Cub 126 - 1970
 

Hey Guys,

I've got a 126 I am currently going through. Hoping to do a decent restore on it. Got a good bit done, but still have a ways to go. Anyway, just for fun. I've loaded up some pics of the progress. Rebuilt the Ross Steering column last night. Felt really really rough when turning so I replaced the bearings in it. I reused the race and older plastic pieces, but put new balls in them and cleaned out all of the old grease and repacked it. Also, I've got all the sheet metal and frame sandblasted. Engine seems to be in great shape with no smoke, but I've cleaned the carburetor. Made the mistake of not putting a new carb kit on it and got a slap on the wrist by somoene on OCC when I mentioned that in another forum. I'll be buying a kit on amazon soon. Put new brake pads on it, as the ones it had were not doing the job. Bought the material from McMaster Carr and just did the job this past weekend. They now work great. Cleaned up the corroded points. Obviously I'll be getting new belts and will probably be buying a wiring harness instead of trying to save this one. I did see on OCC where there is a fellow that makes em. I'll try to reach out to him and support my fellow cub enthusiast. Anyway, here is some of the progress. I have painted the front axle casting and also the from grill casting, along with the engine but they are not pictured. And please, don't be too harsh on me if you see anything that looks bad:Thanks:, I'm still fairly new at the tractor restoration thing, but I'm all but consumed with it.

Chad

Looking good so far. What paint are you using?

Got a friend that sells auto paint. He does custom matching using a scanner that scans a sample. I took him a sample and he mixed some up for me. It appears to be a little more of an orange to me than the original, although when you compare them side by side, it is really close.

Looks good to me!! I too have thought too orange but turns out it’s correct.

Thanks Terry!

Should look nice when you complete it!

Go, Go man go.:beerchug:
Good start...

Looking good Chad. Sure is a good feeling bringing one back to life, Ain't it? :beerchug:

Haha. Thanks guys. And yes sir, it brings a lot of excitement seeing that old rust come off and then seeing it shined up. Just something about keeping one from going to the grave that gives me some feeling of accomplishment. This one was my grandfathers so I'd like to keep it alive as long as possible. He's kind of a legend around our area in regards to tractors. At one point as a kid, I remember counting around 40 tractors on his property. Anything from Cubs to Olivers to John Deeres. I hope to be able to carry on at least a little bit of his legacy in being able to keep some of these ole machines alive. It's going to be a lost art one day. It sure is a shame to see what most of my generation (I'm 30) is doing to this country. I'd give bag of buffalo nickels to have grown up about 60 years ago. Anyway, sorry for getting sidetracked. I appreciate the feedback and your guys' knowledge. I've learned a lot from reading a lot of posts on here.

Looks good I just sold one of those hope its getting the same treatment

No Sir I am in Alabama. But I would be happy to make the drive if you have a good deal on another one :ThumbsUp:

Taking the frame, wheels, seat pan, hood, and dash to paint at my grandfathers shop. He's got a much better set up than my garage. Please ignore the paint on the tires. She's going to get new rubber prior to re-assembly. Also need to touch up the underbody. It got scraped up when I was taking it off of the jackstands. Anyway, more to come soon. Just ordered the decal set for engine and body, carb kit, fuel lines, and new sediment bowl. Also spent $32 on new stainless hardware (bolts, nuts, washers, cotter pins, gaskets, zinc coated hole plug for cigarette lighter on dash, rubber grommet for steering column/dash match up, etc). And in case you are wondering, that is a Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat on the table. A bit fruity for my taste, but beer is beer.

Want to sell all the old bolts?
Nothing like all IH and/or WP hardware right out there where everyone can see it.

X2. What he said

If I do it will be after I've got it all together. Maybe about 1 months time. Also, I don't really care to make money on them. If I decide to part with them I'll just ship what I have to you free of charge. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later but I a pretty busy because I've got a pregnant wife who is 10 weeks along and a 1.5 year old little boy running around. Also, it might help to add that the main reason I am buying new hardware is because my son was "helping" me (he has some plastic tools and he follows me everywhere making "tool noises") with the build over the last few months and has hidden about 20% of my hardware somewhere in the yard, basement, or in the land of who knows where. Don't get me wrong though, I wouldn't have it any other way. He's the big guy in the picture below in the batman shirt you see sitting up on the tractor or "twacta" as he calls it.

We have plenty here, threw a way a few cans already.:bash2:

Any advice on cleaning the grill? I don't have access to a sandblast cabinet anymore so that isn't an option. I've put an angle grinder on it with a steel brush and it seems to take a lot off without damaging anything, but there is still some rust and I want to get down to bare metal. I thought about soaking it in vinegar. What have you guys done?

