Cub Lo-Boy versus 154, 185 & 184

[OzzInter]

Dear Cubsters,
here is a general question for the owners of IH 154, 185 & 184 tractors. It has possibly been asked before.

I am from Australia where the 154, 185 & 184 were never sold so I need to be educated about these great little tractors.

How mechanically similar are the IH 154, 185 & 184 to the Cub Lo-Boy? What, if any, of the Farmall Cub or Lo-Boy implements fit these tractors?

Regards from OzzInter in Australia.

P.S. I think the 184 is a great looking little tractor. The Japanese built 284 Diesel was imported into Australia, the 184 is looks like a smaller version of the 284!


P.P.S. Thanks Farmall Cub com, I have been downloading PDFs of the parts manuals of the various Farmall and McCormick tractors you have on your site .
This saves me time and money acquiring these manuals, thanks again people!

[Eugene]

How mechanically similar are the IH 154, 185 & 184 to the Cub Lo-Boy?

Many of the major parts between the numbered Cubs and the standard Cubs and Low-Boy Cubs are identical. However, a number of parts will not interchange.

What, if any, of the Farmall Cub or Lo-Boy implements fit these tractors?

The numbered Cubs were built as estate tractors, lawn mowers. The standard Cub and Cub Low-Boy were built as farm tractors. Basically, none of the implements for a standard Cub and low-boy Cub will directly interchange with a numbered Cub Low-boy.

Edit. Owning a standard Cub and a 154, the standard Cub is much more utilitarian. Farming implements and mowers will attach to the standard Cub. My 154 is utilized as a mower and occasionally pulls a trailer.

[OzzInter]

It seems to me that the 154 was presented as bigger version of the Cub Cadet range rather than a version of International Cub range.

The 154 has styling resembles the Cub Cadet tractors of that era too.

Regards from OzzInter.

[gitractorman]

Ozz. Yes, that's true, and the original mower mountings available from IH for the 154 are very similar in style to the Cub Cadet mountings of the day. The aftermarket mowers like the Woods mower, mount totally differently, back to being similar to a regular Cub. Regardless, yes, the number series tractors were marketed as "large estate and professional mowers" rather than the Cub Cadets which were marketed for residential use. The Farmall Cubs were originally marketed for "small farms or truck gardens... for large farms that need an extra tractor". So the Cub was never originally intended to do lawn work, it was later adapted to be a mower. Then the lo-boy was introduced with the intent more towards lawn mowing than farming, but still pretty capable at farming with the fast hitch and many of the same implements as a Cub. Therefore, the natural progression, as truck farms were going away in the late 60s / early 70s, and Cub sales were way down, was to "modernize" the lo-boy as an estate mower, which really has even less farm capabilities, and much more comfort and modern controls that you would find on a garden tractor of the day.