Cast iron or cast aluminum cyclops nose replacement?
 

Has anyone ever looked into having the cyclops nose/grille reproduced in either cast aluminum or cast iron? This would add some weight to the front (albeit not a bunch, but something) and more importantly it'd resolve the very common problem of the plastic ones constantly breaking.

I wonder with the new upsurge in 3D printing if parts can be printed in the near future. I would love to print parts as I need them.

To be perfectly honest, 3D printing that nose piece in plastic would be quite simple, but so-too would be to bring it to a local injection molding place and have them replicate it.

I only asked about a cast replacement because it'll be far more stout than the plastic and won't become more brittle as it ages.

Could it be done for, oh, say, $20?? :bigthink:

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...863640x446.jpg

I have seen that pic about 20 times in the last two days.

haha...


It's a great conversion, and looks nice and clean.

...but I'd like to keep the look of the cyclops exactly as it is, just make it a bit more stout.

I have found through 20 years of experience with the plastic front ends that the plastic holds up very well if you don't ram the tractor into anything solid, haul it on the road backwards and cause the hood to fly up and last but not all inclusive, don't sit/lean on the plastic.

:ThumbsUp::ThumbsUp:

You could always do this:

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=36031


As far as your original question..... no, you won't be able to have a cast or an aluminum one made. The cost to have the die made for a one time casting would be horrific. Good luck finding someone willing to buy 100 of them to keep cost down, plus.... paying for it up front. Having a someone do an injection mold, or even a specialty fiberglass shop (someone on here does that) make one would be your best, least expensive venture.

What Mike said. I've bought plenty of them with busted plastic. I have never had a problem with one myself. The 2182 I'm working on now has a broken grill, I'll probably put a new grill on it for around $140.00. Just my 2 cents but a decent bumper would be cheap insurance if your prone to running into things. :beerchug:

I hear what both you and Mike are saying, but your post also helps make a case for it. "I've bought plenty of them with busted plastic."

I know to be careful of the plastic nose and as such, will be careful and should be able to avoid busting it. However, I don't think anyone would dispute the fact that they are not all that strong and 8 out of 10 are in some way shape or form, cracked.

That said, I do completely agree with the fact that they'd be prohibitively expensive to have reproduced without the support of many. One person shouldering that cost would be too much of a burden unless they have 10k of disposable cash lying around burning a hole in their pocket.

Think of it this way though: If the earlier IH models had plastic instead of cast iron or aluminum noses, how many of them would be damaged? Although we've all seen damaged cast noses on the IH's, they're fare more uncommon than the plastic ones.

I tried to find a picture of a bare Cyclops nose.
So assuming it is not a complicated part, it could be cast in aluminum relatively cheap. The mold can be made of sand or even made of high temp mold making RTV silicone.
Use an existing nose as a pattern to create the mold.
Melt the aluminum and pour it.

OK let me put it this way. I'll put my $$$ where my mouth is, I'll take 3 at $150.00 each as long as the factory hood and side panels will fit like OEM and as long as it looks like the OEM grill. That said consider that most of these tractor are now around 20 years old and are now just getting to the point that the factory plastic is getting tired do you think it's a good investment to redesign them into a metal replacement? Just speaking from my own experience the hoods seem to last pretty well, the pins on the side panels are the next to go but the mounting points on the grill shell seems to be the worst area. Not trying to talk you out of doing this but I'm not sure the market exists to make it financially viable.

This is what you can buy a new plastic grill for today.
http://www.cubcadetpartsnmore.com/m5...8--grille.html

This is the late style grill including the headlight kit.
http://www.cubcadetpartsnmore.com/m5...ssy-rd-hl.html

Until now I had no idea a replacement front grill was still available. I need one for my 2182 because it is broken off where it attaches to the frame and I like the idea of a stronger replacement at a fair price. If one comes available I would buy one. If anyone can come up with something I would be in for one if it was a fair price. The fair price part may be the biggest hurdle to get over.

Just so you guys know what the later style grill looks like here is a pic of one with the round head lights. The kit comes with the grill, head lights, and all the hardware to convert from the halogen bulbs to this setup. Same as on a 2284. all bolt on. You just need to do a little crimping on the furnished wiring connectors. This went on my 1782.

All I can say is that there hasnt been anything about this hobby that is 'financially justifiable'... I quit trying (the wife unit wasnt buying any of it to begin with).

A friend of mine made his own automotive racing transmissions. He didnt like what was out there so he built his own (castings and all) to get the type he wanted (called them shifters but I dont know what that means). Pretty handy fellow. Sold a couple, but were never a positive financial return.

There are worse hobbies to spend money on.

