Whats wrong with this picture and a "Whats it worth question"

smurphy · #1 07-13-2012, 08:05 PM

I'm not a Cub Cadet man, more into Case and Allis Chalmers, but to make a long story short I needed a tractor to mow my lawn with 2 times (literally) and stumbled along this 126 on CL for $200. It ran (but needs rebuilt something awful) and needed attention to the wiring department. However it came with a prefect mower deck, headlights and wheel weights. I feel so bad for this poor little fellow that I am going to give it a good refurbishment and send down the line to a new owner.

I have a Cub 124 puller, Case 446, 224, 210 AC B and WD-45 so if I keep one more tractor my wife may divorce me, though I have not yet figured out the downside to that.

So first question, Whats a 126 worth with a quality paint job and new decals, rebuilt engine with receipts, and a brand new color correct wiring harness that does not have a single P.O.S plastic wire connector in it? (I solder and shrink most all connections)

Second question, the P.O obviously did some form of repair here. I can't seem to figure what this is suppose to look like. I would go out and look at my 124 but its 890 miles to the north of me at this moment in time.

Matt G. · #2 07-14-2012, 12:24 AM

Looks like the PO tried to reinforce the clutch hanger bracket. That is a weak spot on those tractors. If you search around this site you'll find some better solutions that forum members have come up with.

As far as the 'what's it worth' question, the answer is likely 'less than what you'll have in it'. You can't make any money restoring these things if you do it right.

smurphy · #3 07-14-2012, 08:06 AM

I don't care about "making money". I just want back most of the money that I have invested in it which will be around $600 to $700.

gcbailey · #4 07-14-2012, 08:44 AM

a good paint job will run you easily $300+ by the time you count paint, primer, thinner.... good decals around $100, about the same for a wiring harness.... Does the engine need rebuilt, or just refreshing along with the carb?

Like Matt said, you'll never get your money back on a honest, do it like it should be, refurb. I know guys with other brands who have literally spent $2000-$3000 in a top quality, better than factory restore only to sell the tractors for less than $1500.

Oak · #5 07-14-2012, 08:50 AM

The 126 is the third lowest production model Cub made. For some reason there are always a bunch of them for sale. As Gary and Matt said it would be hard to get 100% of your money back out of it. The weights and lights should add about $100 each to the final price.

Matt G. · #6 07-14-2012, 09:01 AM

You are drastically underestimating the cost of a quality restoration. If you use all OEM parts when you rebuild the engine you may have $6-700 in that alone. I fell into this trap, too...it costs a LOT more than you'd think to restore one of these and do a good job. Somewhere I've got an excel spreadsheet for everything I spent on this 100 when I restored it 3 years ago:

077_finish (Medium).jpg

074_finished (Medium).jpg

082_finish (Medium).jpg

085_finish (Medium).jpg

The engine got a new rod, (aftermarket) piston, and rings (no machine work was done), clutch, paint, gaskets and seals in rearend and engine, I made a new wiring harness, rebuilt the steering box, and basically fixed everything that was wrong with it to make it into a new tractor again. I tried to save some money by using an aftermarket piston, making some of the rearend gaskets and wiring harness. I put on 4 nice, used tires that cost me almost nothing. I had a 3-point, spring assist, and lights laying around that I added to increase the value. I spent weeks researching to find the best deals on all of the parts I needed so I would spend the least amount of money possible. I sold it as you see in the picture and got $1250 for it. That is essentially what I had in it, and it took me 6 months to find someone that would pay that. If it didn't have those options and the plow, I probably never would have gotten that much for it.

If you have to do any machine work to the engine or replace any really expensive, harder-to-find parts, and buy new tires, you'll easily have $2000 or so in it, and it's probably worth half that with no attachments and few options.

smurphy · #7 07-14-2012, 10:37 AM

Well everyone here has told me what I can't do but no one answered my original questions. Thanks

FYI I get stens rotary parts at cost. The mark up for Stens is 125% on most parts. I can do a typical kohler rebuild for less then $200. As a matter of fact I dropped the block and crank at my local machine shop on thursday and it will cost me $45 to punch the block to .10 and $55 to grind the crank. New piston is at the machine shop, rod and gasket set are on the work bench. Valves, guides, and seats are still in spec and will just be lapped. Theres nothing wrong with my main bearings and I will true the head on a thick piece of glass. So at the end up the day I'm looking at about $156.14 to redo the engine. (I pay cash at the machine shop so there is no tax) I have rebuilt quite a few K series kohlers and have never had one come back to me yet using stens parts. Are stens parts as good as original kohler? Absolutly not. Will they last 10 or 20 years? Maybe. The oldest one I rebuilt is 8 or 9 years old and in a Cub 104 that has been used hard for pulling a stone boat or a transfer sled once or twice a month.

