Why I like working on Cubs

I started restoring green tractors in the early nineties, and enjoyed everyminute of it. In fact I have several green tractors. Then one day a fellow asked would I restore his grand dads cub. Reluctantly, I said I would. Here is what I learned. Tons of parts available, new, used, aftermarket reasonably priced. 90% of the tractor can be worked on using three wrenches that you can carry in your pocket. No steps or ladders required. Love the sound of the engine. Very simple, this turns that that moves this. As of the other green, orange and red tractors nobody in the fifties thought of how to get on the tractor as you got older. But that is ok, we have figured that out. Keep the red and green ones looking good. What a great hobby.

Personally I HATE Working on cubs.. you can't take the hood off to easily get to the engine because it is attached to the fuel tank. You can't get to the valves without removing the manifold. The distributor is too cramped. Just an overall PITA to work on. Just my opinion. I'm glad I sold my last one a couple weeks ago...

Well I hate to say it but the more I have to work on my Cub, it makes me appreciate my 140 and 240 more.

Now I am not "bashing" Cubs grew up on one and have owned a dozen or more but what ever you can do with a Cub a Super"A" or 140 will do better.

Another reason I like working on a cub, most of the components weigh less than 10 lbs. A flywheel or brake assy on a John Deere is HEAVY.
Too many small screws it seems, most have to be drilled out. but keep smiling as you grind.

You must not do a good job of fixing as they are very solid when it comes to have to work on them all the time

My eyes have helped me to work on the horizontal distributor. I now pop the cap , mark the distributor, remove the two bolts and put the thing in a vice with a very bright light overhead. Too hard to see in its original position for 65 year old eyes.

they are a cute little tractor. heres a pic of mine. i have a woods 59 on it. rear tires are loaded with calcium. for only about 10 hp or so, it does a good days work on very little fuel.

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uh...oh yeah....worked up the field behind er. pulled 6-16's!!! lol

Agreed but the Cub is smaller making it have some advantages because of that its not high HP so we just dont do heavy work thats why we have bigger tractors.

Of all the Farmall tractors in this neighborhood back in the late 1940's and 1950's I only knew of two Cubs around here. Both were rarely used as one of the farmers had a team of horses he preferred to use although he did use his Cub occasionally to mow grass hay with it's little mid-mounted sickle mower. Another one was a small time hog farmer and painter who worked in town and used his to move farrowing houses around and to pull a small cart with feed. We did the hay for him as he had a couple of small hills between his hay field and the barn and he couldn't get even a small wagon load of baled hay up the hill so it wasn't even used there. I don't know how they were generally used but most farmers around here had a 113 or 123 cu. in. Farmall for even the lightest of work in those days. I'm not knocking the Cubs but they must have had an extremely small list of what they would be suited for in real farming applications, Hal.

Cubs were primarily used for gardening and cultivating. I mowed a 16 acre wheat stubble field with one when I was 10 years old. Took 2 days. Loved every minute of it.

My dad has two Cubs, a 1948 with a Woods 42" belly mower and a 1950 that he bought sight unseen that turned out to be a demonstrator model. He hasn't had time to get the '50 running yet but I always enjoy puttering around on the '48 and looking for something to mow whenever I am at the folk's place. Fun little tractors. They are surprisingly capable for only having 10 horsepower.

I found this Cub along with the plow and disk sitting in a building for over 20 years. The engine wasn't stuck. Hal

Every tractor is what it is. They all have limitations and strengths. Some cubs were used for things they were not intended due to the need at that time. I know we did. I appreciate all tractors. It is not a perfect world and we cannot all have all things. The Cub is a great tractor, as are most of the rest.
Enjoy them all.

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB...

I have to laugh, as soon as one person says a tractor is great, a flock of vultures descend to take them apart. I have been on Cubs, a, b, 140, 240, H, M, f-12/14, f-20, f-30, etc. and I all I can say is this, pick the right tool for the right job.

Have you ever had to weed 150 ft rows of carrots, beets, onions, lettuce? Well all I can say is that with our ole cub low boy, I sure could save the time and not get a tanning for taking out the rows. Did I mention I hate using a hand hoe? Or weeding by hand? There is a lot to say about the fuel efficiency of the cub, it is easy on the wallet. Now if you were going to plow 65 acres, no. You wouldn't clip coupons out of the Sunday paper with an axe would you? Just like you wouldn't chop wood with a pair of scissors. If you spend the time, spend the money for quality parts, and do it right, once you rebuild a cub, you won't need to take the hood of until the next rebuild. Our 1958 cub has been rebuilt twice, 1977 and 1990, and it is still going strong. I am 46, and I have been driving it since I was 7 when we put some wooden blocks on the pedals so that I could reach them with my short legs. It will be the one of the last tractors I will let go when I am 90 (we have over 40 tractors now).

(quoted from post at 11:58:47 01/10/14) THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB...

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Absolutely. If one tractor did everything, IH wouldn't have made different models. I'd like to see somebody try to mow a lawn with an I-9 or try to pull a subsoiler with a Cub Cadet original.

You need to remember why the cub was designed and sold. It was intended to win over the farmers that were still using teams. They originally sold for about the price of 2 good teams, but work the teams into the ground. They were kept simple, and things done to reduce cost, such as the one piece hood and gas tank. I am not crazy about the hood/gas tank deal either, but I have 3, one of which I have owned for 30 years, and you very seldom need to remove it. An old lawnmower gas tank with a flexible hose is pretty handy when you have the hood off though. The valves can be adjusted without removing the manifold, but it is necessary to remove the carb. According to a survey done on this site a few years ago using serial numbers, it was the 3rd best seller in the IH line up, and the 8th most popular of all tractors sold in the U.S.