 4 acres of land at full throttle, it burnt the paint off. So that's why I decided to take percautions on the hood. Better safe than sorry, I always say.

[Loader]

BigBill
Of course you are free to use what ever you choose, but Cub Cadet beige is for the late model Cub Cadets built by MTD, such as the models TSC sells, not the early models. A Cub Cadet dealer sells a white for "early or old" models, but it does not match 901 or 902 white. They also have a yellow that has a more orange tint, almost like an egg yoke, that is not the same shade as the 483 Federal yellow.

Coming from the world of Musclecar restoration, paint shades can make or break a deal.

I agree with you to a point and then have to ask you to help. I have tested the three whites you cite and I've seen the color tables. But, when I painted a newly-cleaned wheel with 935 - which should be correct for my 1450 with s/n 561537 according to you and what I've read - it isn't even close. It's much too beige. I find that 902 matches the original white on my 1200, 1450, and my brothers 1250 and 1650. Can you help me out there? Did they paint early runs with leftover paint before a switch to 935? I don't know the build dates on the other tractors, but my 1450 was built in August of 1975.

Is 935 correct for the wheels on my 782? It's s/n 668239, built by IH in May of 1980.


The reason I ask is my 1450 "fix-up" has gotten out of hand and is turning into an almost Concours restoration. The engine is now out and being completely rebuilt by a Kohler shop in CT. Every bolt is being bead-blasted clean as the tractor comes apart. Welds and unused holes are being filled. I've been looking at modern high wear, waterproof materials to recover the seat with. It's just gotten silly.
So, with all the detail work going in, I want to paint it with the original color.
I've seen Quiteline tractors repainted with 935 and they are wrong. I've never seen an original Quietline painted with CC Beige, but that's what the paint charts seem to say!

Can you help me out?

Edit: I just went and rechecked the paint by serial number list. It shows 935 used for S/N through 756299. I know my all-original 1512 (s/n 751296) isn't that beige. What gives?

[BigBill]

If the engine heat is burning your paint off its time to pull off the guards on the flywheel and cylinder and clean out the grass or mice nest? It sounds loike its overheating. Is the fan screen filled up with grass? It was on my 122 when it was running hot.

[BigBill]

The INT white is an off white but much lighter than cub cadet beige. My int154 cub is faded and it looks like a white but its actually the int white. I'm going by my present colors of my tractors but there faded too. I'm trying to match them as close as possible without mixing paint and spraying. But at the sametime i want to keep the cost of painting affordable too.

[Paul B]

Loader,
I don't know what brand of paint you are using, so I cannot comment on whether it is the correct color/shade or not, but IH 935 white should be correct for your 1450. You say you painted a wheel and it "isn't even close- it's much too beige", what are you comparing it to? As I stated before, the IH white paint will, and did, fade, and 30 years later the faded white on the rest of your 1450 is not the same shade as it was when it was applied - it is "whiter" than it was originally. All 3 shades of white will fade to a lighter, whiter, shade.

The paint now sold by Case IH as International Harvester White, is supposedly the same as IH 935 white. The paint brands sold by other stores as IH or International Harvester white is supposedly a match for IH 935 white, however I do not know if any of it is an exact match for the original IH 935 white, atlthough I would tend to believe the Case IH IronGard International Harvester White is probably pretty close. The 901 and 902 white is only available through automotive paint dealers, and to my knowledge only in the modern acrylic or urethane paints. 935 white is also available from them. The only white I use is 901, because that is what was used on the tractors I have. I use NASON acrylic paint from Dupont, and had the paint computer matched to a paint sample from a can of NOS IH 901 white paint, and it came up to the Ford New Lime color that you may see listed on some on line paint number cross reference charts.

The 935 white was used from S/N 375939 beginning in Feb 1971, until the end of the 82 series tractors in 1985, according to noted author an IH historian Ken Updike. A serial number listing in a Attachment Guide supplied by Cub Cadet Corp (CCC) shows the S/N range for the 82 series in 1985 as 737,625 to 747,224. (The 756 299 number you listed is the ending number for 1986). From June 1981, when IH sold the Cub Cadet line, until the end in 1985 when the IH dealers closed, the 82 series were built by Cub Cadet Corp, and not IH. The S/N number you list for your 1512 shows it was built in 1986, by CCC, and I have no idea what shade of yellow or white paint that they used at that time, or what shades they used on the yellow and white versions of the 82 series they built from 81-85. Cub Cadet dealers sell a white, and yellow, for "Old Cub Cadets", but neither define what model "Old" refers to, or what shade the paint is suppose to be. They also sell a Cub Cadet Beige, but that is suppose to be a match for the later CCC/MTD built Cub Cadets.

If you feel sure the paint you are using is a true match for the original shade, and don't think that shade is correct for your tractor, then feel free to paint it the shade you want, after all, it is your tractor (and if you want to do an accurate and correct restortation, be sure you add the paint runs, specially on the underside of the hood, because they all had them ), and remember, the white paint on that 30-40 year old unrestored Cub Cadet does not look like the same shade of white that was put on it when it was built. Bottom line, Paint it how want it, and enjoy it, it's yours.

[Paul B]

As an added note, if you want to match the white shade that the IH whites all seem to fade to, Case Power White seems to be a pretty good match, and it should be available from Case IH dealers.

[Loader]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I think I may be a bit confused on the paint numbers, so I'm going to go get some.

The paint that I used that I thought was 935 was referred to as Cub Cadet Beige. Since you refer to them as if they are two different colors, I may be flat-out wrong.

I do know that the 1450 I saw repainted was done with Cub Cadet Beige and that person claimed it was correct for the "newer" tractors. I had the impression he was defining "newer" as "not the narrow-frames".

I'm off to Florida for a week. When I get back, I'm going to investigate this more by getting some genuine 935 from the paint chart and we'll see what it comes out looking like.

Also, you made a very good point about turning more white with fading.

I know that I could paint it any way I like, but it's so hard when for so long I've had to be anal about what percentage of flatness my blacks had (frame rails and inner fenders are NOT the same flat black) that it's creeping into my tractor restoration. I hope to be cured soon.

I had actually thought about painting it with a brighter white and airbrushing the stripes on instead of decals. I've got to stop this. Next thing you know I'll have it all pinstriped with spinners!

Okay, the crazy-talk has passed. I'll keep it looking original.

Thanks again!