I'm back after a long, hard winter!

[Arthur Dent]

I picked up the battery at Tractor Supply today for $44. You saved me almost $40 Denny, thanks!

[Denny Clayton]

[Arthur Dent]

I got the new battery installed this afternoon, and it starts and runs fine. It does crank quite a bit before it starts, but it does start. Also, it does show that it is charging while running, so I am optimistic about the charging system.
After running it around the farm for a while I decided it was time to put it back in the barn, so headed that way. Suddenly the engine RPMs started ramping up all by itself, until it was running full throttle, regardles of where I put the throttle lever. Nothing I could do would bring the RPMs down, so I shut it off. Let it sit a few minutes and re-started. It ran normally so I resumed my trek back to the barn, but very quickly it ramped back up to very high RPMs. I took it on into the barn and shut it off again. Figuring it was something to do with the governer, I planned to check through the manual and relevent threads here when I got home. I decided to check how much gas was in the tank, twisted the gas cap, and it nearly shot out of my hand. The gas tank had been under quite a bit of pressure. I have read about the free gas cap program, I guess I need to order one, since this one is clearly bunged up. But what pressurized the tank in the first place? Just riding around out in the sun? (actually it was cloudy, but I'm sure plenty of IR was coming through the clouds) And was the pressure in the tank the cause of the runnaway RPMs? Any other ideas?
It might be a couple of weeks before I get to play with it again, so I disconnected the battery before I left, just in case some weird issue with the charging system might cause it to discharge. I don't want to kill my brand new battery.
Anyway, your thoughts on the RPM runnaway, the pressurized gas tank, or even the effent of Western Tennesee politics on the migratory route of the ring necked pheasant are all welcome.

[Don McCombs]

I've never known the ringnecked pheasant to migrate much. They just get eaten by foxes or coyotes pretty close to where they were hatched or, in most cases, stocked.

[Eugene]

Run away engine is the result of the gas cap not venting. Tractor running, you have heat coming off the engine, radiator, and touch control. It doesn't take much of a temperature change to cause the plastic government regulated gas cans to bulge considerably.

Pheasant hunting. Great sport when I was a kid in west central Iowa. But as the farms got larger, fence rows and grassed water ways disappeared, pheasant population dropped.

[Arthur Dent]

Sure, that is sort of what I thought.
I looked at the gas cap briefly but didn't see a way to take it apart to clean out the vent. Does it come apart somehow for cleaning, or does one just blast compressed air into the hole and hope for the best?

[Trent M]

Get the free gas cap. I'm pretty sure I have extras, stop by and I'll give you one. That will get you going right away.

[Arthur Dent]

I do plan to order the free gas cap. I'll have to get all the numbers off the Cub the next time I'm out at my dad's, probably next Sunday.
Thanks for your offer Trent, I would certainly like to stop by to borrow one of your gas caps (and maybe look at your Cub!). I go through Dahlgren every Sunday morning and afternoon on my way to and from visiting my dad. If Sundays aren't good for you I could drop by just about any other day after work, just let me know. I'm not sure exactly where your place is, if you could PM me your address that would be great.

[Arthur Dent]

I didn't get to play with the Cub this weekend, and didn't get to stop by and talk to Trent either, but I did grab the gas cap while doing the Father's Day thing with my dad and bring it home.
I guess it was just rust and crud, but the vent hole in that old gas cap sure was plugged up solid! It's open now, and the cap vents as it should.
The new gas caps for the Cub and the H have been ordered, so we should be set for gas caps around here for a while.

[Arthur Dent]

Wow, the new gas caps came today, that was fast!

[Arthur Dent]

And... they are black. I wonder why they are black instead of red? Looking at the old cap from the Cub, it doesn't really look like it used to be red, hmmm...
Do ya'll leave your new gas caps black or paint them red? I don't recall seeing any pics on here with black caps. I guess they figured folks would paint them whatever color they wanted to match their tractor, as it seems the same cap fits many. The caps for the Cub and the 2 for our H's are identical.
Also, Dad surprised me with one of those Shumacher battery maintainers that ya'll talk about. I'll have to check the model number, but it does have a 12v / 6v selector switch. He said that he used it when he first got the Cub and it worked fine. It has been buried in a closet somewhere for several years, he just found it a few days ago. Since it's fairly small, I assume that the battery should already have a pretty good charge on it before hooking it up. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play with all this stuff this weekend.

[Arthur Dent]

I was going to let this fade away, but I just have to tell "The Rest of the Story", though it makes me look pretty dumb.
After cleaning out the old gas cap I just couldn't stand the look of the new one on the Cub, so I put the original back on. After all, it's venting fine now.
I got on the Cub and hit the starter, it cranked a bit and roared to life. Yes, it roared, it immediately went into full RPM's, no throttle control, same as before (detailed in a previous entry above), so I shut it back down.
Crap! I knew the gas tank was not pressurized this time, since I had just been fiddling with the cap (and besides, it was in the shed), so the problem had to be somewhere else. With vague memories of "governer issues" read about on the forum, I started poking about, starting at the throttle lever and working my way back to the carb. AHA! The throttle linkage was hanging free of the carburetor. Apparently, when I put the carb back on a few weeks ago after going over it through the winter, I had forgotten the little cotter pin to lock it in place. And when the linkage came apart, the carb opened up to full. D'oh! I put the linkage back on and tied with a bit of wire in place of the pin and now it runs fine.
This just proves the old adage, start with the simple things first.

[Buzzard Wing]

Yep Arthur (named a hurricane after ya!) the old rod off the carb trick! That happened to me at Cecil's Cubfest when I dragged Cathy, all spiffy and painted, over there... nuttin like a runaway Cub in front of a bunch of Cub owners.

All my embarrassing, moments seem to happen with an audience. The other week after we finished working on the fort the volunteers went to the Advance Redoubt and I was mowing along the top of the ditch (like a moat) and steered to avoid a stump and hooked the bolts on the side of the FH flail mower on the new fence.... Ooops.

For battery chargers I prefer the 'automatic' (electronic) as they will both charge and work as a maintainer. They will NOT overcharge a battery.

I really like those Lo Boy highway mowers, that is a rare and useful Cub! Enjoy it.