Brought 57 cub home today

[wolc123]

This is my second cub. I think the first one I had was a 56. It was more or less completely wore out when I got it and I swore I’d never have another red tractor after all the trouble I had with that one.

They say life’s about second chances, so here goes nothing I suppose. I got this one at an auction at work. It has very little noticeable wear. I dropped it off at my favorite Farmall mechanic and he gave it a good going over, new carb, fluids, etc.

This one came with tire chains an a snowplow. That was the only job I really liked my old cub for. I really hated “cultivision” and cultivating with it. That was all about slow and a stiff neck.

 

[5030]

Not bad. My first foray into tractors was a 49 Farmall dual fuel. I sold it years ago and should have kept it actually. Nice little tractor and it had a Woods belly mount mower on it. Not good for much but neat anyway.

Pretty cheap date so long as you can source parts.

 

[WinterDeere]

Nice! Looks fun. Assuming she's going to be a user, kept as-is, and not just a show piece?

Where'd those trailer wheels come from?

Haven't seen hubcaps on a trailer since we sold my grandfather's old pickup bed trailer ca.1990. Wish I had kept that little thing now, it must've been 1930's vintage, judging from my memory of its fenders and bed rails.

 

[wolc123]

Nice! Looks fun. Assuming she's going to be a user, kept as-is, and not just a show piece?

Where'd those trailer wheels come from?

Haven't seen hubcaps on a trailer since we sold my grandfather's old pickup bed trailer ca.1990. Wish I had kept that little thing now, it must've been 1930's vintage, judging from my memory of its fenders and bed rails.

Not sure where those trailer wheels came from. It belongs to a friend who I met thru his father. His dad was the head mechanic at the local IH dealer, for many years. He and his father always serviced my old cub. He let me borrow his trailer to pick this one up, drop it off at his place, and bring it home after he finished going thru it.

This cub is going to be a user. As I mentioned above, the only thing I really missed about my old one, was not having it around for light snow plowing. This one came with a snow plow that still looks like new.

I’m also going to use it a little, over on my parents farm, which is about 20 miles away. I use to have a larger trailer, for hauling my other tractors, but I sold that about 15 years ago. 20 miles is a little too far, for driving the tractors, down the road.

The cub is just small enough to fit in the bed of my pickup, so no trailer will be needed to get it back and forth over there. There is a little 6 ft pull-type disk over there, just right for the cub, and I’m also going to leave a 7 ft cultipacker over there.

This cub did not come with a drawbar, so I just ordered one of those from e-bay. I’ll probably use it a little around home in the spring summer and fall for pulling trailers and other stuff around, in addition to the winter snow plowing.

I’ve never been “color blind”, when it comes to tractors, but it’s kind of nice to have the American “big three” around here again. A 1951 Ford 8n (which I still have and use on occasion) was my first tractor, and a 1949 John Deere M (which my dad still has but no longer uses), was the first tractor on our farm, bought new to replace a team of horses.

My first “new” tractor was a 2005, John Deere 4120, which I still have. It handles most of the work around here and has been very dependable, but it does not start very easily when it’s real cold out. Hopefully, this “new” old cub will be better in that regard.

 

[wolc123]

The weather outside was horrific today, so it was a good day for working in the pole barn. I made a step from 3” angle iron, to make it easier to get on and off of the cub.

I also modified the plow frame (drilled (2) 9/16” holes) to accept a front mount trailer hitch. That should make it easy to get my boat and log splitter in and out of the barn.

 

[WinterDeere]

Nice! But you forgot the most interesting part: what kind of boat?

 

[wolc123]

Nice! But you forgot the most interesting part: what kind of boat?

Just kidding, I don’t think she’d take the tongue weight of that 350 ft Lursenn.

It should be able to handle my 1989 17 ft Sylvan Pro-Fisherman with a Johnson 70 on back though.

 

[WinterDeere]

Love it! Grew up skiing behind a 1968 Galaxy with 120 hp Mercruiser I/O, which had similar outward lines and the same damn windscreen.

