126/1211 Mower decks question
 

So I looked high and low for a post about this. I might have missed it so I apologize if this has been answered already,

I picked up a new to me 126 last week. It now runs and cuts pretty good. it has a 42" fabricated deck. My 1211H has a GT46 deck that I had just finished rebuilding. The 126 deck like I said cuts okay but I feel like it will not have the power or flow to shoot grass into a bagger. My GT46 deck works very very well with bagger and I already have the parts for bagger. So, you all may already know my question. Has anyone put a MTD deck like mine on a 126? Will it fit? I can weld and fabricate if need be but was hoping there would not be too much alteration needed to do this. The lift system looks very similar but I have not measured anything yet.
Any help is appreciated
Thanks

This is your only route that I know of.

Im Okay with that!
 

Breaks out the torches and welder.... :bigthink: I guess the tape measure will be needed a little also.. Good rainy day to get started on it!

So, you have a 126 with a mower deck.... and a 1211 with a deck and a bagger. But you want to put the deck and bagger from the 1211 on the 126??

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't it easier just to leave it alone and use it the way it already is??

Your 126 won't have the balls to pull a gt 46 high vacuum deck. I put one on my 1450, complete waste of time. Need 18 hp to pull it well. There is a lot to it. You would be better to find a 42"high vac deck from a 1440 and then mod the setup to your 126.

I love my baggers, but you need to match the hp to the deck. Been there, done that, bought the tee shirt. Lots of jacking around to get it right, adjusted properly to find out the engine doesn't have enough snort.

Similar, but you'd have more to deal with http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=46362

J-Mach,
On the surface you might be correct. However I have plans for using the 1211 for other specific purposes other than cutting grass.

Trent, I'd just like to point out that a 1211 and a 126 have the same engine.... so if the 1211 will pull it, then the 126 will. Otherwise I agree.


It's J-Mech. With an "E".

Whatever you want to do. I try to keep things simple. If it was an easy swap, I'd say go for it..... but as Trent pointed out, it isn't an easy swap.

I personally hate baggers.....
I also hate mowing with a gear drive. Especially if you have a lot to mow around, or a small area that requires a lot of maneuvering. Also, keep on mind a NF doesn't steer as tight as the 82 style tractors.

My 1211 is a 12HP Magnum 12. Basically same as the K301A in my 126. On my 1211 the hydro begs for most of the power available, Hydros drives are less efficient than the gear box on my 126. I am failing to see your points in your response.

J-Mech
 

Hey, sorry for the typo there.

After looking at both units and doing some measuring, really not all that bad of a conversion. I will build a small "sub frame" to be fitted on top of the 46" deck. This will have hardware to make up the small span difference of the two different sub frames of units. The lift will still work the same way other than I might lose 1" "height of my subframe" from the top of my lift height. I never mow with it this high anyway and have no obstacles in yard that force me to raise deck to full height. If for some reason the 126 doesn't "have the balls" which it should since my 1211 12HP does. Its a simple change of pulley size to get desired power and torque ratio.

Thanks for the help guys

Keep us posted with pictures when you start working on it, I an curious to see what you do with the drive pulley.

darkminion,

I will keep you posted. I have already seen the the "pitfall" with the drive pulley. The sub frame I will fabricate will have 4 sides the front side will have an opening to allow the belt to pass. Besides that it looks like It may be necessary to attach and incorporate an idler pulley on my sub frame to direct the belt away from the one lift arm that looks like the belt might come close to.. Not a big deal tho.

You can try this...
Remove the front of the mule drive bracket that is on there now and put the NF one on in its place.
You will let me know how that works out?

Ill take a look into that and let you know for sure.. Got wrapped up in another project today unfortunately but I will get to this one soon.

I can't figure out why he didn't just try that before asking..... pretty easy thing to try. I think the foot rest bracket is in a different location though. I tried this before.....

I hate bagging or raking. My solution? Mow in 5 days instead of a week, and your yard won't look like a hay field, you won't have much if any windrows....

Wow, Here I thought this was a forum for people who have had a lot of different cub cadets to share some wisdom with other cub cadet enthusiasts...

