Cub Cadet Collectors dot com

Just wanted to say hi, already downloaded manuals so grateful. Brought my new old CubCadet 125 this morning. Already have a new bandage,tried to spin flywheel with hand caught middle finger. Pretty rough but all there 125. Spent an beautiful Oregon sunny day cleaning every contact I could find. Pretty new to fixing garden tractors. Almost had it going after draining old gas ,cleaning glass bowl.Would fire with some starting fluid, now the carb is soaking. Tomorrow looks promising. Glad to find this club. I'll post a photo tomorrow when it gets light again.

Welcome. Sounds like fun. Yeah post some pictures of this project.

Welcome Kevin, from Eastern Canada!

Some years back, I wanted a 2nd tractor so that both my wife and I could mow at the same time and cut back on mowing time. That tractor was a 'running' 125. A few winters after acquiring it, I felt it was time to give it a decent overhaul, even though I am not a mechanic. I've been suffering from Yellow & White fever since then...

My wife never did get on either tractor to cut grass...!

Cheers,

125's a great machine ! been restoring one with optional hyd lift for about the past 4 years, no problem but keeps getting pushed to the back burner ! good luck with the project and looking forward to some pics !

Thanks for the greetings. Got it started today. I've never considered myself a motor mechanic but have allways wanted to learn more. Have a few old lawn tractors that Ive managed to repair and use. But this is different, when finally turned over and stayed running I really got excited, what a great sounding tractor. To get it going I pulled the tank,even though it is dirty/rusty on the outside the inside looked good and clean. Pulled the carb off and let it soak all night,blew it out and reused all the gaskets since i didn't have new ones (will get some along with a new air filter asap) any suggestions on where to get these parts? The tractor was an older couples property that they sold along with the 3 acres homestead bought by a young couple. Thats how I got it. It has been sitting since atleast last year, really doesn't look like it has run much in a number of years, but was used a bit at one time,kind of grungy and dirty (looks like a squirrel spent the last few winters underneath) moved under power but have not checked trans fluid yet so only went a couple feet forward and back, by the way how do you get the plug out to check the fluid. Where can I find the IH transmission fluid?Not much room, is there a special square wrench? Hope these pictures post. Looks like a bunch of work but I'm hoping to put it to work this summer...!!

Nice looking rig! 3pt tiller Gear box!
Deck is needed then the tractor looks to be a 44a.
I’m a eBay guy and just find the best price shipped on oem Kohler parts. Not a fan of aftermarket carb kits or points.
Rear cover plug is just a 3/8 drive socket extension. I use unaversal tractor hydro fluid from tsc. Any cub Cadet, case, ih, Ford, new Holland, or fiat dealer should be able to get you hytran if they don’t have it in stock. You will need a new gasket for the rear cover. ( The only way to drain the oil is to remove the rear cover.) this is the same gasket as used on a Farmall cub. This should make that parts search easier and cheaper!

Typo fix of "creeper" to "cheaper" by another, and more careful mod...

Just a thought if it's been sitting awhile you may want to pull some of the engine shroud tin off while your working on it to be sure no rodent nests are blocking the air flow around the engine cooling fins !

I have a few questions for everybody. (Mowed my dad's front small field, alot of fun running this tractor. I really see why all the love for these machines. Could not believe the size of all the gears in the rear end when I changed the oil) I started to clean the tiller up, very greasy dirt, must have lost most of the grease over the years. I searched this topic and see mention of one solution by drilling holes to add lube,but I would really like to open it up so I can check for wear. Has anyone done that? Is the gasket available, I can't seem to find any info on the normal parts place sites . What type of grease?
This probably a really dumb question but the carriage bolts holding the tiller tine covers are all rusted pretty bad. I could clean them up a bit on my grinder wire wheel but if I paint it all I think new bolts would be nice. Are all bolts the same for something like this or should I upgrade to something like stainless steel. Is that foolish or overkill? Any advice. I have been making it a habit as I clean and fix to clean(wire wheel and clean/tap the threads on any nuts and bolts I remove)
Another area of any advice about cleaning the various parts. I used my power washer on part of the tractor, keeping it away(as best as I could) from electrical/carb ect, but I was not sure about The tiller. It almost seems like considering The age and condition power washing might get water inside? How do you guys get grease and grime off parts, solvents or hot soapy water based stuff or wd40.
The round wire cover on the engine side of the drive shaft is loose, can I ignore that for awhile or is it something to fix asap. It rattles but just seems to free spin, how does it normally attach.
I noticed that some of the older models have the half moon spring mount for the seat and others have the same wide seat with a spring under the seat,mine is springless. I was wondering if anyone has retrofit some kind of "dampener" to give it a bit of cushion?

Thanks in advance for any advice/input.

Klarson