So I got two of these Cub 1450s at an auction back in April, for a mere $105 out the door. One of them ran right on the trailer with just a bit of gas, so it's the first one to get the royal treatment - the honor of plowing my driveway this winter.
First up was cleaning it up a bit. They had definitely sat for a while and had a lot of that weird dirt on them.
Got it in and stripped some of the body panels off. Hydro pump was covered in gunk, so took it out for a pressure wash again. Plan is to get the engine serviced and the trans looked at as it drives kinda funny.
After getting the fenders off and the pump cleaned off, I could see what is probably the problem. See, on these hydros, theres a ton of linkages and stuff that control the pump. You have 2 different plates, forward/ rev control and damper plate, and a trunnion, the part that holds those springs, which smooths out control. Its a common problem on these that those trunnion plates wear out.
Luckily theres a ton of info on how to fix/ repair these, so thats coming up. The damper plate, or bowtie plate, that controls those springs is shot too, so thatll need replaced at some point.
So far, everything has been smooth. Headlights work but need new bulbs, hydraulic lift works good. New rear gasket will be here Tuesday so I can clean out the rear. Ordered new points, but somebody has gone through this one as it runs smooth (carb bowl had no gunk in it at all), has a new starter on it, looks like newer coil, so probably wont need to install them.
If you do update the headlights, looks like you have PAR36... the LED are very nice! Good finds for that price @Doug!
Yeah, theyre PAR36. Not sure if im going to get incads (Lowes has 36w for about $10 each) or order a pair of LEDs for $35. I would like to mount a spotlight on the rear and maybe some auxiliary lights on the lower grill through the mesh.
Definitely got these for a steal. Just wish I had gone for the lot that had the attachments for these.
Got the trunnion somewhat patched. Used some 3/16 keystock to fix up the sides and keep the springs from walking. The front to back was still out of spec, about .024, but didnt bother fixing since the damper is worn out.
Got the fenders and seat back on. Tried it out a little, controls soooooooooo much better. No more jerky movement, no more half forward and then randomly going into full forward.
Also got a new H10C plug, wanted an NGK but nobody had one and didnt want to order one. Thing purrs like a kitten and vibrates like a plate compactor. Once my rear parts come in I'll change the engine oil and stuff.
I put some Autolite XST458DP Xtreme Start Iridium Lawn & Garden Spark Plugs in Li'l Red and it made a world of difference in its performance. Looking good on those fixes. Hydro's are something I just don't know anything about. I've stayed away from hydro's, and the one I do have is planned to be removed in the future.
PROJECTS: Marshal ........................93 Craftsman GT6000 Red Bandit ...................72 Wheel Horse Raider 12 Dirty Rat........................77 Sears Suburban Bowser...........................01 Murray Widebody LT The Green Machine ....1990 Craftsman II GT18 Other projects
Nice score that's a beauty, should make for a good workhorse! I like your fix using keystock, good idea!
The nice thing about the vintage cubs, is that theres a ton of info on them. Theres a whole website dedicated to just FAQ (http://cubfaq.com/questions.html). So anything that might be messed up pretty much has a solid answer, which is where I got the keystock idea. Theres actually a spec for that hole in the trunnion so I could technically cut the whole thing out and remake it. For now this seemed like a good semi permanent fix.
I havent gotten anything done since the repair. Got sick right after and am only feeling better now. The new rear gasket came in, so hopefully I can possibly dip into work this weekend and get it done and outta there. I get new Kenway LED lights for the rear, and ill add on a spotlight somewhere too, and I also got some LED PAR36 bulbs on the way.
So nothing happened with this thing for the past 5 weeks while I was off. Finally got back to it today, didn't get a whole lot done but figured I would just slowly chip at it.
First thing was to do the headlights. Ordered some PAR36 LEDs off Amazon that seemed decent. Got them in and had some troubles with them, first they were too dim. Then smacking various spots would get them to brighten up. Traced it around, here the ground goes to a bolt that holds the hinge to the hood nose and the ring was not only loose but the bolt was heavily corroded. Pretty sure the nose piece is cast aluminum, going thru a steel hinge, into a cast aluminum grille, into a steel body... anyways it was crap. So I rigged up a jumper to go from that bolt to the engine. I reused a clamp to keep the wire away from the muffler shroud. Once I did that, brightened right up but still flickered. Fiddling with the switch found that to be the culprit, so I will have to deal with that at some point.
While I was working on that I got the oil drained. Refilled with exactly 1.5qts of straight 30 non-detergent, exactly what was specified. the K321 should be happy now. Also installed a new gas cap with level viewer. Nothing fancy, but at least no worries about splashes.
While working under the hood, I noticed a possible cause of the terrible vibration; one of the mounts for the muffler broke off the aluminum plate that separates the engine from the muffler. Gonna have to look into that.
Once I had the lights sorted, I mocked up the Allis B10 plow. Looks like it'll be possible to mount onto the front clips as it slides right into the middle snugly. And while I am no geometry wizard, I don't think it'll work at that angle and I may have to scout for an actual cub plow or make the undercarriage to make it work.
All I got done for today. Tomorrow I might try to get the rear fluid changed and possibly get the rear tail lights mounted. I have a ton of LED flood lights, just not sure how I will mount one just yet.
Subject: 
December 19th 2021, 3:58 am
