Cub 22 sickle bar mower question. Rockshaft spring.

[Redcub]

Cub 22 mower questions.
I am new to the Cub 22 Sickle Bar Mower. So the first thing I did was download and read the manual from cover to cover several times. There are some drawings throughout the manual that are helpful, but many things are just verbally described. Below I’ll list some questions that I still have. If you know the answer,…by all means, please enlighten me and others with your knowledge. Thanks in advance.

The 47’ Cub I just bought had the Cub 22 mower already attached to it when I bought it. It now appears that the previous owner ( P.O. ) never actually used the mower. It was only just hung on the tractor for the sale. The two mounting bolt near the clutch housing were so loose that one tiny bump would have sent the mower off the Cub and in to the ground. The rear shaft mount on the left final drive connects via a tapered bolt. The bolt hadn’t even been passed through the “keyhole” shaped hole. The shaft was being held in place by a V-belt that was so short it is impossible to even use it. It was just swinging by that belt. Ehhhh, ok….maybe the PO wasn’t exactly forthcoming with all the problems I have been finding, but I love my Cub and I can’t wait to run her!!
I have no Touch Control ( TC ) Hyd. system, it’s just the Master Control Lever ( MCL ) and my muscles. With the mower properly mounted and the zerks full of grease I noticed that the MCL had been secured with a hose clamp so that it could not be moved. ( insert suspicious emoticon here ). I removed the hose clamp and proceeded to depress the thumb unlock button on the top of the lever.





What a surprise I found next.

For those that don’t know…Normally when using a plow and the MCL, the idea is that gravity lowers the plow and the helper spring in the MCL assists you in lifting the plow up. It would be pretty hard to lift a plow without that helper spring. So imagine my surprise when I found out that I had to not only fight 200+ pounds of mower weight but also the resistance of the helper spring working against me!!. Yes, I said against me, rather than for/with me. So the next thing I did was a mistake. I’m happy to tell you about it without shame, because I want others to not do what I did. I took the forward part of the Rod ( lifting link,...that long solid round metal bar on the left side of the tractor ) and I disconnected it from the lower mount hole and inserted it in the upper mount hole ( the one up next to the fuel tank ). Now the spring would be helping me rather than fighting me, right? It's gotta work now, right?! No. Before there was a pulling force on the shaft, now there was a pushing force. The rod bent like an old carrot that you found in the back of the refrigerator that has been in there all winter.

On page 2 of the Cub 22 manual ( might be a different page, on different versions of the manual over the years. ) It says stuff like “…and the front rock shaft units are available on special order and are not supplied with the mower…” Searching Google Images I found a few pics of a spring that sat very far forward on a cultivator set up, and I know that is not the one I need. Also I found on the attached near the stick shift and went to up the along the dash. Page 13, Illustration 13A of the manual has a poor drawing of the Rock Shaft. I can't tell if there is a forward spring on it or not.

Is this the spring I am supposed to have when using my Cub 22 mower? Am I using completely the wrong spring? Am I supposed to disconnect the big spring next to the MCL and use a different one?

Pic below. ( Photo credit: I forget. Someone here on our forum. Thanks )


There are no good Illustrations of the rod to rock shaft connection on the left side of the tractor at the forward end in the Cub 22 manual. Any help, or a pic of your rod to rockshaft connection at the forward end would be great.

What am I doing wrong? (.... you got out of bed today !! ) Yeah, I know.

PS, Now I know why someone had jerry-rigged a piece of old water pipe on the rod/lift link of my other cub. It was to keep it from bending when the shaft was in compression ( pushing ) , rather than tension ( pulling ).

[Jim Becker]

Without pictures, hard to tell what you might be doing wrong.

TM has pictures of the master control lever and front rockshaft installed on a tractor.
http://www.tmtractor.com/tm-tractor/gdr ... ub_001.htm

[Don McCombs]

The photo that you include is a photo of the Fast Hitch helper spring assembly. Not appropriate for use with a non Touch Control tractor.

[Redcub]

Jim, thanks. I'll get a pic Monday, but it is exactly like the manual drawing. The shaft was attached to the stubby arm of the cross linkage up by the fuel bowl area.
Don, thanks. I didn't know TC equipped Cubs used any spring at all. Maybe just on some really big heavy implements.

