Cub Cadet Collectors dot com

Sickle bar... Joe make sure you snap a picture of that beast!
And yes I clean the surface of the deck off after every mow. All that grass accumulates during the mow.

I’ll try to remember, I did mow after work last night.... The first tractor was a 149 that is here for repair. I mowed for about 20 minutes and it started sputtering, it has some sort of carb issue and won’t run past 1/2 throttle. Onto the 1882, it’s always been hard Starting cold, I think the head gaskets both have gone bad. Sounds like a winter project. Onto the 1863 I picked up in late June, I mowed with it once, last night it made one pass and died, no restart. Next in line was the 1606 and it worker perfectly! It was getting dark, but it ran great for 45 minutes! I guess I’ll need to spend a day fixing dead cubs!

I've been so busy since spring that I kept putting off looking at this thread. Finally went through it all this morning, sorry I was absent! Although dag didn't get any of the faces he wanted to go with the names, it was entertaining! Best quote from two pages worth:

Klapatta wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 10:18 am

Hey. What is this green crap shooting out of the auger of my ground engagement thrower

"...auger of my ground engagement thrower"... I'm going to be chuckling at that one all day!

Missed this entire thread but just finished cutting the grass here.

Ok Steve...no excuses this year on this thread! Now you know it's here. I know Ny is a little behind the good states but... well that not your fault. I would guess I'm about week or two from kicking off the 2021 season. Wish me luck.

Well the blower is waiting to be removed but that's only because I am putting the deck back together and they won't both fit on the bench. I'm hoping there will be enough grass by the middle of next week or so, it hasn't been warm enough to really get it growing yet.
Am also going to try out the 54" deck under the GT this year, not sure just how that is going to work, it doesn't look that different than the 317 48" deck, until you have them next to each other! The Amish neighbor had their "riding" mower out today. Actually looks like fun but I'd have a sore neck. They use one of the draft horses attached to a forcart that is pulling a 60" swisher. Makes for a long mowing machine. They tried to cut the ditch across the road but the poor horse kept sinking in deep.

Ok. So we mowed for the first time this afternoon. I had what looked like 3/4 of a tank of old gas in the 1872...so I thought I'm probably not mowing the whole yard So I should be fine. Well after about half of the yard wouldn't you know I run out of gas. I think it's the first time ever. Lol. I was kinda embarrassed.. that's right when I was like oh..I need a picture of the first time running out of gas...and the mow. Hey..Anyone else have this purple flower grass weed in the yard? It's starting to take over..I bet I have an acre of this stuff. I'm gonna have to do something. It'sCrazy!

And at your age it I hope you had your cell phone to call for help.......that’s a long walk for gas.

Well got everything ready and this happens....

Tractor in storage all Winter. Ran it out of gas before putting it away. Saturday I pour in some fresh non ethanol and mount in a fully charged battery. The thing started right up and ran good. Sunday I go out to mount the deck. Turn key, nothing. Battery at 4 volts. An overnight cold snap killed it. It was over five years old. So that's that.
Anyway, mounted the deck and took a couple of test passes over the leach field. Looks now like I'm good to go.

Not exactly the first mowing but..... Just when you think everything is going ok.
Luckily I still have some spare parts/pieces.

Mike..with that coil mounted where you have it...your front drivers side tire will rub when you turn hard. You should probably move it up out of harm's way. oh...I liked how you got out of your thank you by sayin you saw derricks video earlier. Good one.

Actually it’s ok there because I can’t push and steer at the same time.
The good thing is that I knew right away, when it dropped the power wire got pulled into the grass screen and then lopped off.

So I started the 1872 for the first time this past Thursday and mowed a few high spots. This week I will need to get after the whole 9 yards here. While I was changing a few of the cars oil today I figured I better do this one too. So much for a factory cub cadet oil change. Yes that's John Deere yellow....and man does it look horrible next to our beloved cub yellow. Oh..and I thought I would pass along my newspaper funnel trick. There's no dropping the 60 inch mower for an oil change....so years ago I figured out a way to do it with ultimate cleanliness. Lol.

Dave, I just did an oil change too!
Big Mike, I'd move the coil too.
I just put some really long wires on mine and that way I can tuck it in my shirt pocket.
No vibrations anymore, but things get interesting when it starts to rain! I can count every revolution!

There's a new toy in town this year. This should be a game changer for spring cleanup. Sticks, branches, piles of dirt, whatever is in my way! Probably do an oil change this weekend too. I'm getting close. My neighbors are probably talking about me at their dinner tables. "When is dag gonna mow his fields". "We wish that real clean guy Scott Tom lived next to us".