When I told my wife I was buying another Mower (The 1641) this week she didn't say anything. I heard a friend of hers ask why I bought these lawnmowers, spent money on them and never sold any of them. She told her " It's not as bad as drugs or whores". The problem for me is not the initial cost of the mower but the cost of parts to repair them.
Cannon

:Choke: <---- I know that's what my wife wants to do to me sometimes, but much like your wife, my wife has the mentality that I'm home, the kids enjoy them and enjoy going to some of the shows (as long as I don't spend too much time bs'ing) and at the end of the day, it's not a horribly expensive hobby. I have made great money on selling some, lost equally as much on others, and have enjoyed learning about and tinkering with all of them along the way.

I don't know what the differences are because I'm new to these so is there anything better about the later grill vs the earlier grill?

I'll try to remember to take pics of both types tomorrow and get you some more info.

Isn't the only difference the headlight "panel"? As in one has the headlights molded in for the halogen bulbs (or whatever) and the other has the standard 4411's? :bigthink:

I believe the newer "later" grills had more "meat" (plastic in this case)and/or ribbing where it bolts to the frame and maybe where the hood hinge assembly is. Was to strengthen the weak spots of the grill.

Pics of the two different bulb styles.

I have been following this thread with some interest since I have replaced two of these grilles in the past couple of months. I gave the old ones and the new replacement a good look and here is what I found. The older round headlight style and the new round headlight replacement appear to be identical in construction including the material thickness. The halogen headlight style is close but lacks an important re-enforcement on the bottom near where it bolts to the frame, and most of the ones of this style that are cracked are always cracked in that area.
:bigthink:

Great info guys. I will definatly be buying one of the newer year grills. The last two posts show it's the better design in my eyes. With the lower mounting area being so small no wonder they break. It would be so much stronger if it could be metal. What about the idea of not making an entire grill and just making only the lower mounting area out of metal and having the factory grill with the old lower mounts cut off bolt on to the new lower mount. I'm not sure it would be possable but just a thought. It would be cheaper to make just the lower mounts than the whole grill.

Great job of showing and explaining the differences in the grill styles. :beerchug:

That means a lot coming from the master. This thread inspired me to really take a look at the different grilles I had been working with. Since I had all three styles in the shop at one time a few pictures seemed in order.

I don't have access to my tractor at the moment. If someone has access to their, can you measure the approximate dimensions of the grille?

What are you looking for as far as far as dimensions, the grille isn't exactly a rectangle? I have a couple on the workbench if there is a specific dimension you need I can try to get it.

Basically just rough outer dimensions. Kind of like setting it face down and looking at the longest length and width, as well as the highest point. This is all to determine how large of a casting box would need to be used to make the piece.

I've been looking mine over, as well as your pics, and there's a few spots that I'd want to reinforce, as well as just making the wall thickness a bit more if I were to have it done in aluminum. Again, this would all be solely to make them more stout and allow someone to be able to push the tractor from the nose, as well as not have to worry about it being too fragile when doing anything with it.

(No, I don't intend to beat the tractor up, but when I'm mowing close to thick brush or near small tree limbs with my 100, I don't even concern myself with what brushes in front of the grille. Having said that, I'd never use the nose of the tractor to push something, nor intentionally put any stress on the nose.)

Rough 19" high, 19" wide, 7" front to back.

very cool. thank you.

Well put. Even the non plastic front ends and grills are often broken.

I haven't forgotten about this topic, but after calling around to a couple local foundries and a few out in the midwest, I was either shut down right off the bat, or was told that they'd want a near fortune for each piece (one foundry said 800-1k each) which just about made me throw up. We're not doing cast silver, we're talking about cast iron or cast aluminum.

Oh well.

I'm still going to explore other options, but that's been put on hold for the winter as I'm a bit busy with all the snow.

I realize there are a few nay-sayers on the thread talking about how someone must abuse or bang into stuff with their machines if they're worried about cracked noses, and even one comment about seeing plenty of busted cast noses...

To that, although I haven't had many cyclops or other plastic-nosed tractors (compared to how many n/f's I've had) I can say that more than 9 out of 10 of all plastic-nosed tractors I've seen (including other makes) have had some sort of damage to them. ...and aside from one very clearly beaten on (I'm talking it looks like someone got over zealous with a hammer), I've never seen a busted cast iron or cast aluminum nose. Sure I've seen some stripped out or cracked holes in some cast aluminum pieces, but nothing that really affected the structure of the piece.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. I'll keep trying to find a way to get it cast at an affordable price. In the meantime, I'll make sure I only use my narrow-frame machines a battering rams.

I had similar problems on some of the later plastic John Deere GT's and I started re-enforcing them with metal at the weak spots. I would bend and cut the new metal piece to match the plastic part that was weak and then bond the metal to the the big side panel and some on the mounting bracket. It seemed to work well and if you do it before it snaps or cracks then it is much easier. I used the two tube dispenser type epoxy and if you rough up the smooth areas and clean them really good it will bond beautifully. The second thing I did was to add a front bumper on them. With a plastic nose a bumper should have been a no brainer for CC and JD.