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154 Repower

IH CUB Lo-Boy Series - 154, 184, 185 Forum -- Questions and answers to all of your Lo-Boy related issues.
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strutz3921
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154 Repower

Postby strutz3921 » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:30 pm

I was wondering if anyone has repowered their tractor with a different engine.



Chad

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Bob McCarty
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Re: 154 Repower

Postby Bob McCarty » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:40 pm

Gary Dotson placed a 3 cylinder Kubota engine in his Cub, now called "Cubota". Rick Prentice put a V-6 in his. I'm sure if you search for "Cubota" you can find some pictures, not exactly sure where Rick's would be found.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby Rudi » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:53 pm

This is Harley:

Image

Harley
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Re: 154 Repower

Postby gitractorman » Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:11 pm

The 154 will be quite a bit easier than either of the Cub transplants, because the 154 has an actual frame, and the engine is not a structural part of the tractor. You could drop nearly anything in there that will fit, as long as you can make it mate up to the drivetrain. There is a guy here on Grand Island that runs a Post-hole service, and only uses farmall cub tractors, however he transplants Chevy 4.3L engines into them and runs about 4 hydraulic pumps off of the accessory belt, in order to get all of the hydraulic flow that he needs for the augers. I would think that would be an easy and inexpensive swap, because the engines are plentiful and parts are cheap.

A small 4-cylinder diesel would be a nice addition, and you would actually end up with something similar to the International 284 tractor, which was basically the 184 with a 4-cylinder Mazda diesel engine. That's actually not true, there were lots of different gearing and drivetrain mods in the 284, to make it built more like a standard farm tractor, with standard 540-rpm pto, and ironically, the engine was integral/structural part of the tractor, but size wise it was about the same as the 184 lo-boy.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby BigBill » Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:04 am

If i had my choice of engines to repower with it would be the willys jeep 134 F head or flat head because of its low bottom end torque with its long connection rods. It would add more power, easy to add a govenor on it and its still good on gas to run it. I think overall it would be a neat small package with p[lenty of power no over taxing the little tranny. It kind of makes me wonder how much of a increase in force can the fcub/int154 really take? There's a difference in a real working tractor and a toy that doesn't get worked. I seen the kubota in action plowing so thats a working machine.

After being disappointed in what the fcub/154's can do in plowing snow i'd up for a 4x4 tractor next. A big one.....
I'm technically misunderstood at times i guess its been this way my whole life so why should it change now.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby b52c130 » Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:45 pm

Big Bill,
I agree with you that the Willys L134 Flat Head or F134 Hurricane Half Over Head engines would be great; however, for the Numbered Loboys - it is a "No Go". After a lot of research including the 'engineering technical drawings' the Willys Oil Pump sticks out the side of the block and directly into the tractor frame, taking out at least 1/2 of the frame.

I would really love it if someone came up with a good inexpensive, non destructive repower.

For my application - Snow Blowing - most of the increased power would be routed through the PTO and not through the transmission. I would like to put 20 to 25 HP through the 184 Electric PTO (electric clutches on Cub Cadets seem to handle this) to the 60 inch Snow Thrower and 8 to 10 HP down to the drive wheels.

So far, I have come up with nothing that will fit nicely within the frame rails.

Thanks, NJDale

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby BigBill » Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:58 pm

I would notch out the frame where the oil pump is on the jeep 134f head and put a "U" shaped gusset around that area to clear the pump and reinforce that area. I think the C60 IH engine could of been better designed with longer connecting rods. This is why its missing the bottom end grunt.
I'm technically misunderstood at times i guess its been this way my whole life so why should it change now.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby SONNY » Fri Feb 26, 2010 10:40 pm

I saw a 184 at a tractor show that had a 302 Ford car motor stuffed in it, (a waste of a good tractor), but other than I havent seen/heard of it being done.---they usually put other motors in real tractors, The M has been used for probably every motor known to mankind, I've seen about everything stuck in them! thanks; sonny

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby strutz3921 » Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:15 pm

I was thinking about one of those little CAT diesels


Chad!

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby gitractorman » Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:35 am

I personally would stay away from the little CAT diesel engines. They are rattle traps. I have done a lot of work on the newer 6000 series Cub Cadet compact tractors that had the CAT diesel engine (Model 6284 I think). They literally shake and rattle enough to break the mufflers off at the manifold.

