Creeper on 154

[ihmike1466]

Hello I am new to this forum and a new owner of a cub 154. I recently restored my new to me 154 and installed a creeper gear I purchased off Hamiliton Bob. My problem is my creeper drive keeps jumping out of high. It will stay in high on flat ground but when going up a slight grade it will jump into neutral. It almost seems like i am not getting full engagement into high range. I did check the ball and spring and they seem to be working fine. What would prevent full engagement into hige range. I gave the unit a quick look over before I installed it and the shift fork and gears looked to be in good shape. My shift lever when engaed in high points to the rear of the tractor at about a 30 degree angle. Is this correct. Any suggestions. Not looking forward to tearing it apart.

[gitractorman]

This may be a little tricky to check, but I'm guessing that the shift rod is not the proper length, and preventing the lever from fully engaging when in high,. Take the ball knob off of the shift lever, then use a pair of pliers to engage the lever, maybe from underneath the tractor, into high, making sure that it goes all the way until it stops in the creeper drive itself. Then observe how much of the rod is poking through the hole in the sheet metal and drive around and see if it jumps out of gear. I would bet that the rod broke off at the threads for the knob (like it was pulled out in the Lo range, and someone caught their pants on it or stepped on it and broke the threads off right where they meet the solid shaft , don't ask me how I know about this) and someone just tapped new threads further down so they could screw the knob on, and now the knob is hitting the sheet metal and preventing the lever from fully engaging.

Good luck,
Bill

[BigBill]

First welcome to the forum. Congrats on your purchase. I would check the ball and spring but if its still jumping out of gear it may not be fully ingaging into gear. Something could be worn or bent. I shift all my trannys with care because there not the toughest designs. Maybe the PO shifted it hard. Now you might want to try to put it in gear move the tractor a little to see if the shifter will move and engage it more. The only other thing is to remove it and see whats wrong with it. Its not that bad to remove the creeper.

[ihmike1466]

Just an update on the creeper situation as it may help someone in the future. I removed the creeper last night and discovered someone had replaced the 1/4" x 1-1/4" coil spring pin that holds one of the gears to the shaft with a plain pin that was to small in diameter. This pin worked its way out and became higher than the hub of the gear not allowing the sleeve to slide fully over the gear when engaging in high range. Hopefully my local dealer will have the spring pin so I can get it back together this weekend.

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

Mike, that should be a pretty common item at most hardware and farm supply stores. A too long one can be ground or cut off if needed.

[BigBill]

I just had this happen on my cub cadet 108 the PO installed a longer pin in the gear thats on the tranny so the creeper slider gear wouldn't slide over it to engage the low range. I took it apart and everything looked ok at first so i reinstalled it and it still had the same problem. After looking at the picture of it I was thinking the pin was too long in the gear thats why it wouldn't shift. It shifted fine when i had it out the first time. Now my 108 is getting a snowblower on it next.

We took out the longer pin and ground it shorter so its fine now. Stupid me its the same design as on the cub cadets to the int154's.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, that should be a pretty common item at most hardware and farm supply stores. A too long one can be ground or cut off if needed.

That is probably a spiral pin, much stronger than a standard roll pin. Probably easiest to get one from the dealer.

[BigBill]

Mike, that should be a pretty common item at most hardware and farm supply stores. A too long one can be ground or cut off if needed.

That is probably a spiral pin, much stronger than a standard roll pin. Probably easiest to get one from the dealer.

I ordered some heavy duty spiral pins from mc master carr and the orginal IH pins are wrapped even more so there different, there stronger.

[ihmike1466]

Well I went to the local cub cadet dealer which used to be a IH dealer, pretty cool place, and they had the pin I needed. This is a coiled spring pin which is much stronger than a standard roll pin. I believe they are wrapped about 3 to 4 turns it is almost equivlent to a soild pin. None the the local hardware stores in my area carried these type of pins. Local dealer said it had been years since they even seen a creeper drive on the 154. Anyway It took me about 1.5hr to get the creeper out and about 1.5 to fix the creeper and put it all back together. Seems to be working great now. Anyone price a new muffler lately, my dealer quoted me $106.00 seems a little pricey. Anyone come up with any alternatives by modifing other ones. I hate to buy a used one for $50 on ebay only to find it half rusted out.

