My 1450 project officially started today

[108cubber]

No help on the seals here. But I thought I would add my $.02 on engine rebuild. I have a K341AQS off another brand tractor that smoked real bad and used lots of oil. I tore it down and found the rings were gone. Luckily, the bore was still within specs, so I honed the cylinder, adjusted the valves, and new head gasket. What a transformation. Starts easily and has no smoke. I have ran it about 3-4 hours and no oil usage. I didn't see any use to replace anything else, seals weren't leaking. Sometimes, a complete rebuild is not needed. If your engines are within specs, just replace what is not within. Everyone said my engine would have to be bored, new piston, rod, crank turned, and so on. If it is within spec, why spend money on unneeded parts and repairs. Just my opinion and thought I would share.

[CC1450]

Thanks 108Cubber, I knew it would be a long shot on the seal question, I will give him a call later today after I have a couple cups of coffee. If anyone knows, it will be Chris himself. Also thanks for sharing your thoughts about the quick rebuild. Once I get the '78 engine out of the tractor I plan on opening it up and seeing what is going on in there.

The thing about both of these K321s I have is that both are caked with oil residue on the front, which from my best guess has to be coming from the shaft seal behind the PTO. The one in the '78 I am currently using you can see fresh oil coating the old crusted stuff. The '76 engine may not leak as bad as the '78 but I am thinking they are about the same due to the amount of oil stuck to the casings. I'd be a sad camper if I put the '76 engine in there and went through the same amount of oil.

[CC1450]

Spoke with Mr. Westfall this evening about the seals, and he says I should not have any issues with them. Pretty much what I figured but I had to ask. Just ordered the crank seals and a new head gasket from his site.

Nice guy to talk with and I truly appreciate the same day response to my inquiry. Good service goes a long way with me. I work directly with customers in my job all day and know it can be a thankless task.

[CC1450]

Little update: Removed the decals from the '76s hood and started sanding down the surface rust. I started off with some 40 grit to knock down the loose and flaky stuff, then wet sanded with 100 grit until it felt smooth to the touch all over. It will need a few very small smears of body filler as a few of the rust spots pitted the hood a bit. I've got some finer paper to wet sand with as well. I am planning on picking up some filler and rust converter primer this weekend. The hood cleaned up pretty nice so far, I'm looking forward to seeing it smoothed out some more and painted.

I wanted to install my steering upgrade with the 605 bearing in the '78 but I decided it would be much easier to get in there to that area when I pull the engine. So that can wait for now.

[CC1450]

A couple weeks ago I found a guy selling a 109 complete with deck and snow blade. I had messaged him and asked if he would be willing to separate. At the time, he said he just wanted to sell it all together and had another guy interested in the whole setup. He said if it did not sell in a couple weeks he may consider it, so I left it at that.

Thursday night I noticed the ad was still active on craigslist so I thought it would not hurt to let him know I would still buy the blade. I cannot tell you how much I thought about just buying the whole setup but I don't have room for more cubs right now, and didn't want to spend any more than I needed to. So he agreed to sell me just the plow.

I told him I could come by sometime this morning. I tried to sleep in a little but I was rolling around in bed at 6:30 am trying to go back to sleep without being able to, like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! Finally the time drew near and I put a few bucks in the gas tank of my trusty car and drove about 25 miles, just across the border into Illinois and made my way to his place.

Picked up this 42" IH blade for a very fair price in my opinion, he had it assembled with the linkage but I needed to break it into two pieces to fit it into the trunk. Had to rope the trunk lid down but I got it home without any issues. Stopped off once about half way back home to make sure the rope was holding up.









As you can see, it was set up with some cable lift setup so I will have to order or fabricate a lift rod to use with the hydraulic lift on my 1450. That is no biggie. Question I have though is will this thing mount to my cub as is or do I need some other bracket yet? He said he had it on the 109 at some point and as far as I could see visually his 109 looks just like my 1450 up front. I know the 109 does not have hydraulic lift as his had a handle for the deck to raise and lower.

I was thinking it looks like it may not mate right to my cub and should have asked you guys first, but for the price and as few of these as I see for sale I was not going to let it get out of my sight. You guys following the thread know I have been itching for one!

The guy said he also had tire chains. I wish I had brought a few more bucks, I did not want to ask him to throw them in considering I felt he already flexed on his terms a bit by selling the blade separately. I really could have put the funds towards other things for the 1450 project, it will be a while before we see snow. This was just pretty local and a good deal so I grabbed it without a second thought. If nothing else, if I can't use it I will have no problem selling it for what I paid.


If anyone in the area is looking for a 109 let me know and I can put you in touch with him. He said the engine has been rebuilt not too far into the past and it runs and cuts good. It was all there so far as I could tell and did not look to have any odd previous owner modifications. I told him about this site and he may even list it here in the for sale section, we'll see.


This blade is my cure for the rainy weekend blues. If I am not getting any seat time at least I got to scratch something off the to do/to buy list.

[_DX3_]

That will hook right up to your 1450 with no issues. Put the undercarriage on first then mount the blade to the carriage. It is a PITA to try and get both mounted, or at least it was for me, even tho I was able to do it eventually. When you decide to take it off. find a 4x4 or 6x4 piece of timber and pull up over it with the blade then lower it down. Make it so you can just pull in and out without having to raise the whole thing to get it to attach. I used a length of yellow chain I found at Tractor Supply and couple of quick chain couplers. They kind that looks like a chain loop with a built in nut that rotates up and down to open or close the coupling. I can't remember what they are called. Think I got about 2 feet of chain.

[_DX3_]

Here is the link to the blade manual:
http://ccmanuals.info/pdf/Front%2042...l%20Manual.pdf

[CC1450]

Awesome thank you as always!

I just came back to report I found a site discussing what this setup fits, I've got a big goofy grin on my face right now.
http://www.ytmag.com/gardent/messages/62207.html

Looks like my setup fits a lot of cubs. I did good!

I see a familiar name from around here answered that person, too. You guys are top notch in my book.

Downloading the manual now!

[CC1450]

If it gets any colder out I'll have to mount this bad boy sooner than later, lows in the high 30s here for the weekend. Hope it does not frost I have plants in the garden and see the farmers corn coming up already.

[ACecil]

Nice blade, you got there!