Brought home a 149
 

I finally got my 149 home that I bought a few weeks ago. Looked it over, and if this guy was using it weekly 1.5 years ago, I can see why he likely parked it.

Someone has been through this tractor and replaced and rigged a few things. :bash2:
There was c-clamp holding one of the rear pins on the mower deck (which work just fine, so I don't even know what it was supposed to do. They've put bolts where the shoulder "frankenstein" bolts go. A guard is missing on one side of the steering tower. And there is no wiring to the headlights. The switch is there at least.

Overall it looks ok, and most things look minor to fix. The PTO won't disengage, but there is clearly piece missing on the front. I haven't tried to start it yet, as there isn't a battery. The engine turns freely and has compression, so I'm hopeful. I'm gonna borrow the battery from the 1200 tomorrow and see what happens when I crank it. Hopefully it fires right up :biggrin2:

Worst case, it will be a good parts tractor for my 1200. The wheel weights, blade and chains are worth what I spent on it.

Here are a few pics. I'm sure I'll be back with some questions. Don't ask about the seat. He said it went too fast and threw him off, so he needed a taller back :confused2.gif"

Good deal, and you got a free c clamp thrown in. It's nice to get extras!:beerchug:

Wtf is up with that seat? Looks like a garden gnome.:biggrin2:

That was the "Lazy Boy" optional seat.......:biggrin2:

Quite the spark plug boot! Keep us updated on if it runs or not

Plug wire looks like it's off a 4.6L Ford

Kool, I'm diggin the PO mods already.:biggrin2: Can't wait to see what you find the deeper you go.:bigthink:
I see there's definitely potential there. We've all had to start someplace with them. But that seat, man that's the first thing that gots to go.:beerchug:

Good deal!.....I wonder if the seat reclines?

The first thing I thought. I can always use an extra c-clamp :)

And yea, that seat lol

No, it doesn't recline lol. It's certainly first on my list if I get it running well. I've been eyeing e-bay, but I think I'll end up with a TSC special and fab up a mount.

So far, I've found that there isn't a latch on the hood. I got the mule drive off, had to loosen the bolts they put in place of the shoulder bolts.

I'm looking over the wiring now. There is a wire up by the starter that isn't attached to anything. Can anyone tell where it goes from the pic above?

I swapped the battery from my 1200 into it and it cranks, but VERY slowly. It's 275 CA battery, so I'm thinking I need something a little more powerful. Does anyone know what the recommended CA is on the 149?

I'd really like to make sure it runs before I spend the money on a battery though. Perhaps I could jump it with my car to get enough juice? Shouldn't hurt my current batter if I jump it with my car, correct?


Yea.. me neither...

Won't hurt a thing as long as it's positive to positive, and negative to negative, all is good.:beerchug:

Nice tractor to have,power and a hydraulic lift to boot.

Keep us posted on your 149 progress.

Nice find on the 149.

I tried just using jumper cables without starting the car, but it didn't seem to help. Just a little concerned about pumping too much juice into it with the car running.

I'm going to remove all the connections and clean them up really well first and see what that does. Last resort, I'll fire the car up and see if that helps.

But first, I need to fix my 1200. I hit a tree stump with the mower in 2nd gear and broke a bolt on my solid mounts and muffler :bash2::bash2::bash2:

The tree stumps are now a nice shade of flourescent orange :D

Got the 149 running this evening :beerchug:

I cleaned up a couple contact points on the starter and turned it over a few times. Turned a little slow then fired right up. Smoke started pouring out of the exhaust when it warmed up, but I think something is in the muffler. It didn't smell like oil. I could see lots of stuff packed around the fins etc, so some critters have been setting up shop lol. I'll pull the shields and blow everything out really well. And take the muffler off and see whats going on in there.

My wife's car is parked right in front of the tractor so I didn't get a chance to try and move it, and once the smoke started coming out the exhaust I turned it off. But the lift worked great up and down, so I'm hopeful on the transmission. The guy I bought it from seemed pretty straightforward, so I have no reason to think it won't.

I also took that seat off... for now I'll sit on the battery lid. I'll throw something on there eventually. Maybe just a chunk of plywood for now lol.

I noticed the tunnel didn't have all 4 bolts on it, just on 2 sides. Which I thought was odd :big think:

So I took it off. And lo and behold, I found some more nifty home brewed repairs. They put a hydraulic hose in to repair a pipe, so the cover won't fit... So I need to find one of those pipes. It also looks like there is a lot of play in the speed control lever, so I need to go through and tighten things up there.

Here are a couple pics of what I uncovered. Also I threw a pic of the starter in, there is a wire that is disconnected, not sure where it goes. Looked at the wiring diagram, but couldn't really tell from that.

"IF" it were me, I would pull that fender pan also, and get out the pressure washer or garden hose and clean up that pump and differential. It's going to run much cooler with all that old gunk remover from around it.
As for the engines stank, your blower housing is likely plugged with who knows what, makes a big difference when they are clean. Just went through this on my 107.