[Glen]

Hi,
Besides the master control lever, or hand lift lever, to the left of the seat, you need the front rockshaft, that bolts on 4 of the clutch housing implement mounting holes.
The lever is connected to the front rockshaft with a rod.
You will need to buy a front rockshaft assembly, and rod, if you don't have them, to use a Cub 22 mower.

Below is a page from the Cub 22 owner's manual, showing the lifting parts. The front rockshaft is shown at the bottom pic.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... e%2013.jpg

The spring in your 2nd pic above is for a Cub with Touch Control, and Fast Hitch. It is not used with a hand lift lever. The front rockshaft for a hand lift does not have anywhere to connect the front of the rod. Don't use it with a hand lift, if you have it.
Only the spring on the hand lift is used with a hand lift.
The spring tension should be adjusted for the implement you are using, after the implement is put on the tractor. The long bolt through the spring on the hand lift turns to adjust the tension.

I don't know what you mean is bending.

You should use the IH tapered head bolts, to attach the Cub 22 mower to the clutch housing, if you have a mower with the tapered holes, and to one hole on the rear bracket to the final drive.
They help keep the mower from vibrating off the mountings.
The mounting bolts have to be tight, retighten them after mowing some.

Below are listings for the tapered head bolts at TM Tractor.

http://www.tmtractor.com/new/gb/324fp.htm

This bolt is longer, and used for the rear mounting hole.

http://www.tmtractor.com/new/sp/445fp.htm

Below is TM Tractor's page of Cub 22 mower parts, if you need a belt. Be sure to buy the right belt, they used 2 different size PTO pulleys over the years.

http://www.tmtractor.com/new/sm/sm_001newparts.htm

[Jim Becker]

. . . The shaft was attached to the stubby arm of the cross linkage up by the fuel bowl area. . . .

I don't know what you are referring to here.

[Redcub]

Glen you just taught me something new. I should be calling the long metal rod a "Lift Link" according to the IH parts manual, and not a Rock Shaft. My apologies to all. I bent the Lift Link everybody !! Glen I have all those parts, and illustration 13A is so vague, I couldn't tell if there was some other spring in that drawing that I am missing or not,.... that's the problem. As you know well from being a NW guy, there is a very small Cub community out on the Left Coast. I sure wish I could just go to a Cub Bash, hang out, observe and look at someones Cub 22 mower.

Jim, the rod was connected to the stubby side of the rock shaft like in the pic below. I moved it up to the longer arm. That is the only thing I did. The chain on the right side is exactly as the manual pics show it should be. And all the pics on Google Images show that I hooked it up correctly also. Its just a chain and a bolt,... I no tractor mechanic, but I promise the chain was on correctly when I bought it. What I am not finding are pics taken from the left side of the tractor. TC equipped Cubs have an arm that looks different than mine does. Seems simple enough,....rod goes in the hole, cotter key it, done.

I changed to the other longer arm to reserve the direction and make it so the spring was helping me, rather the fighting against me. Of course, that sure didn't help things.

I'll get a pic Monday night.



Yes, I did a little art work. Couldn't find my exact rock shaft in the manual. But this is how it looks.

[Redcub]

More like this. I moved the rod from the lower stubby arm, to the longer upper arm of the Rockshaft on the LEFT side of the tractor. Not the right side. ( up by the fuel tank, just like in the pic here ). That's all I did, I swear it.
It changed the rod from a pulling action to a pushing motion/force, and thus I bent it.
Pics coming late Monday. I can't get to the Cub right now.

Thanks to all.

[tmays]

Yeah we will need pics of your setup. There should be only one arm on the left side of the rockshaft for the lift link to attach to.

Sounds like you may have a fast hitch rockshaft in the manual rockshaft brackets somehow or manual rockshaft has had some modification. Or is it possible that you have a hydraulic block that has been disconnected from rockshaft and being used manually? Yeah, pics of yours are needed

[tmays]

Glen you just taught me something new. I should be calling the long metal rod a "Lift Link" according to the IH parts manual, and not a Rock Shaft. My apologies to all. I bent the Lift Link everybody !! Glen I have all those parts, and illustration 13A is so vague, I couldn't tell if there was some other spring in that drawing that I am missing or not,.... that's the problem. As you know well from being a NW guy, there is a very small Cub community out on the Left Coast. I sure wish I could just go to a Cub Bash, hang out, observe and look at someones Cub 22 mower.

