Brought 57 cub home today

[wolc123]

It was so much fun cultipacking with the Cub yesterday, that I think I’m going to make a cheap 3 point adapter for it, so that I can use it on my two section drag.

I’m sure it would struggle with that on harder ground, but it should be fine for working fertilizer into loose ground prior to planting, on the shallower settings.

That way, I can leave my bush-hog on my larger John Deere. I got lots of work around here for that combo right now and all the implement changes steals from the time I got to do it.

I’m thinking a short log chain , with a cut off lower link end bolted to one end, and a 5-8 or 1/2” shackle should do the trick.

 

[wolc123]

The 3 point adapter is ready, took about 10 minutes of scrounging on my junk shelf’s and 15 minutes of fabrication:

Maybe I’ll get the rest of my turnips planted at home this Thursday late afternoon or Friday morning, using the drag on the Cub to work in the fertilizer and cultipacker for pushing in the seed, if the weather cooperates.

The small shackle and eyebolt will slide over the lower link pins on the front drag 3 point frame, the large shackle will attach to the center hole on the Cub fixed drawbar, and the top link won’t be used.

I’ve got about 1/2 acre to plant yet at home in two small spots, that are within 50 yards of each other, in the same field.

 

[WinterDeere]

I like the shackle, but worry that eye bolt is going to try to work loose, unless you deform the exposed threads on the end of the bolt to prevent the nut from walking off.

 

[wolc123]

I like the shackle, but worry that eye bolt is going to try to work loose, unless you deform the exposed threads on the end of the bolt to prevent the nut from walking off.

Should hold for 1/2 an acre. If it works good on that, I’ll double nut it and torque them together until I feel some deformation of a thread. That will hold it permanently.

 

[WinterDeere]

Or just pinch exposed end in a vise.

 

[wolc123]

I needed my John Deere on the bushhog today. I’ve got about 20 more acres that needs cutting in the next month. It still had my 2-section drag on the 3-point. I hauled that back to the turnip field, dropped it in the corner, and attached a swinging drawbar between the lower links.

Just for kicks, I tested the new chain section 3-point adapter, that I made up for the Cub with the shackle, on the drag. I set the swinging drawbar height about equal to the fixed drawbar on the Cub. It worked very good. Hopefully, I’ll be able to leave that bush-hog on the Deere until November, when I change it out with a tall, reversed 6 ft back blade for the heavier snows.

I think it will work even better on the Cub. Even though it’s just two wheel drive, and less than 1/4 the horsepower, its significantly tighter turning radius should be a big advantage.

The Cub ought to be able to handle all of the remaining tillage and planting, that I need to do here this year, with that 2-section 3-point drag and my cutipacker. That will be another 1/2 acre of turnips, hopefully this week, and about (5) acres of awp/winter wheat/white clover mix, after September 1.

After the last planting, I’ll put the front snowplow back on the Cub, for fall leaf work, and for light snows thru the winter. I can’t wait to get it on that drag in a couple of days. Hopefully, my buddy gets me the fertilizer that I need tomorrow.

I might pick up a cheap 3 point top link from TSC and weld/fabricate a bracket, to mount it higher on center, on the back of the Cub. That might help me out on the tighter turns, with the steering brakes, keeping the drag from catching the back wheels. For now, I’ll just make wider turns.

 

[wolc123]

I got the turnips in with the Cub this afternoon. I picked up the fertilizer, on my drive home from work today. There is rain in the forecast tonight and tomorrow so I thought it would be best to plant today.

The drag worked ok, for working in the fertilizer. I think it would work better if I rigged the chain attachments a little lower on the drag. I think I’ll try removing the shackle and eyebolt from the the ends, and wrap the chain lower around the front bar and use bolts and nuts thru the links to hold the chain in place.

That arrangement will give me a steeper angle on the front, and hopefully not “push” as much dirt as it did today.

I also learned an important lesson:always carry at least one big adjustable wrench in the tractor toolbox. When I finished with the drag and broadcasting the turnip seed, I noted that the right side drawbar bracket had pulled out. I wasn’t able to fix it back in the field with no wrenches. That wasted a little time, driving back uo to the barn.

 

[ultrarunner]

Something about a Cub earning its keep that inspires…

Keep posting.

 

[wolc123]

Something about a Cub earning its keep that inspires…

Keep posting.

It did pretty good on that two section drag today. I’m going to keep tweaking the chain attach point and angle and depth settings until I find the “sweet spot”. I got about 1/2 acre worked and planted with it today, in a little over 2 hours including the minor hitch breakdown and I have another 5 or so that I want to keep as “weed free” as I can until early September when it’s time to plant with wheat & clover.

The ground speed and power on the drag seemed just about right, in first gear at about 1/2 throttle. Fuel economy was pretty darned good also. It is real nice, to be able to take that work off of my John Deere, so that I can leave the bush-hog on that.

I’m definitely going to make some additional improvements to it this winter, when I have more free time available. A drink holder would be nice. I might do that earlier, even if it just means temporarily screwing a cuzy on a board, and attaching to the top of a fender.

The 3-point top link attach can probably wait till winter, especially after I move the chain attach points a little lower on the drag. I don’t think leaving that short length of chain as a permanent thing, hanging across the front, will do any harm to the drag when I use it on my regular 3-point tractor.

I’m really looking forward to getting the folding roll bar on it this winter. That will be a great safety feature, for when I got to load and unload it, from my pickup truck bed. That’s always a little scary without any rollover protection.

It will also be nice to attach a big wood-framed canvas covered canopy to, like I did on my John Deere. That makes operating the tractor out in the fields, on hot sunny days like we had yesterday, way more comfortable. It’s also great when I get caught out in the rain.

I’ve had at least two tractors here for quite a few years and I wasn’t sure until yesterday that the little Cub could make up for the recent loss of my old Ford 8n. I’m pretty sure now that it can, after the job it did on that 2-section drag.

It’s also worked extremely well, on a little 6 ft Bissel tandem pull type disk, that I have over at our other farm. I think I might try it for cultimulching (I’ll hook my cuktipacker behind that two section drag), prior to corn planting here, next spring. That might push its available 10 drawbar hp a bit more, but I think it’s up to it.

 

[wolc123]

Another winter project, that I’m thinking about for it, involves fabricating a brush mover fork / log roller for the front snowplow frame. That would be very handy for working on clearing and firewood processing the hundreds of dead ash trees in my hedgerows and along the woods line.

I might also take another stab at putting a hitch ball on that front plow frame, for moving my boat and log splitter. I just won’t extend it out so far as I did the last time, which ended up bending the plow frame, due to a little too much tongue weight from my boat trailer.