Cub driven generator

[Lt.Mike]

Awhile back a fellow posted pics of his yellow cub mowing which was his main reason of the topic but what was glaringly obvious was a home but well built generator mounted on the tractor. It was on the right of the seat, driven by the PTO mower pulley and looked like it belonged there.
Never forgot about it figuring ”some day”...
I’ve got to say it’s not like I don’t have enough to keep me busy as there’s a lot i have to do but here is something i want to do and now I’m getting the itch to try my hand at replicating it.
I found a generator with a dead motor selling cheap and figure with the right sized pulley mounted I could get it to work.
Planning in the head is always the first part but my second is to bring it up here to see if anyone has done this, or with all the collective wisdom at tap I might benefit by it.
What do you think?
Mike

[sequoyah]

Hi Lt.Mike,

A little late, but I just ran across your post. I have not built a pto generator but I've also considered it as well. Not too long ago I picked up a Northstar 2600W belt-driven generator head on craigslist. I was thinking I may work up a mount to put it on the cub for light use now and then.

One potential problem with converting a typical old generator is that most of them have single bearing generator heads that are directly coupled to the engine with a tapered shaft. To convert to a belt-driven type head you would have to add a bearing and support for this end of the generator head. If you google 'single bearing generator head conversion' you will find examples. Although not impossible, it may be more work than you are willing to invest in the conversion. It wasn't something I wanted to tackle--after looking for belt-driven generator heads I lucked out and found one on craigslist for a reasonable price.

The generator head should run ~3600 rpm to give you a 60Hz frequency--so keep that in mind in choosing pulleys for the cub pto and the generator head. You also would need about 2hp for every 1kw of generator power.

There was a previous posting regarding a pto generator head here with some good information:

http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewto ... or+drawbar

Good luck!

[Eugene]

If the engine on the generator set was a B&S, I would purchase one of their clones from Harbor Freight if it will match up. You need to match up the current motor's HP, perhaps a bit over match, with the Harbor Freight advertised engines.

Have purchased and used one of the clones for several years. Works good. Was considerably less than the cost of repairing the original engine.

[Lt.Mike]

Belt driven is probably the easiest for me to try.
I have an old Coleman job site generator which I could hang on a receiver mounted carrier but what fun is that?
I have lots of other projects taking priority but I’d really like to replicate the Cub mounted/powered generator the other fellow had. He posted only a few times with a couple of teaser pics showing it cleanly mounted but no details to copy.

[Lee_Petrie]

The real way to go with a generator , is a " 4-poll " unit , the output of the desired AC Volts @ 1600 RPMS ! I made a carrier device on my FH draw bar , and the " Leland" ( brand name ) puts out about 20 amps , with very little V belt correction ! I would post a picture , but I haven't figured out how to 3 rd party post , since I dropped Photo Bucket with their $400. price tag PER YEAR !
Lee Petrie , Joliet, IL

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

When finding a head make sure you have one that is designed for use with a belt pulley. Ones that were originally bolted directly to an engine usually do not have bearings in the shaft end. If the generator is going to be occasionally on the cub the mower pulley will be the way to go, but you will need a way to tension the belt. If it will be there permanently, a chain drive to eliminate belt slippage would be best. Either way you need to make sure the governor and governor linkage are all in good shape to eliminate rpm changing when the load changes. Cubs are not noted for having precision governors.

[Lt.Mike]

The gen can probably be mounted so it can be shifted or raised slightly to take up slack in the belt. I’d shy away from a chain as if a belt slips it’s preventing harm up the line.
Learned that with hot rods. If you don’t break traction there’s a good chance you’ll break something else. It’s a balancing act.