I would stick with sae 30 in the summer and 10w30 in the winter, that's what's recommend. Don't run synthetic.

So I really don't want to bore you guys on here. If I have a new question, I'm not sure if I should post it to my existing thread or start a new one. I'm sure someone can advise me here. I took my 123 for ride today, just for fun. It fired right up at idle. First time I've run it in a while. I think I should be happy about that. When I shut it down, I heard th sounds of fluids (oil) running down in the engine to the pan and thought about splash lubrication. In the 80's when I put myself through college cutting lawns with a Toro with a B&S with splash lube, my dad would always say to be very careful about going in the same direction while on a grade for too long. I'd see the competition get dropped off at other lawns near mine with lawnboys and just go crazy running with those things. Then I got a newer self propelled Toro with a Tecumseh engine. They and B&S always seemed to compete to supply motors to the lawmower companies. The Tecumseh was pump lubricated which I learned early on about as the fill cap would unscrew itself occasionally covering everyone nearby with a gentle shower of oil. So I'm thinking splash is really quite good isn't it? Is there a reason why less than full on the dipstick is better than full? Thanks everyone!!

Hello! Congrats on a very nice looking model 123! I agree, as long as your happy with what you paid for it, then that's all that matters! A lot of good members spend that kind of money into fixing up a banged-out IH Cub Cadet on top of paying $200 for the carcass! I like the fact that your 123 has a very nice seat too! I have the model 125, which is almost identical to your garden tractor!

I run only Cub Cadet or Kohler brand engine oils in my collection. Hytran Ultra for the transmission, along with a cub cadet filter. Being a single cylinder splash lube engine, I always keep my engine oil level slightly above the full mark on the engine oil dip stick. Given the bad rep on some of the 82 Series twin cylinder engines, I'd take this 123 over that headache any day, lol! I don't recall any past experience with any of my collection related to the oil drainage sound I'm trying to interpret from your last post above.

However, I know that your 123 will start just as easy as a new car in the dead of winter if the tractor is correctly in time, and has the carburetor correctly adjusted, along with a good starting circuit!

Thanks for the pictures!!