Thanks for the tip. I've been wondering how best to clean that up. I assume I'm safe to spray away once the pan is off and battery is out? Obviously I don't want to put too much pressure on the fan and fittings.

Should I spray some degreaser on there too, or would the power washer knock it off?

If you choose to use a pressure washer don't direct it @ seals/bearings.
I prefer to use kerosine/brush to remove the oily chit that has accumulated over the years, catching it and using for brush fire starter.
some use simple green and water/ garden hose, others diesel fuel, engine gunk etc.
I have an old spray gun that I load with kerosine and coat the "chit" giving it time to work, following up with a garden hose and/or in combination with an air hose.
you get the picture.
yer muffler prolly has an accumulation of "stuff" in it from critters. usually it will burn/blow out.
Some of dem critters are winged and some are furred.
Make sure your are up wind and not pointing @ the wife's car Ha,LOL! :biggrin2:

Got out this morning and removed the shields and blew out all the debris. There must have been 2 lbs of gunk on the shield under the tractor. Blew out the muffler too.

Fired it up and there was only a puff of smoke when it fired up. Runs great a full idle, but surges when I lower it. I assume the governor needs adjusted. I'm going to replace the fuel filter, clean out the bowl on the carburetor and change the oil first. Then I'll run it for a little while to see if that helps things out.

I did get a chance to see if it moves, and it went forward and back great. So that's good.

Next up is to remove the fenders and get all the gunk cleaned out. I am hoping there is so much from the hydraulic line they replaced, and not the engine.

What does everyone use on the screws on the foot rests? I was able to get a few loose using a big flat head screw driver, but a few wouldn't budge. Gonna spray them with some penetrating oil, but I obviously need a bigger screw driver. Is there some sort of ratchet attachment that will help?

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I'm eager to get this think back in good working condition so I can have a back up in case I hit anymore tree stumps with the 1200 :bash2:

Congrats on your 149! Keep up the good work.

You want to get one of these :beerchug:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/14pc-1-2-Imp...oAAOxydlFS5vMm

Jeff is right on. I just blew the dust off my impact driver and was able to get all 8 of the Phillips truss heads out of my 108 foot rests.

As for the pressure washing goes, use your head while doing it. As ol George mentioned, be careful around the seals, and use the "fan" spray, not the pointed full pressure. And do not spray into the vent, which you will see on the top of the differential, just above your top bolt on the rear end cover.
Oh, and I use Simple Green as a cleaner, works great. Here's my preferred way of cleaning an old dirty tractor.
There's been a few bolts that I couldn't get out with a screw driver of any kind, so ended up using an old driveshaft, and welder. Grind a clean spot on top of the bolt, and grind the end of the driveshaft like you would sharpen a pencil and weld it to the bolt.
Put a vicegrip on it and turn it out, works every time. Granted, the bolt is junk, but it's out.:beerchug:

Impact driver on the footrest screws is the first thing to try.

Next is to grind a slot in the head for a large square shank screwdriver, then use an appropriate wrench on the shank of the screwdriver to get leverage.

My last ditch effort is to weld a nut (from the center) to the head of the truss screw, then use a socket or wrench to remove the screw with the nut welded to it.

Zippy1: I like your lift system.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I found these I'm going to pick up and see how they work with my impact driver. The largest bit is 5/8", so I think that will grab well enough.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-pc-12...set-67881.html

If that fails, I'll try cutting a deeper slot. If all else fails, I'll drag the tractor to my FIL and have him weld a nut on. I got 4 or 5 loose with just a typical flat head screw driver, so I'm hopeful that they'll pop loose with a bigger bit and impact driver.

Zippy, if I had the tractor on the right, I may not have bought a Cub lol

I'll report back on how everything went :ThumbsUp:

Still making progress. I picked up the bit set at Harbor Freight and it worked great. I was able to just use a 1/2" wrench with the bits.

Pulled the fender pan off. Making sure to label the wires on the regulator. Not sure if the order matters, but I don't want to risk it lol.

I think I leveled a small critter civilization in there. Found a few interesting repairs along the way. Apparently they couldn't get the brakes adjusted tight enough, so they threw a couple large nuts on the rods and pulled them in tighter.

The mount where the brake lever broke at the top and they put a large worm screw hose clamp on it. It works and seems to be a good enough repair, so I'm leaving that. I removed the extra pieces off the brake linkages. I'll figure out the adjust the brakes the right way....

I also found a few loose bolts here and there.

Next up, spray some cleaner and pull out the power washer :biggrin2:

Yeah, looks typical under the seat pan.
Best to blow the loose stuff off before wasting the cleaner on the thick gunk. Just remember, start out with just the fan spray, and work yourself up if needed, staying away from seals and the vent on top of the diff.
Get that gunk off it'll look new again, then you can track down the source of any leakage.:beerchug:

Got the pressure washer out and cleaned out some "chit", as Ol George would say. Looks a lot better now. I also cleaned and sprayed some rust convertor on the battery tray. It looked pretty bad. I was impressed with how well it did.

