Cub Cadet 129 questions
 

Just recently aquired a Cub 129 and a 1250 on a trade for some MTD brand mowers. The 1250 is a basket case which I will save for later. The 129 however is 95% complete and didn't take much to get running. The downfall is that the tires are shot and its rusty... really rusty. I got a QA-36 Snow Blower and a 42" deck with it aswell - which are also rusty. Now for the questions...


1. I put the deck on with a decent belt and drive belt but I can't seem to keep the belt ON the pulleys. Both the deck belt and drive belt jump off as soon as the pto is engaged. I checked to make sure everything is free and it is a free as can be. Any ideas as to what may be causing this?

2. The hydrostat seems to be kind of "jumpy". When I go from neutral to forward its as smooth as can be. But, when going from full forward to neural the tractor continues to move until Im almost all the way into reverse at which point it will finally stop and begin into reverse but hard and spins the tires. (I stole tires off my 126 temporarily till I get new ones). Any ideas here? Possibly a wore out linkage? I did also check the fluid and its full.

3. Did the 129 come from the factory with headlights?


Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!:biggrin2:

Hello Jonah! First, congratulations on your 129 and 1250, both good, solid cubs. Now, on the 129, you said the fluid is full, but did you change the filter? A clogged filter or old gunky one doesn't improve the tractor's performance, so you might start by changing the filter---I always do once I bring new life into them and I am unsure of their past history. Next, if your hydrostatic transmission still moves oddly after a filter change, you should visually inspect the linkage and particularly the spring/plate back on the transmission for excessive wear. Most of them show some wear, but a broken/damaged spring or a heavily worn plate (usually on the upper part of it) is where they get worn can make your hydrostatic transmission behave that way.

The headlights were an option on the 129 when it came out, as was the hydraulic lift kit.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot about your belts. Check the alignment of your pulleys and belt tensioner to see if they are worn and out of alignment causing the belt to slip off. If they are not out of alignment, then check and adjust the tension in your belts to make sure that they are adjusted correctly. Also, if those belts were on it from the PO, check to make sure that they are the correct size belts. The last one is obvious, but so is making sure you have enough gas in the tank to start the engine and I am guilty of overlooking that.

Cub Cadet 123

Thank you! I will take a look at those specifics tomorrow. Probably dumb question, but would rusty pulleys be part of the problem?

There she is in her rusty glory...

No, I would not think that rusty pulley's would affect the tracking of the belts. However, on your deck, if the tension pulley is seized up that would not allow it to actuate and not put tension on your belt causing it to be very loose and possibly jumping track.

Cub Cadet 123

In addition to what Cub Cadet 123 said,

Check the center spindle for bearing wear, with the belts off, make sure the machine won't start, raise the deck, reach under, grab the center blade on one end and try to wiggle the blade up and down. If it moves you probably need new bearings. Check the center pulley to make sure it isn't bent. Check the mule drive pulleys to make sure the bearings aren't bad of misaligned.

Put the belts back on, lower the deck to where you normally mow, step back, crouch down and look at the PTO belt where it meets the deck pulley. If the front of the pulley appears to be lower than the back of the pulley (it should be obvious) the deck needs to be leveled.

Now open the hood and look straight down at the front PTO and the mule drive pulleys. The belt should be very close to vertical, if it is further forward or to the rear than the PTO on either side, it should be adjusted or replaced with the correct belt.

Start by draining the rear end, washing out all the crud, replace fluid and filter. Then move to linkages. Sounds like the trunnion could be worn and the springs are weak.

Keep working at it and you will soon be enjoying your Cub as much as the rest of us do.

For now, that rust won't hurt anything... It just adds personality.

Keep us posted.

Yeah check that too.

What should I wash the crud out with? acetone?



Where do these parts belong? I got them in the deal too just can't find where their from...


Thanks!

This one too... Thanks again!

The top pic I'm not sure, it might be homemade. The second pic is the battery hold down.

Top link looks like a deck to cradle breaket, the bottom one looks like a mule drive pulley tension breaket. The bottom pic i am not sure of. Cleaning, i use "super clean" in automotive section of walmart. Purple bottle.