[Garland Terry]

congrats on your easy fix. It may not have seemed easy at the time but it could have been much worse. In regards to your muffler question. I have vowed that when mine falls through I am going to go down and out and then up. I saw a 184 done this way and, though it is not OEM acurate, one can get small straight through 1.5 to 1.5 mufflers easy enough. Tractor supply,Atwoods etc. besides a stack with a rain flapper gives it more power......right?

[BigBill]

These correct IH spirol pins actually act as a spring in the drivetrain too. This pin does buffer some of the radial forces wether some realize it or not it does. This is why a replacement solid pin will elongate the pin holes and the lesser wrapped spirol pin will just fail. I'm a big fan of fixing it right but i do look for other options but there's no other way to replace these pins with the correct pins.

Looking for a muffler ebay is the place.

[texacoon]

ihmike1466

When you mention "creeper" .. is this the rod w/knob below left side under the seat? Pulls out for creeper and pushes in for hi range?

I have an issue when I push mine in the HI gear is not engaging - not allowing the tractor to move in any gears. When I pull it out in "LO" or "creep" it engages - allowing the tractor to move in creep mode ..

If this is the same tractor component you are referring to and only took approx 1.5 hrs to do the job .. Could you help me with a step by step of what you did? .. Sure would appreciate it .. since mine has a belly mower under it and need to start cutting grass already ...

Thanks!

[Rick Prentice]

When you mention "creeper" .. is this the rod w/knob below left side under the seat? Pulls out for creeper and pushes in for hi range?

I have an issue when I push mine in the HI gear is not engaging - not allowing the tractor to move in any gears. When I pull it out in "LO" or "creep" it engages - allowing the tractor to move in creep mode ..

Welcome to the forum Just in case Mike doesn't see this right away, yes, that's the knob below the seat in front for the creeper. If you click on Mike's PM or Email button, you probably will get his attention faster.

Again, welcome,
Rick

[texacoon]

Thanks Rick! .. Really like my little 154 .. would have liked it more if it had a standard 540 pto on it but can't win all ..
Mine does have the three point and belly mower on it ...
Tractor has been running and working like a champ until about two weeks ago when my high range on my creeper went out .. Guess this is the first major issue I have had since I bought it ..
PMed Mike on my questions on getting to the gear set .. My manual apprently doesn't cover the creeper assembly for my tractor .. "Cheap Manual" ...
Been watching most of the forum topics on the little Cub 154 and really appreciate the web site ..
Thanks!
Doug

When you mention "creeper" .. is this the rod w/knob below left side under the seat? Pulls out for creeper and pushes in for hi range?

I have an issue when I push mine in the HI gear is not engaging - not allowing the tractor to move in any gears. When I pull it out in "LO" or "creep" it engages - allowing the tractor to move in creep mode ..

Welcome to the forum Just in case Mike doesn't see this right away, yes, that's the knob below the seat in front for the creeper. If you click on Mike's PM or Email button, you probably will get his attention faster.

Again, welcome,
Rick

[oojimmyc]

Welcome Doug. Nice resto job! Glad to hear there's someone else with a new(ish) 154 besides me. You were lucky enough to get a 3 pt.. I've had mine a couple months now. Put new field tires on the rear last week. That set me back a pretty penny. Sure got in the way of a 3 pt and a PTO fix money wise. It does have a really tight IH 3260 deck with it. A little at a time keeps these tractors interesting though. I like your turf tires too. I figured I was better off with the field tires for where I'll be using the tractor mostly. Besides the turf tires were twice as much..$375.00 installed each down here in Colorado Again, welcome aboard. Lots of nice folks with a lot of help here. Check out the files section. There's a factory owners manual/ 3 pt manual and many others in there.
See Ya!
Jim