This is the second one I’ve owned. They were most well known as a special purpose cultivating tractor. Their claim to fame was the offset engine “cultivation”. I bought my first, very well used and nearly completely worn out one, specifically for that purpose.
I had lost the tractor that I first used for that job (my grandads old John Deere model M), which has been the first tractor on our farm, when my mom and dad moved onto her parents farm. They took that tractor with them, leaving me with just my Ford 8n, on dad’s parents old farm.
I tried a cheap used 2-row 3-point cultivator on the 8n, but it didn’t work so great. I picked up a tricycle front Allis Chalmers model c and modified it to fit that, but it still didn’t work so well.
Finally, I got my first Cub, that came with mounted cultivators. That worked better, but I honestly never liked the “cultivation”. That forced me to hunch over and look down at the row. I much preferred to keep my head up and sight down the rows, like I always did on the old John Deere m.
One thing I really did like that old cub for was snowplowing. I had made a plow for it, using an old one that was originally made for a riding lawn mower. I welded plates to the sides of the blade, to make it wider, and pipes to the back of the frame to make it longer.
The back of those pipes mounted to 2 holes on the back underside of the tractor under the fenders. A short chain underneath and connected to the cultivator brackets let me lift it with the tractors hydraulics. It took less than 15 minutes to install that plow, and it worked great.
While I hated the offset “cultivation” for cultivating, it was wonderful for snowplowing. You could really see what you were doing without the engine blocking your view.
Mt biggest problem with that old Cub was that it was badly worn and suffered frequent breakdowns. When I lost some barn storage area and had to thin the herd, that cub was the first to go.
My father in law had given me a real oem snowplow for it. I traded that plow to a guy for another 3-point cultivator, and that one worked a lot better than the first one I had on my Ford 8n. I sold the Cub to a coworker for $ 750.
I figured the like new rear tires and rims and the mounted cultivators alone were worth more than that, even though the rest of the tractor was worn out.
About 5 years after I got rid of that first Cub, I really started to miss it for snowplowing. I had also built a new barn, so I had more storage space available. When they put this “new” cub up for auction at work, I put in a bid of the most I was willing to pay, to the penny ($783.17). It hadn’t ran in 18 years but had very little noticeable wear.
I paid my mechanic buddy $ 445 to get it going (needed a new carb, radiator hose, tune-up, and all fluids changed), and I spent $200 on the drawbar, and $ 14 for the front light bulbs, and $ 15 for fuses.
So I now have about $ 1500 into it. One of my favorite things about it is that it is easy to haul in the bed of my full sized pickup truck. Definitely my favorite thing about it is how fun it is to plow snow with.