Paint, I bought the paint from Napa this morning and ran me about $96 for paint, reducer, and hardener. Is it base coat clear coat show quality paint? No, its just plain enamel that is durable and will look good for years to come giving the tractor is taking care of. I buy sand paper for my DA by the roll for
.59 cents a disc. They come in 100 disc rolls. Will I use 100 discs of 80 grit and another 100 discs of 220? God I hope not considering it only took me roughly 230 discs to paint a Grove TMS250 crane. As for primer I'm not sure what that will run as I have a a half gallon of red oxide left over form other projects. Now throw in $50 for misc supplies such as tack clothes, scotch brite pads, etc. Then count in a little less then $100 for decals form maple hunter and I will be under $300 for paint.

Never once did I say I was doing a restore. I said refurbish and quality paint job. As for tires I have a used set off a tractor I parted out that will look real nice once they are cleaned up.

So whats a tractor worth in that sort of shape?

Oak · #8 07-14-2012, 10:58 AM

For some reason 126's don't seem to bring much over $500. I'm in the process of redoing a 126 and I will probably have way over that in mine but I'm not doing it to sell. It sounds like you can do yours pretty cheap as far as the machine work and parts. I say do it and keep us posted with pictures on the progress. Good luck

.

Sam Mac · #9 07-14-2012, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smurphy

Well everyone here has told me what I can't do but no one answered my original questions. Thanks

FYI I get stens rotary parts at cost. The mark up for Stens is 125% on most parts. I can do a typical kohler rebuild for less then $200. As a matter of fact I dropped the block and crank at my local machine shop on thursday and it will cost me $45 to punch the block to .10 and $55 to grind the crank. New piston is at the machine shop, rod and gasket set are on the work bench. Valves, guides, and seats are still in spec and will just be lapped. Theres nothing wrong with my main bearings and I will true the head on a thick piece of glass. So at the end up the day I'm looking at about $156.14 to redo the engine. (I pay cash at the machine shop so there is no tax) I have rebuilt quite a few K series kohlers and have never had one come back to me yet using stens parts. Are stens parts as good as original kohler? Absolutly not. Will they last 10 or 20 years? Maybe. The oldest one I rebuilt is 8 or 9 years old and in a Cub 104 that has been used hard for pulling a stone boat or a transfer sled once or twice a month.

Paint, I bought the paint from Napa this morning and ran me about $96 for paint, reducer, and hardener. Is it base coat clear coat show quality paint? No, its just plain enamel that is durable and will look good for years to come giving the tractor is taking care of. I buy sand paper for my DA by the roll for
.59 cents a disc. They come in 100 disc rolls. Will I use 100 discs of 80 grit and another 100 discs of 220? God I hope not considering it only took me roughly 230 discs to paint a Grove TMS250 crane. As for primer I'm not sure what that will run as I have a a half gallon of red oxide left over form other projects. Now throw in $50 for misc supplies such as tack clothes, scotch brite pads, etc. Then count in a little less then $100 for decals form maple hunter and I will be under $300 for paint.

Never once did I say I was doing a restore. I said refurbish and quality paint job. As for tires I have a used set off a tractor I parted out that will look real nice once they are cleaned up.

So whats a tractor worth in that sort of shape?

Murph

I sold a 129 recently for $630 and a 147 for $700.00 that is what I had in them not countly anything for my time. I'm so done doing it for the practice. I'm sitting on 3 of the nicest Supers you'll ever find and I have about $9000.00 tied up in them. Hope this helps.

Mac

Merk · #10 07-14-2012, 05:45 PM

Quote:

by smurphy
FYI I get stens rotary parts at cost. The mark up for Stens is 125% on most parts. I can do a typical kohler rebuild for less then $200. As a matter of fact I dropped the block and crank at my local machine shop on thursday and it will cost me $45 to punch the block to .10 and $55 to grind the crank. New piston is at the machine shop, rod and gasket set are on the work bench. Valves, guides, and seats are still in spec and will just be lapped. Theres nothing wrong with my main bearings and I will true the head on a thick piece of glass. So at the end up the day I'm looking at about $156.14 to redo the engine. (I pay cash at the machine shop so there is no tax) I have rebuilt quite a few K series kohlers and have never had one come back to me yet using stens parts. Are stens parts as good as original kohler? Absolutly not. Will they last 10 or 20 years? Maybe. The oldest one I rebuilt is 8 or 9 years old and in a Cub 104 that has been used hard for pulling a stone boat or a transfer sled once or twice a month.

Do you reuse or replace the plastic governor gear?
Do you reuse the head and bearing plate bolts?

There was a gent on this site that built a great looking super/sub super Cub Cadet with a manual trans and hydraulic system that ran off a pulley on the flywheel end of an engine. This Cub Cadet had power steering and had the factory look....Cub Cadet never built the Cub Cadet I discribe above.

Are you that gent?