My 123 project
 

Hi all, I'm back!

Got my head sanded flat with the glass trick, got the head back on with a new gasket.

I currently have the breather off to check the valve clearances and the carb is off for rebuilding.

I ended up putting a new bushing on the carb shaft as it was very loose and part of the problem the head gasket went. The other reason the head gasket went is likely because the head and cylinder fins were super clogged with dirt. Cleaned all that out.

I went on a shopping spree with westfall and ordered a bunch of stuff. :beerchug: One of the parts I ordered that my 123 did not have was a carb spacer. Couple of questions about that. Should I use a carb spacer, is there an advantage or disadvantage to using it? If I use it do I need any base carb gaskets or is it the only gasket you need?

I'm Pretty sure I am going to get some AG bar rear tires and weights for traction going up my levy for mowing and pulling a trailer to haul stuff up to the third floor of my house (as opposed to carrying it up through multiple stair wells). My rear tires are firestones and are in serviceable condition. I also still need to get it running and get the mower deck on it, and fix a bunch of small things, including adding lights. Which brings me to the front tires. You can see the tubes coming through them! :bigeyes: This works fine for pushing it around my garage while I work on it, but it needs new front tires ASAP. No experience here other than having turfs on the front of my craftsman mower. I don't find the steering particularly difficult. I do find on my craftsman mower sometimes when I'm turning sharp (it turns MUCH sharper than the cub, tires practically go sideways) and I go into a little depression or over a bump, the front end kinda binds? This may be a non issue on the cub, as it doesn't turn anywhere near as sharp, but my lawn is fairly bumpy and if there is a certain tire that causes this I want to stay away. Id there any kind of front tire I should be looking for? mostly going to be mowing, towing a trailer, and maybe moving dirt with tiller and rear blade? Not sure what else I can find a use for the tractor for... I don't have a farm...

Check out morrow tire out of slater, MO. Pretty nice guy to do business with. These are the tri rib 4.00x8 I put on my 126. I liked them so much I got a set for my 124 and 102, it's like having power steering. They are the only ones I have seen that the middle rib is higher like on big tractors.

After three days of trying and adjusting, I finally got it to start reliably! PO put a no name spark plug in it and it wasn't always sparking! I'm so happy with this 123, its a hundred times better than my craftsman YT3000! The rear tires are not agressive, and it goes right up the levy, even with the trailer behind it loaded with groceries and my kid!

We rode around on it all day, it was so much fun! Wife and kid ride in my agrifab 4 wheel trailer...

Any ideas on lights for it other than a super expsenive set of stock ones? I drive it a night at least once a week...

Also, the front PTO clutch, if I grab it, it wiggles in the pulley basket... is this normal or is it worn out? I need to get this sorted out before my mower deck gets here.

I'm so happy with this tractor! My neighbor has a JD X595 or something, three cylinder diesel. We raced and his takes off faster (cuz mine spins the tires, his is 4wd) but mine has a slightly higher top speed, and I slowly caught up to him and passed him! :beerchug:

Glad you are enjoying your 123. Top speed has always been a International Harvester thing, even an old Farmall M was pretty fast for an old tractor.

Just got my wheels back from the powder coater, can't wait to get the new tires on!

Mower deck was shipped friday as well with a mule drive, so that should hopefully be here next week!

I'll try to upload some pics! :biggrin2:

Top speed on a 1967 cub cadet 12hp 123.....8.5 mph

Top speed on my 2008 cub cadet commercial zero turn......8.5 mph

Never change a winning strategy!

Glad you are enjoying that 123. One of the finest cubs IH made. My favorite for many reasons, but mostly because the lack of fiberglass and plastic, if you change out the original seat that is....

Cub Cadet 123

Speaking of the seat! Mine is in ok shape, but is just fiber glass, no cushion, no cover. Any recommendations for a replacement seat that is more comfortable? I didn't realize how nice the one is on my craftsman mower, until I drove the 123 around a bit! One sore booty!

Also, any info on what size tire valve stem the rear wheels take would be great! I prefer a metal one over rubber, I find the rubber ones get old and leak before the tires wear out...

Keep up the good work on your 123!

Just finished mounting the rear tires today, not rounded or bulgy at all. I went with the 10.5 wide tire on the 8 inch wide rim. Carlisle tru powers...

Where did you come up with this thought? :bash2:

Personal experience working at a car shop... The rubber valve stems dry crack and leak be fore the tires wear out on low mileage vehicles...

If we don't get to see pictures, it didn't happen.

I know, I'm really bad about that. I did the front tires today, wish I went a little wider than 6.5. Waiting on wheel bearings to come in, then pics!

I don't currently have a belt on my front pto, should I leave it engaged all the time? It rattles when engaged, does this mean it needs rebuild or just a symptom of no belt? Should I dis engage it when no belt is on it?

I engage mine when I think of doing so. The bearing doesn't have to spin when engaged

I try to leave mine engaged when there is no belt, that way the bearing doesn't have to work.

I also leave them engaged if they are going to set very long before being used again.

It may be rattling because there are no anti-rattle clips in it.

Thank you for confirming, engaged is lever forward not pressing, just like a car clutch right?

Yes it is:beerchug:

My front wheel bearings came in today, might get some before and after pics this weekend weather permitting!

Got the wheels installed, and replace the left front spindle. It was very loose. Steering is much tighter now. The tractor turns WAY shaper one way and barely at all the other way. I guess will be learning how to tighten up the steering box and adjust the center position on it next weekend. Sorry it got dark before I was done so no pics until next weekend...

