Bought my first Original
 

WOW! Did I buy a project! This Original is a 62 and is a barn find. It has been sitting in the barn for the last 7 years. It has surface rust through out. The previous owner said it ran when they stored it. The throttle cable and choke cable are frozen and need to be replaced. The carb is a mess. I have taken it off and it is soaking to remove the varnish and free up the valves. I have taken off the head and discovered that an overhaul is in order. It did come with a deck but the sheet metal is shot. The good side is all the parts are there. The deck is easy to rebuild because of the square design so I may rebuild the deck. It needs new tires and possibly rims and the seat is fractured as well.

I paid $225 for the cub. It had wheel weights so I sold them to my son for $100. I have $125.00 invested so now what to do. Do I restore it to original condition or modify it? What is the value after a factory restoration?

Here are my thoughts. Since I have to buy rims and rubber, why not put on a pair of 23 x 10.5 x 12 ag tires and put on a wider ribbed tire on the front. I'm also thinking of an exhaust stack and painting it IH red. The thought of a tricycle front end has crossed my mind. I want to put on a comfortable high backed seat as well.

My thoughts may be committing blasphemy to some but what are your thoughts and ideas? I'm wanting to do something different but at the same time do it right.

I won't speak to its value after restoration but I will say if you do it right it will never be worth what you have in it. I like the wider rear tire idea but I would leave the skinnys on the front, the wider tires will be harder to steer and the skinnys look better in my opinion. If you want to use a seat with a back on itget one with a low back, I've always thought the high back set looked funny on the older tractors.

Should keep you busy for a few days. :beerchug:

It has a couple of the brackets for the rear lift already. I like the looks of current rear tires, but, one size larger would likely look good also.

Nice find, are you sure about the year? I think I see telltale signs of an early '61...:bigthink:

hears what I started out with

Looks like it is gonna be fun!!! You have more than I got with mine.. I dropped 23's on mine, I like them,, I just like bigger tires.. I like your idea.. I am not really a fan of the trike look.. But the red looks goon on it.. keep the picks commin..

Yeah looks early. No slotted dash. They made a back rest for the pan seat if you wanted high back. Any other seat than a pan on an O just doesn't look good to me. Muffler looks correct but missing the 90. Go original with it but maybe go with some tri ribs up front. The ags on the back are cool already. Post your serial if you can, located on right side reduction housing.

I don't think I've seen a tricycle O before which is a neat idea but let's see your serial first

Great find on the "O".

Hard to tell but are those locking collars on the front spindles?

Air cleaner and/or carb are not original to the tractor.

I agree with the guys, it's extremely difficult to get your money back out of a restoration. Since the "O's" came with 7/8" spindles on the front and bushings and grease zirks in the wheels, I believe it would be troublesome to put wide wheels on the front.

Check your serial number... It looks early to me. If it is, and you have your heart set on a modify, please sell that one to someone who will restore it properly, and pick yourself up a later Original, there aren't all that many early "O's" left.

This is a February of 62 original. I know the serial number is 26xxx. The x's are the numbers I don't remember.

I worked on it most of the day and found that the governor arm and carburetor linkage has been jury rigged and parts missing. Oh how this frustrates me!!! :angry: Fortunately my son has a cub cadet 72 he keeps in my garage so I was able to use his as a guide to bring the O back to the way Kohler had intended it to be. Yes the oil bath air cleaner is gone and I am saddened by this but one day I will find one.

My goal for tomorrow is to get the engine running. I thought that the engine was in a dire need of an overhaul but now I'm having 2nd thoughts. The piston is a little loose so I'm going to run it to see if it smokes any. This will also give me the opportunity to check out the driveline.

It's kind of strange but I don't think the rear ag tires are the right size for the rims. They don't fit on the rims properly and when you turn the wheels the tires have run out. I think the front tires are original but the rims are so rusted from sitting that the flange that was nearest the ground has rusted away. Anyway the front and rear rubber is so dry rotted I'm really surprised they haven't fallen apart.

Thank you for the advice. I think I will keep the narrow front rim but go with the tri ribbed tires. I think I'll go with the wider ag tires for the rear though. I'm not going to do the tricycle front end either.

I'm never going to do any mowing with this machine and I will probably strip the parts off of the deck. Opinions?

What about the exhaust? Stack or stock? To me if it's painted IH red then a stack, Cub yellow stock. Opinions?

I'm thinking about buying a set of after market fenders for it as well.

I will keep everyone who is interested updated and will be taking plenty of photos.

Umm, Wow!!!

I'm not going to do a hack job to it. Anything custom I do will be bolt on. As far as the locking collars on the front wheels, I don't know. I know that there is plenty of wear because I can make the front wheels move side ways when I shake the O. I'll take a closer look tomorrow.

To my eyes, it looks like it has the collared spindles.
Looks to be in decent shape. Not all butchered up for sure.....
THE ORIGINALS look their best "original":bigthink::TwoCents:
Your tractor, your money......
By the way, congrats on the O:beerchug:

Well I got the O to run. The carb required a good soaking in carburetor cleaner and a kit. The ignition needed to be cleaned from the points all the way through the coil, condenser, and then to the spark plug. (photo) I had to clean the crud out of the gas tank because of rust and who knows what was in it. After doing all of the above it was time to try and start it.

The engine may have cranked twice and it fired! There must have been mud dauber nests galore under the cowling because mud a debris of all kinds were flying out everywhere! The muffler must have rusted too much over time because it flew apart as well. I have nicknamed the O "Smoker." Yes she is a smoker! Considering it sitting in a barn for the last 7 or 8 years it runs pretty well! I'll have to clean the mud out of the cooling fins, I bet they're full!

Next is to take a good look at the driveline. There is a bad bearing that I can hear and the clutch doesn't fully disengage but other than that the O is now alive!

Good to see it's running.....:beerchug: and moving under it's own power is a step in the right direction.

This is what it is today

Great to see it together!

I have decided to restore the O to it's factory glory!

The only exception will be Ag tires on the rear and tri ribs on the front.

That is great! I got my "woods fresh" (meaning it had sat untouched in the woods for years) O running about 4-5 yrs ago. It smoked then and does now, and is the most reliable Cub in the fleet!

Oil is cheap! Yours is better looking than mine is, but it's not changed much from it's "woods" appearance. By the way , I went from fattish tires to tall skinnys and it was like putting power steering on the O.

Congrats!

I have decided to go with the skinny ag tires as well.

My biggest challenge right now is finding an oil bath air filter for it.

Everything else is coming together.