I've been among the lame with posting anything useful lately, so here's me trying to do better!  I've not been good about participating in dag's "first mow" pic fest, so I'll get in the game here...

Not first mow yet, but I was heavy into cleaning the yard this past week.  Unfortunately, "loaders" generally aren't.  Not much jumps into a loader bucket on their own.  It's a great "unloader", but loading is done with a rake pulling the stuff onto a snow shovel.


And dag, good luck, but I think collecting sticks with a mower deck is folly!  I hand pick most of the yard, anything larger than a golf pencil, but this area was so pine cone heavy I had to rake.  And once the rake comes out you get more than you wanted!  Lol

Oh man Tom, Get one of those vacuum boots like I got.....it will work wonders on those pinecones! You don't need the whole system! I just have the boot and a short length of hose. $20 bucks at a yard sale . I will drive around with the loose open end under my arm aiming it out to my side. I haven't figured out if I will aim it right or left. I guess it depends on if I want to steer or move forward.

Tom Scott wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:15 pm

I've been among the lame with posting anything useful lately, so here's me trying to do better!  I've not been good about participating in dag's "first mow" pic fest, so I'll get in the game here...

Not first mow yet, but I was heavy into cleaning the yard this past week.  Unfortunately, "loaders" generally aren't.  Not much jumps into a loader bucket on their own.  It's a great "unloader", but loading is done with a rake pulling the stuff onto a snow shovel.

2182 Loader doing spring clean-up.jpg

And dag, good luck, but I think collecting sticks with a mower deck is folly!  I hand pick most of the yard, anything larger than a golf pencil, but this area was so pine cone heavy I had to rake.  And once the rake comes out you get more than you wanted!  Lol

Guess I'll take a pic of my 4th mow... 
 

dag1450 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 10, 2024 6:44 pm

There's a new toy in town this year. This should be a game changer for spring cleanup. Sticks, branches, piles of dirt, whatever is in my way! Probably do an oil change this weekend too. I'm getting close. My neighbors are probably talking about me at their dinner tables. "When is dag gonna mow his fields". "We wish that real clean guy Scott Tom lived next to us".IMG_20240410_191105361.jpgIMG_20240410_192354469.jpgIMG_20240410_192636026.jpg

Like a dumbass, I forgot to change my oil before I put the deck back on... So I took it all off, changed the oil,and set out replacing the deck. I was making the last slide of the deck into position and strained a tendon in my forearm!

Oh man Dave.... that sucks! Were you able to finish hooking it up? How are you feeling now? I hate messing with mower decks. Especially the 60 inch. I'd almost rather pull the motor out..... honestly. Hopefully your all better now!

Got the vacuum hooked up. It works ok.....It doesn't help that my mower deck has about zero lift. I would say it grabbed 60 percent of the bean pods I was aiming for. I only used it in in one section of my yard and filled one can. I will probably do a different section each week for a few weeks. These bean pods do chip up but takes a few cuts. The real reason I hooked this thing up was I got it from my father. My parents moved to a maintenance free community. I sold his tractor....and will probably do the same with this, and the thatcher, and the snowblower, and furniture, and the basement full of stuff.

I had the 128 with it's 38 mower deck stored under our deck for seven months. Of course it had been covered and the whole machine was sprayed down with WD40 prior to covering it up. Also, it had been run out of gas and the tank had been emptied.
I hooked the gas lines, filled with fresh gas, slapped a good battery in and turned the key. It started on the third crank. So I'm looking good to go for first cut with that one.
I drove the 126 into the very same storage spot. Ran it out of gas and sprayed it down with WD. Oh, I oiled the thrower drive chain too. And took the battery out.The crankcase oil was really clean. It had been used only two times this last season. Fitted the cover on nicely. So that one can reside there until September.
I'm expecting the first cut in about two weeks or so.

Sounds like a good plan Ken. I like the WD idea, we have some at work so I set out four cans to take home. Maybe instead of spraying....I will make a dunk tank. Might need a few more gallons....not a problem!

Here is my official first mow pic. FYI, I'm already cool on the trac vac. Too much on and off the seat, then I have a super heavy can to do something with. I'm just chopping up the bean things.

Got ole Ray Charles out and almost ready for the season.

Mike.... I'm sure you know it would be a lot safer driving home from the bar....IF YOU HAD HEADLIGHTS!

If I was a lawyer I wouldn’t be driving a Cub Cadet.

BM, it's not missing the headlights, that's the rare high-performance extra cooling ducts option!  I remember some muscle car from the 60s that replaced the two inboard sealed beams with cooling ducts, can't remember which one.