Jim, the rod was connected to the stubby side of the rock shaft like in the pic below. I moved it up to the longer arm. That is the only thing I did. The chain on the right side is exactly as the manual pics show it should be. And all the pics on Google Images show that I hooked it up correctly also. Its just a chain and a bolt,... I no tractor mechanic, but I promise the chain was on correctly when I bought it. What I am not finding are pics taken from the left side of the tractor. TC equipped Cubs have an arm that looks different than mine does. Seems simple enough,....rod goes in the hole, cotter key it, done.

I changed to the other longer arm to reserve the direction and make it so the spring was helping me, rather the fighting against me. Of course, that sure didn't help things.

I'll get a pic Monday night.



Yes, I did a little art work. Couldn't find my exact rock shaft in the manual. But this is how it looks.

Where did you get this pic? The part number is correct but that is not what the left side of a cub manual lift rockshaft looks like

[radioguy41]

Should look like this.



More photos of the correct manual lift with spring.

http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=79009

[Glen]

Hi,
The left arm on a front rockshaft assembly for a manual lift looks like the pic above, also in Jim B.'s first post above. You can see the rod from the Manual Control lever connected to the rockshaft arm.

Below is a page from the Cub 144 Cultivator owner's manual showing the rockshaft. The same rockshaft is used for different implements.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... age-37.jpg

The pic you posted on 10/4, at 11:44 pm is reversed, it is the right side of a Cub, the oil filter and oil gauge are there. The pic is reversed so it looks like the left side.

Look closely at your front rockshaft assembly and see if someone has welded more metal pieces on it, or changed it.

The rod between the Master Control lever and the front rockshaft arm should not bend lifting a Cub 22 mower.

[Redcub]

And I now know that the other big spring is for TC applications, not the MCL that I have, so that matter is closed.

Tmasy said: Where did you get this pic? The part number is correct but that is not what the left side of a cub manual lift rockshaft looks like

Tmays, like I said,...I did a little art work. I cant get to my Cub right now. It is locked up in a barn. I'll get a pic late Monday night Pacific time.

Radioguy41: Thanks for the pic, that's exactly what I was needing. Perfect!, thanks ever so much.

Glen, thanks for the link. Illustration 13A in the Cub 22 manual doesn't show that "rod to rock shaft" connection for the left side of the tractor at all. Tons of pics of the right side with the chain in there, but not the left. Not much to decide on when there is only one arm and one hole to use on the rock shaft. Pop the rod in, cotter key it, ready to go.

The pic you posted on 10/4, at 11:44 pm is reversed,

Yes, the pic I posted is reversed because I reversed it. That's what I trying to tell everyone. My rock shaft does not look like the one in the manual.


All,...
So it appears that the left side of my Rock Shaft looks different than what the rest of you have. This gives me the option of having the Lifting Link ( big rod ) push or pull, which is what I thought it was designed for. The problem is that when I lift the mower, I am fighting against the spring, rather than having it help me. By changing the rod hole I use I can make the rock shaft turn clockwise, or C-C/W as I desire, but apparently this rod is not meant for such an application because I bent the tar out of it.

Hang on guys, I'll get pics. Hold your horses ( all 9 of them ).

[tmays]

Well if the left side of your rockshaft looks like your artwork, then you won’t be pleased with the performance of your mcl as you’ve already discovered with the helper spring and wint be pleased with its performance without it, either. Too much force to overcome when lifting with lift rod hooked in rear hole and not enough upward lift if lift rod connected in forward hole, I’m thinking.

[Redcub]

Tmays, BINGO! you hit the nail right on the head there friend. I'd sure by you a big cup of coffee is historic Vicksburg if I 'm ever down there. I hear it's a beautiful place.

I wonder if it is possible I have a rod that is homemade and too small diameter (??) I'll mic it Monday. The one in the pic that Radioguy41 posted looks beefy.