Just waiting on the hydraulic line to come in and then it's on to the PTO.

I need to see about getting the slow leaks fixed in the tires. Any tips on how to track them down and repair them? Should I just take them to a tire shop?

Hopefully I'll get the 1200 driveline back in within the week. Who knows, I might have TWO Cubs running and working by the end of the month lol

There you go, much cleaner.:beerchug:
If the tires are tubeless, tube them, problem solved.:beerchug:

You should have them Tomorrow .

Just came today! Thanks!

Now I need to find the time to get them in lol. I also think they changed a fitting on the tranny when they put in the hose to adapt it, so I may need to get that figured out. hopefully I can get into it in the next few days.

I don't think they have tubes. Maybe I'll go that route.

Got the old rubber hose out and started to put in the new hardline. As I suspected they removed a fitting to put in a 90 for their hose setup. The 90 threaded onto the hard line I have, so I suspect it's a standard sized fitting. Anyone know what size it is, and where i can source one, possibly locally? I may try a local parts store.

Part 11 on the diagram below. It's only $7 from cub cadet, but then when you add shipping it adds up.

Now that I'm stalled at the transmission, I moved on to the PTO. The PO said he couldn't get it to shut off. A quick glance told me the wear button was missing and the thrust button looked gone too. I took the hood off to look a a little closer, and it looks like the thrust button broke, I already had a new one, as I thought it was missing. However, there isn't a hole on the lever for the wear button :bigthink:

Looks like they welded it closed?? Maybe they threaded something in. My understanding is that the wear button (I got a brass one from Jeff) just sits in the hole. So I don't know what they may have threaded in there. If it's welded up, who knows why... I assume I'm going to need to drill that out. Anyone know what size the hole should be?

Now I need to figure out how to change the thrust button on the PTO. Apparently the 3 screws on the front don't just screw right out. Any tips are welcome. Gonna go over to the technical forum now and see what I can find.

Also, the front tire seemed to fix itself... I put some air in it the other day to move it and clean it, and it hasn't gone flat... Perhaps the bead popped on. Who knows.

Did a little reading and was able to remove the set screws very easily. Luckily they broke free with just an allen wrench. Got both sets out of all 3 holes. I've filled the holes with PB Blaster to hopefully help get the pull off.

From what I've read I should be able to gently tap and turn with a block of wood until it pops off. I don't have any sort of puller handy.

I'll take any tips or tricks anyone has.

Alright. The trick is... take big swings :D

After watching a video I found on here, it gave me the confidence that with a block of wood and a rubber mallet, a few good swings won't hurt. Came right off.

Now onto my next questions. How do I get the old thrust button out?

Looks like the old one is attached to the pressure spring. But perhaps it's just rusted in there. Should I try to grind off the back nub?

Also, it looks like I need to replace a throw out lever. Maybe all 3. Thoughts?

There's also a tooth broke on the clutch disc, but I think that'll be ok.

heres the part number off parts tree 927 3002 37 Deg flered shourt swivel tube.

Looking good, keep it up.

Thanks. It's the same price thru Cub Cadet. Was hoping to find it somewhere local so I didn't have to pay shipping. But it looks like I may need a throw out lever, and possibly a pressure spring if I can't get the old thrust button out.

Maybe I'll call my local Cub dealer and see if they can get them without paying for shipping.

Thanks!
Lots of little things on this 149. But I don't mind the tinkering. Just glad the PTO came of easy and is in fair shape. Hopefully I can get it working with minimal parts.

I'd suggest getting a complete rebuild kit for the PTO in addition to the three arms. That way you end up with the set up guage too.

As you probably figured out since you got it apart, you need one thin 7/16" wrench to correctly tighten the double nuts on the back.

Jeff

Yeah... I probably should. Just hoping to save a few $$$. But I suppose doing it right while it's out is probably best.

Yeah. Luckily they spun off together when I turned the screwdriver on front. But I'll probably have to sacrifice a wrench to the grinder to get it adjusted right when I put it back together.

I was able to clear out the hole on the PTO lever with a punch. Whatever was in there popped right out. It's not magnetic, so maybe it was the older fiber button.

However, I can't get your brass button in. What is the size of the shaft? I'm thinking maybe the hole has a burr on it or something. I'll just run a drill through it the right size.

Up next.. I notice the front bolt is missing from the starter. I didn't remove the entire thing yet, I'm hoping it's just missing and not broke. We shall see...

That the arm off and press it in using a vise. It's supposed to be a tight fit ( interference fit--small bits will shear off as it's pressed into place )

Alrighty. I was about to try that, but didn't want to mess anything up. Now that i have your blessing, I crank er down :D