It is a great engine, nice amount of power, but there are better options.

I have a new Simplicity Legacy 4x4 diesel, with the 27hp Dihatsu (briggs and stratton) diesel engine.
Image

It is smooth running, easy to start, and very compact so it would be easy to fit into the frame rails of a lo-boy.

My father owns a Cub Cadet dealership, but he also sells Simplicity, Exmark, and Ferris, so I have my choice of anything, and this is the tractor that I have, he has, and my grandfather has. Believe me, we do our tests and trials, and I would not promote it if I did not personally believe in it.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby Landreo » Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:12 pm

I can tell you what did not work. I aquired a small 15 hp Kubota diesel, the same as in the cub cadet 782d tractor although it was in a Kubota tractor. I like my 154 but is too slow and I thought the small diesel would give slightly greater speed and use less fuel. I made an adapter for the 154 drive shaft to bolt to, mounted the engine with no modifications of the 154. The engine had slightly smaller pulleys on the flywheel side to keep the PTO speed the same as the gas engine 154. I thought the 3600 rpm of the kubota would increase the ground speed enough to make me happy. I mounted the engine, did a test run with a steel wire attached to the govener for a throttle and went for a spin. The 3600 rpm engine was way too fast to cut with in second gear. I was hoping for a increase but the increase was too much. If I slowed the engine, I am not sure it would have enough power to run the mower in thick grass. So I took the engine out and it has been laying in the sand ever since. I have since bought a 185 which is slightly faster than the 154.

If you repower, consider the engine speed, it may be a problem.

I also put a 11 hp generic aircooled single cylinder engine in an FCUB a few years ago. For it, I ran the engine through a jackshaft to reduce the speed. It actually worked well, plenty of power.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby DanBuckman » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:28 am

Half the reason I bought my 154 was because I had a kubota d722 engine I was itching to put in something.
I'm guessing it's a few more hp than the D600 that goes in the cadet 782.
How do you think your cub would have done if it had the slightly larger Kubota motor?

I kind of came to the conclusion that there were too many other things the 154 needed to make the perfect little tractor we all want.
(standard pto, better gears heavier clutch, power steering etc.)
That is I can't justify taking a good running cub and making it better, If I want better it would make more sense to sell both the cub and the motor and buy better, or start with an old 8N or something and shrink it,,
I would still like to find a cub cheep that needed a motor just to see how it would work.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby gitractorman » Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:36 am

Yea, after some more thought, I think I would invest the money to have the original C-60 engine overhauled, bored .030 over, domed pistons like the 185/184s had, Zenith carb and intake, and maybe bump up the governor a little. I know that Ralph has "adjusted" the governor on a couple of his Cubs and got 3000 rpm out of them without hurting anything. I think that the 154 with a truly fresh engine would be about the best that you can get for that tractor. Certainly would be a whole lot less painful than modifying frame, engine mounts, driveline, etc., just to put another engine in a tractor that is already limited on capabilities.

Bill
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Re: 154 Repower

Postby BigBill » Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:07 pm

My first 154 with the 184/185 upgrades has plenty of power, well a lot more over my other 154 which is stock with the IH carb. I'm debating wether or not to port my C60 that i'm rebuilding right now. You can upgrade to a 184/185 govenor plus use the farmall A / Sa distributor which has more timing advance too. But we need to keep in mind we have no water pump so the heat build up could be a problem once we get into a higher performance C60. We need to watch how much material we remove from the exhaust port because the heat can transfer much faster, thus run hotter if the material is thinner.

My 97 subie engine is 137hp and its small and light. It wouldn't be hard to mount a govenor on it, Peerless or Pierce govenor company does offer the govenors for just an application when an egine didn't have one. We would have to tone it down a bit with 137hp to the cubs drive train. I'm sure the weakest link will show up if we push it. But i been thinking if i scrap my 97 subie i could use the 4x4 drive train to build another 4x4 tractor.
I'm technically misunderstood at times i guess its been this way my whole life so why should it change now.

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Re: 154 Repower

Postby Gary Dotson » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:07 am

The last 2 years, I've seen a 154 at the Fl. Flywheelers show with a small 4 cyl. Perkins diesel installed in it. It looks like a nice conversion and neatly done, even has a diesel decal on the hood. I've never seen the owner, to quiz him about it, but it looks to be a nice set-up.


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