 

[wolc123]

The temp was almost up to 50 F, out in my pole barn, so I put a couple coats of rusty metal primer on the “new” step and drawbar this afternoon. Next time the temperature gets up there, and I have some time, I’ll get a couple coats of Farmall red on them.

 

[wolc123]

The temperature was above 50 early this morning, so I put a second coat of Farmall red on the drawbar and step. After (8) hours, they were dry enough to mount. Now this tractor is ready for some field work.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I put a 6 volt work light on back. I still need to order a couple sealed beam 6 volt bulbs for the front lights, but I won’t need those until next winter.

I also made a tool box holder for the side. The step works very good. I can’t wait to try the drawbar on an old 6 ft Bissel disk. I’m also going to cut an old 8 ft cultipacker, tgss as to has a few busted wheels, down to 7 ft wide to use with it.

 

[WinterDeere]

She's a beaut! Gotta love the old iron.

I sincerely hope that Rubbermaid tote is only for mock-up purposes, and that you'll be replacing it with a proper steel toolbox, to stay with the period theme.

 

[wolc123]

She's a beaut! Gotta love the old iron.

I sincerely hope that Rubbermaid tote is only for mock-up purposes, and that you'll be replacing it with a proper steel toolbox, to stay with the period theme.

That plastic box is temporary. Hopefully, I can locate an old wooden box, that I always used on my previous Cub and Allis Chalmers model C. It worked great for holding a chain saw, a few log chains, and some felling wedges. I sold both of those old tractors, when I had to thin the herd, as I was dismantling a couple of old barns that my great great grandfather had built in the mid 1800’s. I think I saved the wood box, but it’s currently burried under a bunch of stuff in the corner of my new pole barn.


If I can’t locate that old wood box, I will make a new one. I know that plastic one will not hold up very long for woods use. I also used the box for carrying bags of clover, wheat and rye seed, and a hand-held broadcast spreader, while I used those old tractors on a cultipacker.

One of the primary uses of this “new” Cub is going to be for planting wheat an clover over at my parents farm, which is about 20 miles away. That’s too far for driving a tractor down the roads, and I no longer own an equipment trailer. The Cub fits neatly in the 8 ft bed of my 3/4 ton pickup truck.

There is an old 6 ft Bissel drag disk over at my parents place, that I hope this Cub will handle. I doubt it will pull it at the most aggressive settings, but it will probably be ok with it, relatively straight.

I’m also going to cut down an old 8 ft cutipacker, to 6 or 7 ft width. It has a few busted up wheels on it and I gave a neighbor $ 40 for it a few years ago. I did the same thing with another one like it about 30 years ago, and I have been using that one at our place. It will be nice having another one over at my parents, to use with the Cub.

I won’t be planting wheat and clover over there until September. Before then, I will use that Cub for dragging logs out of the woods. Most of their place is wooded and there are hundreds of dead and dying ash trees, that I am processing into firewood.

I have been using my Dad’s Polaris Ranger for that, but dragging logs is tough on that machine’s automatic transmission. The Cub will not suffer from that malady, with its 3 speed manual.

 

[wolc123]

I did some work over at my parents place today. The first pictures is the (6) ft pull-type disk and the (2) section drag that I plan on using over there with the Cub.

The last picture is a big ash tree (about 30” diameter at the base) that fell down across one of the woods trails. It split into (2) sections about 15 ft up. I cleared enough of it to get a truck through the trail. The two top sections are hung up and I plan on dragging them down with the Cub after the ground dries up a bit.

 

[wolc123]

The new $ 7 ea 6 volt 25 watt sealed beam lights that I bought on e-bay arrived and I installed them today. Unfortunately, I had to modify (cut part of the back out), the oem fixtures to make them fit. I imagine that others, that cost more than $ 40 ea., Would not have needed the fixture mods. I might have forked over the extra dough for those if this tractor was a shower and not a user.

