Dave's 1650 Project

[_DX3_]

It's nothing to lose sleep over... An 8.50 wide tire fits a 7 inch rim. A 10.50 tire normally goes onto a 7.5 inch rim. The 10.50 tire will fit the 7 inch rim ok, it will just simply pull the tread in on the sides some. I mounted the wide tire on a 7 inch rim with no issues. Some guys in here have mounted the 8.50 tire onto the narrow 6 inch rim and they look awesome on the older cubs. Don't over think it too much. And yes, they are 23 inches tall. The rim is 12 inches from top to bottom.

[Matt G.]

A 10.50 tire came on an 8.5" rim on a CC, as did the 26-12-12s, although with a different offset.

Regardless of how 'cool' it looks mounted on the wrong rim, the tire will work better if it is mounted on the size of rim it is designed for.

[_DX3_]

Yep I had 7 inch on my mind all thru that, LOL.

I'm still trying to figure out the issue of whether a tire works good or not depending on the rim and certain brands, etc. I have plowed, mowed, worked with tires on rims as I mentioned, with wider tires on a narrower rim and also on correct width rims. I think unless your are pulling competition or doing some serious 12 inch moldboard plowing in hard packed ground, the wider tires all work great no matter if on a smaller rim or on a "correct" rim. Ags will grab and will pull, turf tires will, well do what turf tires do also. The only good differences I have seen is the advantage of fluid filled tires or wheels with weights to enhance pulling and grip. For 99% of the people out there, doing the average home and yard work it won't matter much of which wheel they will use. The tire on the other hand makes a huge difference. As most have seen, Ags for most of the year and then changing over to turfs with chains seems to do the best with snow removal. Granted I know nothing of snow removal, we have little to no snow removal in this section of the country. Just my 2 cents from real life experience. Of course we all know about opinions .

[Matt G.]

The reason I say that is because if you put a tire on a rim that's narrower than what is supposed to be used, or inflate the tire too much on the correct rim, it balloons out and less of the tread is contacting the ground. Ideally the tread profile should all be touching the ground.

Will you notice any difference? I don't know...I just try to do the best I can with what I have. My 35-year-old tires will have the best chance of working properly when they're mounted on the correct rims and properly inflated. Things are usually the way they are for a reason. I used to have a rather large PDF file of a document from Goodyear that explained more than you ever wanted to know about tires, including this subject, and what tread patterns work best for different soils. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find it in awhile. I think I lost it during a hard drive swap a couple years ago.

[CC1650Dave]

Originally Posted by Matt G.

A 10.50 tire came on an 8.5" rim on a CC, as did the 26-12-12s, although with a different offset.
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OK, that helps. Thanks guys. However Matt, in your statement quoted here, you're talking about 8.5" rim width, right? And nothing on the tire will tell me anything about rim width.

I now remember doing the rim width thing while putting big tires on a Ram 3500 4x4 I owned.

The only way I'm going to be able to determine my rim width is to measure it with a tire off, I guess.

I want to be able to determine how much tire width I can put on the tractor within the confines of my current rims, and the confines of the fenders / hubs overall. I know offsets factor in here as well.

Fat is good.

BTW, I'm kind of thinking about going toward industrial tires like those found on the Yanmar Cubs, rather than Ag tires.

[CC1650Dave]

Check this out:

I was talking to a neighbor about my project last week, and I told him that I was planning on building an electrolytic cleaner to de-rust parts.

He works in a manufacturing company.

When I told him that if all goes well, I may upscale my electrolytic system to a 55 gallon drum, he told me he could get me one for free. Cool, a free plastic drum.

Then he told me that they had 10 gallons of this industrial de-ruster at the shop that they weren't using - and I could have it, free. I said I'd try it. From what I understand, it's a citrus-based product, the MSDS numbers on it are very low (as in, safe to near Windex numbers) so I wanted to give it a try.

So before I build my electrolytic cleaner, I tested this stuff in a 5 gallon pail. He told me it was 4 parts water, 1 part solution and a 24 hour soak.

I grabbed up a few parts for a trial run. I wound up soaking for 36 hours because I forgot about it until this evening. Here are some before and after pics:

A few hangers from the mower deck:

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Before:



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After soak:



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And a very easy wire-wheeling:

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The footrest plates didn't dip all the way in, which provides a nice contrast of before and after:

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Before:

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After rinsing and toweling it off, most of the paint came off:
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And again, some very easy work with the 3/8 drill using a flap disc sander and a wire wheel for the tight spots. The rust line is the dip line:

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I think I like this stuff!

I'd still like to build the electrolytic cleaner to compare results, but from what I've seen in pictures and video, this stuff is equal to - if not better than - the results guys are getting with electrolytic.

I'll give you some details on the product later - although, I'm pretty sure you can't buy it unless you're an industrial company, because I couldn't even get info on the chemistry and directions on the web...

[Matt G.]

Yes, I was referring to rim width.

Electrolysis is a great way to clean parts. You can get good results with washing soda, as well. The paint will fall off and what remains can usually be wire-wheeled off easily.

[CC1650Dave]

You're talking about using washing soda with electrolysis, right?

I bought lye for the electrolytic cleaner. A friend of mine is a chemist, and told me that he thought trisodium phosphate would work even better, as it would anodize the parts after de-rusting them.

After shopping for TSP, I learned that Michigan was one of 17 states that banned its sale. But fortunately, I can get a 4.5 lb box of it online for about $20 with shipping.

I'm going to put an order out for it. This stuff is also excellent to add to your dishwasher and clothes washer, about a teaspoon added will really improve your results from what I've heard.

[westofb]

Originally Posted by CC1650Dave

Rear end stuff:

I'm thinking I may want to go ahead and pull the axles, replacing the seals, checking the needle bearings, and replacing the gaskets there. Seems like these would be obvious leakers after all these years, no?

While you got it apart, I would change them. I have recently changed the axle seals in my project 149 and 129. Both tractors had each had one seal that were obviously bad (you could see where it had slung fluid on the back side of the wheel/ brake rotor). After pulling the axles, all the seals had been leaking, the ones that weren't obviously leaking were still leaking.

For your info, I got my axle seals at O'Reilly's for $4.00 each....the were National Seals part number 471224, you should be able to cross reference this number at any auto parts store, I think the ones from Cub Cadet dealer were $6.00+ each.

[CC1650Dave]

Originally Posted by westofb

For your info, I got my axle seals at O'Reilly's for $4.00 each....the were National Seals part number 471224

Cool, I'll go pick up a set. The inside of the wheels is relatively dry, but the axle hubs are greasy, so it's either the seals or the gaskets I figure.

Are those needle bearings going to want to fall apart when I take them out, or are they held into the assembly? I hate dealing with bearings that fall apart when you move them.