Cub 149 Resto-mod

[Matt G.]

Looks like you're on the home stretch now. Is there any reason you didn't replace the bearings and races in the steering column while you had it apart? The races get little cracks in them, and the coating will eventually flake off. For $10 for both bearings, retainers, and races, it's not worth not replacing them...BTDT, been in a couple of steering columns twice to prove it...

[westofb]

Originally Posted by Matt G.

Looks like you're on the home stretch now. Is there any reason you didn't replace the bearings and races in the steering column while you had it apart? The races get little cracks in them, and the coating will eventually flake off. For $10 for both bearings, retainers, and races, it's not worth not replacing them...BTDT, been in a couple of steering columns twice to prove it...

I did not have any replacements on hand, maybe should have bought them. The races looked great, the only issue I had was the little plastic fingers in one of the retainers would not hold the bearing in place once it was clean, they came out intact, fell out after cleaning them. A little new grease on them held the bearings in place, so I went ahead and used them. Everything in the column looked great after cleaning the hard nasty grease out of it, so I think it will be okay, if I have to tear into again, it will get everything new.

I filled the cavity of the steering column with grease before putting the follower cover on it. While it was apart, I verified the grease zert was good and would take grease from the grease gun. After getting it back together, I shot in more grease with the gun to make sure it was full, just started pushing some grease past the seal.

[westofb]

I had a little extra time today so I went to Marshall, MO to go to Morrow's Tire to pick up a set of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TWO-New-4-00-8-T...51624749096563

I live only about 50 miles from there so I jumped in the wife's new Focus and drove there to get them. This guy has a butt load of tires in stock, and is aparently doing very good selling them on ebay, while I was there a UPS truck with attached trailer was there loading up (looks like he filled both with shipments of tires going out to ebay customers). I intended to get a set of tru powers for the rear also, but am waiting on a possible purchase of them from the for sale section of this site. But I did get to look at them side by side with the Deestones and Duros Morrow's have for sale. The Deestones seem to be a nice tire but they are more rounded off and shorter in height than the tru powers, the Duros seemed to be pretty cheaply made.

I got home and got the tri ribs mounted up, but forgot to snap a pic of them, will have to get one, they look great on the narrow wheels.

[ACecil]

Looking forward to your pics, Jeff! You'll love the tri ribs!

[Methos]

Originally Posted by ACecil

Looking forward to your pics, Jeff! You'll love the tri ribs!

Taht's Right!

Jeff looking forward to your pics!

[westofb]

Been busy at work, so haven't had time to post any updates. Here are the pics of the new fronts mounted up:
029.jpg028.jpg

The last couple days when I had the chance, I have been working on getting the rear end/ hydro unit up to par. I drained the fluid, cleaned the inside of the diff, it had a little sludge in it, not as bad as I expected, and the fluid was pretty dark...definitely has an unusal odor to it, I guess it is an aquired scent... Here are some pics of the differential after cleaning it up:

010.jpg011.jpg012.jpg
I was waiting on the parts to complete it, I got them in the mail the first of the week from Chris Westfall. I got the gasket that goes between the hydro and the diff, and the new trunion springs and pins. So I figured I was set to get it painted and back together, then I decided to remove the brake assemblies and found out that I had one axle seal leaking pretty bad, and the other was seeping as well. I pulled the seals out and with the aid of a magnifying glass, was able to read the edge printing, they were national brand seals and there was a part number. I called O'Reillys and they were able to cross reference the numbers I gave them and get me a set ordered. Here are pics of the seals I got, they were $4.00 each and had them the next day.

005.jpg006.jpg

I had been reading the service manual and noticed it said to use Hy-tran or it's equivelent, so while I was at O'Reillys I asked them about hydrallic fluids, sure enough they carried a store brand that stated on it that it was a replacement for IH hy-tran, also the label mentioned that it was a replacement for Sundstrand fuild (makers of the hydro unit on these tractors). This fulid cost me $9.49/ gallon, I had seen hy-tran at some cub parts outlets for around $7.00/ quart, that save me quite a bit, so I bought 2 gallons (my tractor takes 7 quarts). I also picked up a wix filter for the hydro as well while I was there, it costs me $7.57, I had found the wix number on this site in the techical section. Here are some pics of the the fluid and filter.

013.jpg016.jpg
017.jpg007.jpg

I put everything back together (except for the hydro cams) and got it shot with some primer, as well as getting the frame primed. After I get the paint on it and the frame, I re install the hydro cams and new trunion springs/ pins, then marry the diff/ hydro and frame. Then will be time to get the front axle cleaned up, painted and installed and I will have a roller again! Here are some pics after priming:

018.jpg019.jpg
025.jpg

If you look at the rear hubs you will see that I installed lugs to the hubs, I got them in a kit from ebay, they came with chrome lug nuts, ought to make swapping tires easier, as well as looking better in my opinion, here are a pic of the lug nuts:
026.jpg

[westofb]

In the above post, the primer used was vansickle red oxide primer. I orginally intended to paint the tractor with automotive base clear coat paint. I think from some other posts I have read, vansickle had been getting a bad rap, so I decided to use it for the red parts of the tractor as well. That way I can save some cash, and show what kind of results can be had using the cheaper paint. We will just have to wait and see if I know what I am talking about, or that I have been blowing smoke up your botttom! Time to put up or shut up!

[ACecil]

Fantastic job, Jeff! Your tri ribs look awesome!

[scgtguy]

Jeez that looks great ... it all looks familiar to me...your gonna love it

Bryan

[westofb]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Today began with some wet sanding of some questionable areas on the rear end assembly and the outside of the frame rails. Then I mixed up some vansickle and got the rear end and frame shot. I had only intended to paint these two items, but turned out I had a little paint left (once it has the catylist added, you can't save it), so I also got the sleeve hitch parts painted also. Here are some pics of what I got done today, enjoy!

001.jpg002.jpg

004.jpg005.jpg

006.jpg007.jpg

008.jpg