The e-bay seller claimed they are guaranteed to last as long as the originals. I guess I’ll find out about that. It’s pretty neat that they have a bright and dim setting that works, just like cars have.

I also put a separate switch on the rear light so that I can turn that off , when it’s not needed, and reduce the load on my battery and generator.

 

[wolc123]

With the completion of the lights, the Cub is finally ready for snow plowing, just in time for spring. Actually, it’s not now, because I have a little bit of welding and and straightening to do on the plow frame, before I put the plow back on it this fall.

I moved my boat with the front hitch that I had mounted to the plow frame. That Cub had plenty of hydraulic power to handle the tongue weight of the boat, but the plow frame wasn’t quite up to the task. So much for the hydraulic lift front trailer hitch.



I had to go with “plan B”, no more lift and drilled out the center hole of the newly-installed fixed drawbar to take a ball.

 

[wolc123]

I drove the Cub around a bit after sunset last night, to see how the new headlights worked. They worked very well. The “dim” setting provided just enough light to see ok, and the “bright” setting provides plenty of light for snow-plowing with the front blade.

I’m not sure how the factory “high-low” beam switch works, because it only seems to effect the two new headlights, and not the rear work light. That seems to be equally bright at both settings. I wonder if it cuts the amperage flow in half or something like that. The 25 watt headlights got pretty warm to the touch on the high setting. That should work well for keeping the sleet off of them in the winter unlike modern LED’s which are bright but nearly useless in that respect.

I am going to make a couple more minor changes to the lights before next winter, to get it ready for snow plowing. First, I am going to pick up a small pack of black Flex-seal tape, to cover the openings that I had to enlarge on the back of the headlight fixtures. That will keep most of the rain and sleet out of them, and eliminate the distracting glare coming thru, that I noticed last night.

I’m also going to make a clip-on, clear-yellow lens cover for the rear work-light. I’ve got to get out on the road to get to our house driveway, and I plow the neighbors on both sides. I’d feel a little safer, from road traffic in the dark, with a yellow light on back.

My bigger tractor has yellow flashers on it. Maybe, I’ll shop around for a 6 volt yellow flasher to exchange with the rear work light, over the winter.

 

[K5lwq]

Nice to see the cub still getting things done. Good work. We had one on the farm with the belly mower on it. Tough little tractors for sure.

 

[wolc123]

Nice to see the cub still getting things done. Good work. We had one on the farm with the belly mower on it. Tough little tractors for sure.

This is my second one. I bought the first one, mostly for cultivating corn, but I didn’t care for it for that task. I much prefer the two-row 3-point cultivator, that I use now, on my other tractors. I really missed my old Cub for light snow plowing though. The offset engine was especially nice for that task.

Im looking forward to getting this one on the disk, and seeing how it pulls. That probably won’t be until late summer. I’ve only got one good 6-volt battery right now, and I probably will be moving that from the Cub, over to my 1951 Ford 8n soon. By the looks of the weather forecast, I should be able to start my spring plowing next week.

 

[K5lwq]

If you are going to get a second battery at some point I suggest finding a 8-volt battery. That is what we ran in all our 6-volt systems and they really improved starting issues.

 

[wolc123]

If you are going to get a second battery at some point I suggest finding a 8-volt battery. That is what we ran in all our 6-volt systems and they really improved starting issues.

Do the 8 volt batteries keep their charge ok with the tractor’s 6 volt generators ? This Cub has good compression and it starts very easily on 6 volts, as does my 1951 Ford 8n. That tractor only has 1200 hours on it. The Cub don’t have an hour meter on it, but judging by the wear (or lack thereof), I’d guess it’s hours are less than 500.

I think some folks do 12 volt conversions, after their engines get worn and loose compression. I’ve jump started my 8n a few times with 12 volts, and it really does spin it fast. I imagine an 8 volt would be somewhere in between. I wonder if an 8 volt battery would last as long as a new 6 volt however. The one I have now is about 4 years old, and I think the previous one lasted more than 10 years.