"Sorry it got dark before I was done so no pics until next weekend.."
Flash works for that...:biggrin2:

I believe they turned tighter to the left, so you could more easily mow close to obstacles.

To make it steer the same, left and right... Take the drag link tie rod end loose from the left spindle. Turn the steering wheel all the way one way, then the other, then center it. Point the tires directly forward, then adjust the tie rod ends so the tie rod end will go back into it's hole without moving the steering wheel or the direction of the tires.

If the steering gear is very loose, it's probably a good time to rebuild it.

123 towed my trailer FULL of this weeks groceries, including water (our well tastes funky), right up the levy no problem last night!

I REALLY want to get a rear blade or box blade or something to move dirt with. I have a #1 tiller and gear box. Any reason to get a sleeve hitch or 3 point from those xtreme motor works guys?

Super clueless here... Don't want to lose the ability to use my tiller... but I'm getting more dirt and want to pull it around myself, the neighbor charges me to do it with his john deer. It is pretty soft dirt...

It is my understanding the hitch on the back of my 123 is specific to cub cadets, and box blades are impossible to find for these... I guess I need to know if I would be better off with a sleeve adapter or a cat 0 3 point? and which is easier to use or remove so I can use my tiller?

I make an extended heavy duty sleeve hitch adapter that straddles the tiller mount.

click for bigger pic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...h_DCP_6150.jpg

That way you can keep the tiller mount on and use the sleeve hitch adapter any time you want without removing it. I highly suggest getting my extended lift pin to keep the lift straps straighter. In the picture is a regular length lift pin I used for the picture and it would be back too far if mounted correctly.

Jeff

Are you the same Jeff I'm emailing about driveshaft parts?

I was actually leaning towards cat 0 3 point because I read the sleeve hitches are more flimsy than the cat 0...

But I know almost nothing about these things... And yours looks thicker than other sleeve hitches I've seen pictures of. The gear box is currently on my 123. I don't even know if enough of the tiller is there to work, I certainly do not have a tiller mule drive, only the mower one... I should get some pics of it and see what you guys think...

Yes, that's me :beerchug:

I've been building these ( my own design ) for over three years and haven't heard of a single one bending yet.

You can use the mule drive off the mower deck to run the belt to the tiller mount.

Finally some pictures!
This shows the sand blasted and powder coated wheels, also pulling my agri-fab articulated dump trailer! These are like $800 new, and not worth it, totally worth the $150 I paid though!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1655/...94dc54bc_z.jpg

This picture shows the new seat I got from Cub Cadet Specialities, very helpful guy, highly recommend! Also shows the used mower deck and lift, they both need quite a bit of work, but as you can see from the picture, they mowed my hill just fine. I'm very pleased with this little tractor, much better than my craftsman. I was even able to mow the steep parts that I used to have to do with my push mower!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1667/...d9064208_z.jpg

The mower works ok for now, but I will be buying a speed up pulley and some better high lift / mulch blades that will cut the grass finer. It left a lot of hay, partly because it rained and grew like crazy this week, very tall grass. But also because the deck does not spin the blades very fast, and the stock blades have barely any lift on the trailing edge. So if you go too fast, the grass that is run over by the wheels only gets half cut. Still very pleased with my first time out.

You can't tell in the pic, but it also has a new S/G belt. The one I took off was cracking badly, and still had the IH logo on it! :biggrin2:

There will be more pics next weekend, weather permitting. I ordered a HD extended sleeve hitch from Jeff, and some driveline parts. His sleeve hitch clears my tiller drive box! I will also be ordering a rear blade from extreme motorwerks in the near future...

Nice looking machine! I think you are going to like it a lot this summer.

Looks good. You can not mow fast with the older decks. Take your time and enjoy the seat time. The lawn will look much better that way.

Jeff

It cuts just fine, the grass was over 6 inches some places, and I mowed last weekend! One of the next big projects is painting hood and adding lights...

Very nice, glad you're satisfied with the 123:beerchug:
As said, you have to cut slow to get the best out of these old decks... And I don't think there is a speed up pulley for these. But I've been wrong before at time or two.:bigthink:

Is there a way to float my mower deck at a minimum height? I set the height with my lift handle. But my yard is bumpy, so when mowing the deck can sometimes catch the ground and dig dirt/get the tractor stuck, it does not lift up. If I put the button on the handle down with the little wire hold down, it cuts too short. I think I'm missing the minimum float stop on the frame just in front of the handle but am unsure if this is a power lift only part or if all tractors got these?

EDIT: looks like I'm missing it, found some on eBay for a 122, hopefully fits my 123!

It's the piece on the frame in front of the lift handle secured by a 1/2-13nc bolt ( 3/4" nut )
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...4.jpg~original

This is my 125 but it's identical to my former 122

Thanks for the help. You don't remake mower air guides do you? Or the discharge chute?

No I don't. I did however get some welding done on your sleeve hitch adapter tonight :beerchug:

Woo HOO! Maybe I should order that rear blade from extreme motorworks...

Any idea on how to mount a big metal seed spreader on a sleeve hitch?

Anybody try these tires on the front of their cub? I put similar tires on, 5 ribs, that it came with and found the front end sliding while turning up a hill under my deck today... :bash2:

Any pics with them on a cub would be great too...

http://www.millertire.com/products/l...ra-trac-4-ply/

Hi Kulienc,
Put the Kendra's on a few weeks ago on my 149 with snow blower. Have not had any snow to try them out since installing. I like the looks. Go well with my rear tires. Picture attached.
Bob

I was worried about them looking funny, they just look like aggressive turf tires. Interested how they do turning on wet grass on a hillside :bigthink: