149 update
 

Been awhile since Ive posted, been working on the 149 I got for free. (danger danger) after spend about 400.00 on normal wear items, belts, pins, half a pto and the rebuild kit. New trunion springs, welding up the trunion and making it sqaure and smooth sliding against the cam. I finally get an idea of how this 149 is going to work.

I still have a hydro slow down when going up an incline at full throttle. I have to nudge forward the hydro to keep a steady speed. Have done all the adjustments with neutral creep and all that. Notice it more when the hydro is good and warm after an hour or so of mowing. Still not used to a hand operating lever, but am getting used to it. Will be putting in a different used hydro later this year to see if that makes a difference.

The mower deck doesnt have any left to right adjustment for level, so I had to weld up a hanger bracket to get it level. Mowes OK although I have to admit my old mtd seems to cut it better still. Seems as though the old 42in deck just doesnt quite lift the grass enough to get an even cut.

The rototiller works nice wish I had another extension to make it 42inches wide.

The shredder 59m works great although it really is loud and it works the 14hp kohler harder than id like.

Welded up the drive hub and took some of the wallow out, but the driveshaft has some wallow so its something I ll probably adapt a double flex disc type of set up in the future.

Still need to work on the steering geer, but thats too be expected for a tractor of this vintage. It seems like there is always something to do with this tractor. I know its much better than anything I can buy for under about 2500 so thats motivation to repair, replace 30+ years of use, neglect and abuse. Nothing runs from a cub better than a deere. Be safe all.

rfrank,
Sounds like you have been really busy! I did the same thing to my 149 last year. Once you get all the things fixed its great. I am working on the 169 here lately. Like you said just things that were let go. Trying to get it back in better shape. I have had 3 hydros now and none of them pull hills the same. The 149 does the best, hardly ever have to touch the leaver. the 169 is next. The 1450 I had would stop in its tracks at the slightest grade. You just had to move the leaver more to keep it moving. But you could still latch onto the trailer and drag it anywhere you wanted to go. Just had to move the leaver more.

Yeah, when you get one like that they will ten and twenty you to death until you get everything back in shape, but if you think about it, you are doing twenty years worth of regular maintenance things all at the same time.

OR you can go spend $2000.00+ and get yourself a new pos that will last 4 or 5 years, if you're lucky.

Spend 2K on an old Cub and you'll have a machine that will outlast... well your kids will be using it long after you're gone.

Now, pull that column out spend thirty bucks and a couple of hours on it and you'll be one step closer to leaving a really nice little tractor to your kids!

rfrank,
That's quite a list. And you probably remembered more after posting.:biggrin2.gif: I think you have one great tractor on you hands. Keep a plugging away.

rfrank:

The Hydrostatic Transmission is a type of drive (a pump & fluid), just as a Gear Drive is a type of drive. The Hydrostatic Transmission is just that, a transmission and NOT cruise or speed control.

All my Hydro's loose speed going up a hill, just like a gear drive. This is NORMAL.

:ThumbsUp:

yes your absolutely correct, sometimes we expect a hydro to run like a gear driven trans. Running the engine at normal rpms helps. I expect some decline in speed. Like any hydro a little more pedal or in this case lever going up hills.

Im hearing a bit of hydro chatter. After talking to some hyraulic hydro-tranny experts(really) they have assured me that my hydro will last another 40 years with normal maintenance. However there is some hydro "chatter as he calls it and that has to do with slipper wear and as they called it slip stick. Im fortunate enough to have a brother who has a degree in hydraulics and has worked with hydraulics in the automotive field( convertible actuating systems Lift mechanisms and now military hydro static applications which is way beyond my comprehension).

He has expressed the fact that when "tweaking" a hydro for the perfect balance it is not an easy task, when you change one variable it affects another.

Hes been working on neutral issues with hydros with a certain government vehicle for six months. Imagine having a hydro that has to maintain speed measure torque and adjust accordingly to inclines, declins weight and speed. all this with apparent seemlessness. I have a spare hydro and the thought of just seeing what if any difference there is. I think that can wait. I need to work onthe steering first.

question on steering effort? will a spindle upgrade help with this. Im not a small man and am strong like bull. but the wife isnt(whew) and she would like to mow the lawn for me occasionally, however she does note it takes a bit more to steer than our other lawn tractors. Weight alone explains most of it and it steers way better than my brother and fathers green and yellow 212.

R Bedell
All my Hydro's loose speed going up a hill, just like a gear drive. This is NORMAL.

I was under the false impression that as I went up hill and the tractor started to slow the governor would come into play and keep me chugging as I was. :bigthink:

You are correct about the governor picking your engine rpms up when going up-hill, but your hydro is basically a hydraulic pump that turns a hydraulic motor. The extra force will cause it to slow down, just as a (hydraulic) front end loader will not lift a full bucket as fast as it will an empty one.

Maybe better explained by saying: Setting on flat ground with no added weight, or trying to pull a pulling sled. Even though you have the same engine rpm, you would really need to cram the lever forward to get the tractor and sled to move, whereas with no load… you already know how that works.

lol, the whole thing really is kind of deceiving, if you want a constant ground speed use your gear drive. The thing that bugs us hydro freaks with the gear drive is, you only have three ground speed choices.

As it was explained to me and Ill do my best to explain it so bear with me. Cub hydro should be driven at recommended rpm to keep pump pressure constant there is some so to speak slip or slowing down of the hydro under a load. The engine is spinning a pump which in turn is turning a fluid motor. In our cars the fluid coupling is usually a torque converter. When incurring a load it gets to a point the pressure change causes a downshift to a lower gear driven by fluid in our cars. The cub hydro doesnt have gears to kick down too. The cub has a swash plate that tilts 15 degrees one way and 7 the other way. So for us to get constant speed there comes a point that you have to give it more angle to allow more fluid to be delivered to the hydro motor increasing torque. The springs and cam plate do a good job, but are limited to laws of physics. Other hydros use other means to try and offset the load. The sun hydro is a simple design, effective, maybe not terribly efficient but anytime you transfer energy thru another medium you loose energy. The tractor shouldnt come to a complete stop on most grades, Thats either out of adjustment or the pump is sufficiently worn that it cant apply enough force to turn the hydro motor.

Heres a good example. Spray a stream of water at a fan blade, it turns fairly easy, now spray that same water stream at the same fan with a head wind slowing the fan down(load), what do you do, either you spray the water towards the outside of the fan which applies more torque, or you increase the stream of water. Thats what we have to do with our hydros. Now if the wind picks up you get to a point where no matter how much water you spray it cant overcome the load of the wind. so something has to give, slippage. I hope this helps.

Wild Bill, Thanks for the input on the steering. I guess like anything else I was just a bit intimidated by the steering as its foreign to me. LOL thanks again.

fellow 149er
 

I have a 149 that I picked up very cheap in the north Ga. I,as well have been putting money in it..$20 here and there..it is still solid and stronger than anything Ive owned..Mine does slow down when warm and going up hills..but I recently cleaned the round cooler in front of the trans..and changed fluid and filter..it does not bog down anymore...I agree it is something I will pass down to the youngins..keep at her..she's worth it..If I can assist in any way let me know!

THANKS!!:beerchug: You explained that so well that even a simple dude like myself could understand it!! I do appreciate your explanation!!:beerchug:

Nice observation. I've always felt that these pumps perform better at max rpm. What's your guys opinion on plowing. I plow at full rpm because I feel the pump will perform better. I also feel it is better for the pump. I also feel it is better for the engine since it is air cooled. But, out of about 10 of us at a plowday this spring, I think I was the only one plowing at full throttle. Once guy was plowing almost at idle, you could hear the pump whining really bad.

FULL throttle, for EVERYTHING!! LOL Marty

It really amazes me how many people don't realize how much hotter an air-cooled engine runs under load at less than full throttle. It's not good for the hydro either, as much less air will be moving over it at less than full throttle. Since you can infinitely vary the speed of the hydro, it's just stupid plowing at anything less than WOT.

I learned along time ago how much heat an air cooled engine can generate with my motorcycle. I ride a 600cc air cooled dirt bike and when it gets really hot and Im chugging her hard running 93 octane she will preignite and I can hear the pinging through the cooling fins. No cooling fans there.

WOT is the only way a Hydro should be used under load, plowing pulling etc...

Just for the fun of it attached is the principles on how the hydro work.:bigthink:

axial piston fixed displacement motor, yeah about that. . . . simple, and simple I like:biggrin2.gif:. I always had a hard time with hydraulic theory and my brother has a bachelor in hydraulics, go figure.

Point #1, wide open throttle is governed to 1750 rpms by design (according to the Kohler engine manual). If you are driving a hydro, you have infinitely variable ground speed available unlike the manual trannys. For proper operation of the tractor, read optimum cooling and power transfer from engine to equipment, always run the engine at full throttle when under load. That is when turning the pto, pushing snow/dirt, or anything that requires the engine to work harder. That is verbatim from the mechanic at my local Cub dealership. Also, the mowers cut better when you control the ground speed with the gearshift/hydro lever instead of the throttle!

Point#2 the above mentioned mechanic told me that the reason a lot of older cubs seem to 'slip' when navigating a hill is because the spring in the damper control has become weak. The cheap fix (as opposed to buying new springs) is to remove the springs and to install either 5/16" or 3/8" lock washers over the t shaped plungers on either end. Upon doing this, my 129 no longer feared the hills and continued to pull without any further need of attention while I was mowing. I tried all the other fixes, clean fluid and filter, clean fins, adjusting the linkage, all to no avail until I installed the lock washers.:bigthink:

You might want to double check that...WOT is 3600 rpm on nearly every air-cooled engine I have ever worked on, including Kohler K-series...

Sorry, you are absolutely right. These senior moments seem to come sooner and stay longer each day. I should proof-read a little closer. :bash2: