New replacement grill on my 108 :)
 

Wow, I'm really liking this ABS board! I lost one of those silly springs that hold on the grill :bash2: Every time I thought I had that thing twisted in correctly I found myself wrong. First time I was able to find both springs in the driveway but the second time I was not so lucky and only found one. I'll order another one but in the meantime I made a replacement grill with this ABS board and really like how it came out!

hopefully that has holes in it or the motor will overheat.
thats why the oem one has them.

I was thinking about that so I'll only be using it for this fall and winter. Once it warms up I think you're right and this will need to go. I should have that silly spring by then :bash2:

What is wrong with the original? I can't see from the pictures, broke?
I would do as Lew suggested, get some holes in your new one.:biggrin2:

The original is fine but I lost one of those springs that hold it on. Since I had some of this board around I thought I might give it a shot.

Exactly what I was thinking. Shouldn't matter the season the engine needs to vent IMO.

:Morning: Either get rid of that ABS grill or put some holes in. Better yet, put the original back in and use zip ties until you get the correct spring. :American Flag 1:

So just for conversation sake I'd like to explore this a little more. At most this tractor is hitting a whopping 5 maybe 6 miles an hour. So at that speed there is very little breeze coming in on the engine to cool it down. There also is no radiator or fan behind the grill that would need vents for pulling in or blowing air out. Also, since this is not a QL, there are no side panels covering the engine. All this being said are the vent holes in the grill more for hot air to escape off the engine and the open sides are not enough? Again, this is not a confrontational response so please do not just respond with the "it's your tractor do what you want" template. I'm really asking to understand this. I've also seen puller tractors with the sides totally covered but those tractors are normally not running for a long time so maybe that's why they can do this?

The cooling air is ducted in through the flywheel, up around the cylinder, then out through the front. The grill without holes disrupts the flow, so yes it is going to get warmer than normal. It's not airtight, so yes some of the heat will escape, just not as quickly as they designed it too. Not going to kill it right away, but will definitely cause it to age prematurely, like heavy drinking. :beer2:

Wow totally didn't realize this and glad I asked. I had to read your post twice because I was going to say that the flywheel is on the other side of the engine and did not know how this had any play here. I can totally see how the flywheel with it's fins could be pulling air in but did not think about the airs escape. So in this design the air is being pulled in from the back of the engine and pushed over the cylinder then out the front, hum never new that. Well that makes more sense to me now and thanks :biggrin2:

Was thinking more about this and again want to thank you because this also answers a few other questions I had.

1. Just in general why the heat tins are shaped the way they are. I can see exactly why there is the curve up top and why it would be there to help push air over the cylinder.

2. I was thinking of running without the tins just to play around with different looks. That idea is a firm no go because without that tin the air would not blow over the cylinder.

Thanks again!

Glad to help! If you ever see a flywheel with the shrouds off you'll see all the blades sticking out that force the air over the cylinder head. Works the same way as the blower fan in a car's heating/cooling system. And definitely useless without the shrouds!

Oh yes baaaaaad idea to run the engine without the tins. A good way to see airflow is after mowing in a very dusty area. Blow some air into the front of the engine when it's running at about 1/4 throttle and see how much crap comes outta there. I get a lot of cottonwood during the late spring at my house and it likes to build up on the backside of the grille. Taking a leaf blower and blowing back through the engine when it's running will loosen a lot of the stuck crap and blow it back out at me.

I have to say that I'm a little surprised that you had no idea that the air came out the front. Have you not ever walked in front of the tractor with it running?
Not making fun...... just really surprised you never noticed.

I honestly never noticed. Though only time I would have done that the engine would have been at very low idel so maybe not blowing that much air? It all makes sense now but I didn't realize this. I've now drilled some holes in this grill to fix this issue. Really glad this came up so I got the proper info.

I know you already went to all that trouble..... but I'd zip tie the original back in. You would have to drill it full of holes to vent enough air. Like, as many holes as the original.....

I might just do that then. You guys all seem pretty solid on this so I'm thinking this is not something to be messing with. Kind of silly of me to post something and get all this advice on it then to only ignore the advice. Thanks all for the help 😄

:IH Trusted Hand:

Not poking fun. I see advice given on here all the time, and some still try to convince the pros differently. You did a nice job fabbing it up. Looks cool, but function first, then form. Your lights look cool. Bright?

At the risk of being a lone dissenter, I'm going to disagree. The solid grill won't matter a whit. (though it might melt, depending on the material)

The engine cooling airflow is, as has been described, from the flywheel/impeller, across the cylinder fins, across the muffler and out the front. On the 108, without side covers, I would expect the airflow to simply hit the solid grill cover, and rebound out both sides. I don't believe it will have any appreciable affect on engine cooling. I believe the reason to vent out the front is simply to reduce heat coming back on the operator, not an engine cooling requirement. After all, it's a free air arrangement, and it not possible for the solid grill cover to reduce airflow over the engine and not likely to cause recycling of hot air enough to matter.

Here's an empirical example that you can try. Take a leaf blower. Turn it on. Hold the nozzle pointed at a wall, a couple feet away. Now move closer to the wall. The air flow from the blower will not be reduced until the nozzle is very close--a few inches--from the wall. Up until that point, the air simply is deflected sideways. And for engine cooling, the only thing you are interested in is airflow over the cylinder fins, and where it goes after that is irrelevant, as long as it's not recirculated.

You wouldn't be the first...

I can't count the times that different members here have asked questions, gotten advice and then wanted to ignore or argue about the advice they got.

Those guys usually have a very low number of posts.

i have a 108 with a 12hp as well i have one of the stock springs and a black zip tie holding mine in i like the zip ties the hold it tighter and wont let go like the springs

Think of the engineering that went into the cubs and the overall design. These are garden tractors (and also, as part of that, lawn mowers). Sometimes people drive into shrubs and the like trying to get a closer mow or they get distracted (shouldn't happen, but it does). Well, the flexibility that the springs offer allows some give to the grille to prevent it from becoming broken. A zip tie is a quick fix, but not a "correct" fix.

Cub Cadet 123

That plastic would flow plenty of air and look pretty cool if someone cut a man on a tractor shaped hole in it, just saying. They might even put a red and white painted screen behind the holes...