I am planning on starting reassembling everything the weekend of 11/18. That'll be opening day of rifle season here in Bama, so the work will likely take place at night with a few IPAs. :beer2:

One word her for cleaning rust from parts.....
Vinegar.
Flood the part/s let 'em sit overnite and the rust will turn to mush, wire brush will do wonders then.

I bet electrolysis would work wonders on it. But you'd have to build a tank.

If you're not going to media blast it, something like that is going to be easiest to soak in some sort of acid solution if you don't feel like building an electrolysis tank.

I've used toilet bowl cleaner with rust remover before, worked pretty good using wire brush, but let soak a day or two and just do something else on the tractor. Tractor is looking good :beerchug:

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Much appreciated. I took the advice and she is soaking right now. I'll wire brush in a day or so. I got to working on the dash tin last night. I repainted it with high gloss. Not sure if I am happy with it yet. Thinking maybe i should have gone with a less shiny look. The tin that is painted was ordered from ebay. the old one in the pic below was bent up so I got one in better shape to repaint. The one I painted looked much like this one though so you can get an idea of a before and after. I taped it off with scotch tape so I could see what I was cutting away with the razor. Still need to touch up some letters and to the lift and choke up top, but all in all it turned out not so bad.

Also, a huge shout out to Patton Acres. I didn't even realize they were a sponsor until just now. I've been buying all sorts of stuff from them on ebay. They ship parts like 20 minutes after an order is placed. Also, another shout out to http://www.mikescubcadets.com/wiring-harnesses/. Seems like a real great guy. I just ordered a harness and points wire from him and can't wait to get it in.

Cheers :beerchug:

Chad

Dash Paint
 

I've painted two of them so far with rustoleum flat black and they look like factory paint. I can't post pictures right now. I will be painting the dash on the 126 I'm working on in the near future.

Be sure to post pics. I'd like to see the flat black look. If I like it better I might redo this one, but only after everything else is done.

Dash Pictures
 

Here are some pix of a 149 dash and a 126 dash. The light level in my garage is not great.
Attachment 88696

Attachment 88697

Attachment 88698

Attachment 88699

Looks great. What is the knob on your dash by the Lift cap? Haven't seen that on a 126. Is this the lights option?

The correct location for the light switch is on the left side of the dash tower, under the fiberglass portion. There is a hole pre-drilled there.

Light Switch
 

The button on the right is for the lights. The 126 was originally purchased new by my father in 1970. He installed the lights and the switch. I have since repainted it.

10-4. Looks good. Got the decals in last night. Couldn't help but put one one the front grill before I went to bed. Put the grill on just to see how she would look. It's still got primer on it and needs to be painted, but I wanted to get an idea of how she was shaping up.

Looks great.

Gotta start somewhere. :beerchug:

Where does the decal go that says "Release Drive". Its the one that says "when in release positio make sure control lever is in neutral". I bought the maple hunter set, but I have no idea where this decal goes. I'm assuming it's near my engage lever, but there wasn't one on it when I got it.

That’s probably for the hydro version of your tractor series, the 1x7. They have a hydro release lever. Yours is gear so not required

Thanks for the quick response!

Well... I've got her about ready to go. Still have to paint the seat bracket, thre rear wheels and bolts/hub, install new seat, install wire harness, paint Starter/generator, mount new tires (that's why the fronts have paint on them... wasn't worried about it cause I'm replacing them), and replace the rear trans gasket. It leaked after I put in the new fluid. Shoulda replaced the darn gasket to begin with, but I'm in over $500 already and was trying to keep costs down. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics. And sorry for the Ford pic, I just had to slip that one in there. It was the first one I restored. I've gotta say, I think I'm partial to the yellow though. :biggrin2: :beerchug:

I also have a 126 and a YT16! What are the odds. Feel free to restore mine next. :biggrin2:

HA! That's awesome! I'd say the odds are pretty darn slim. And even slimmer that you would see this post. The YT is a darn good running machine. Sounds like a harley sportster when it idles in my basement.

126
 

Wow! The 126 looks great. I'm hoping to get that kind of result on the 126 I'm working on.

I'm sure yours will look great zcub. This took about 3 months for me to finish. Just working on it in my spare time. Hopefully she will run good when I get it all wired up. I've still got to do the deck... not looking for
forward to that though.

Sorry it sounds so bad, hopefully it doesn't leak as bad :biggrin2:

Haha. I know I know. I figured I would catch some hell by posting the Ford. :Sorry: :biggrin2::biggrin2:

I'll try to get some pics up later of an ole IH 330 Utility to make up for it. My grandfather just restored one. Not too many of those out there.