Hi everyone! responding to a post yesterday, I posted a pic of my two cub cadets and my lo-boy 154. the lo-boy generated some interest and a couple questions, so I thought I'd write a thread with some technical info about these unique tractors and answer some questions. hope you find it interesting!
Firstly, here's my lo-boy, a 154 built in 1973. it lived its life as a much-abused municipal mower. the 154 was the 15 hp variant, they later came out with the 185, which was an 18 horse (larger carburetor.) the third variant was the 184, which was the red version with different styling. not sure why the number went down, but i assume they had their reasons.
from the back, you can see that the transmission was identical to the ones in the cub cadets and the old farmall cubs. the gear reduction boxes bolt on in the same place as the axle carriers on the cub cadets. my tractor is missing all of the PTO hardware, I imagine it was pirated shortly after it was retired from municipal service. I will eventually replace it, but those parts are quite expensive.
the idea behind these numbered lo-boys was to have a live PTO, and the ways IH went about doing so were a little unusual. the flywheel on the back of the motor doubled as a 2-belt pulley, which drove a second driveshaft for the PTO full time. the pto clutch was at the back of the tractor, engaged by an arm to the left rear of the seat. the driveline clutch was located at the end of the the driveshaft directly in front of the transmission. this basically gave the driveshaft 2 flywheels, meaning if you tried to just slam it into gear, it would grind off all the gear's teeth. there is a set of nylon clutch brake buttons, but they need rather constant adjustment to be effective.
another thing about the clutch: in the farmall cubs, which were 8hp, the clutch diameter was 6 inches. in the numbered lo-boys, power was nearly doubled, but the clutch was shrunk to 5 inches.in my opinion, the clutch is the weakest link on these tractors, and this is why they should not be used for ground-breaking work such as plowing a field.
more in the next post!
__________________
Ian
Mine: 72 w/ k301, 3 125's, 1 w/ hydro lift, 38,42, & 2 48 decks, 2 42 front blades, QA-36a & QA-42a thrower, tiller, lo-boy 154. Also, LOTS of parts.
family's:2 105's, 2 106's, 149, 2 lo-boy 154s, Farmall Cub.
Non-IH: 1940 JD Model A, 1954 JD 40 U, 1955 JD 40 Crawler, 2 1956 JD 420 U's, both w/ Henry Loader and Backhoe. JD 110. Wheel Horse (model unknown.) Power King 1614. We love our tractors!