Gee, I wonder why he didn't just try that. Well, rather than just try things, whenever there is information available from others who have done what I am thinking of doing I try to educate myself. See this way I can learn from their mistakes and not my own. Selfish idea I guess but then again I thought that was part of what this forum was for to begin with.

The simple truth of it is I asked if anyone here had put this style deck on a 126 . I did not ask for anyone to speculate if it would work or not. I didn't ask if the engine would have enough power to run it. I certainly did not ask anyone to tell me what machine I should be using to cut my grass "J-Mech"

Thanks a lot for the help.. But I was looking for someone who has actually done or tried this.

I have. It didn't work. But I was interested in a direct fit with no major mods. Basically mix subframes, maybe change a pulley and go. I was looking for convenience only. You know, one goes down, type of thing. I only have 1 triangle NF deck, but like 3 or 4 A/C decks. The NF is a pin on, not a quick mount. Rescue11 did it. He already said it wasn't an easy swap..... but do-able. So, there you go.

Ok. So you both tried and failed. Insert sarcasm here, I guess it just cant be done then.. I really do appreciate some of what said in forum. Pisses me off that you questioned why I didnt try changing bull gear. Why didnt you suggest that out of the gate?

I understand the forum much better now. Its more of a show and tell than a help troubleshoot..

I will post lots of pics after the conversion is complete.

You're trying to rig a deck on a tractor that it was never designed for and now you're being a dick because we can't give you all the answer. If you're such an expert how come you're on here asking how to do it instead of just doing it? If I wanted to do it I'm skilled enough to figure it myself, apparently you're not. Like your comment suggests, I'd be on here showing and telling how I did it instead of expecting someone else to figure it out for me.

Very nice.. Now a "Grand member" is name calling and swearing. First off, please show me where I claimed to be an expert. Second there are several different forums here for just that purpose of customizing and making things work outside the box. Im not being a dick because people can't give me the answer. If I am being a dick its because people are responding without being able to give an answer. In other words. If you don't have an answer don't waste time responding. It's pretty simple. Now you come along and you have zero input as well. Like I said. Because the 3 or 4 of you have not done this successfully you act as if it should not be done or can't be done. As far as your "expert comment" I have been a mechanic, welder, fabricator, and refurbisher for almost 30 years now. I own and operate a company doing just that on much, much larger equipment than garden tractors."www.primegse.com" Of course I could go ahead and just fabricate whatever I wish and make this work. What most of the people who responded missed is this. I asked if anyone had done this so I could prevent a mistake before it happened. If you had never tried this before or think it should not be done there was no reason to respond.

Mr Cooper:

Your question was answered on Post #2.

Custom fabrication almost always involves a "one of a kind" design. The next guy attempting the same task will, usually take a different route.

Coming here asking about a "custom fabrication" and then become amazed that someone hasn't did exactly what you want to do, seems a tad unrealistic.

Granted there a few that have a "blunt way" of responding, but you have to face the fact that there may not be an answer for your task, in that no one has done it.

Looks like I will have to monitor this thread to see if it gets out of hand.

:angry:

R Bedell,

You are absolutely 100% correct In saying the question was answered in the 2nd post which was by you. Right after that I said OK.. time to break out the mig and torches. As new posts came in this got darker and darker of a post. I think about 5 or so different people responded to the post. It was only up for a day I think. I was under the assumption that it would take several days of waiting for a member to log in and give some input that has done something similar to what I am thinking of doing. Honestly I would not mind waiting to hear from someone that came in and said something like,Yes, Ive done a wide frame high Vac deck on a narrow frame. be aware of this or that... That would have been great. As I said before. I was just looking to educate myself some from someone who has done something similar before jumping right into it. "BTW, I have NO problem with jumping into small projects like this without asking anyone anything" I just figured this time maybe I would get some information from someone "if theres someone" out there. This is the reason I joined OCC to begin with right.

I was not amazed by there not being someone here that has done what I am looking to do. What I was amazed by was the extra unnecessary cross talk and input that really had nothing to do with the question. Early on in this post one of them said to me. You have a 1211 and a 126. the 1211 has the high vac deck and bagger. Why not just use that he asked.. Well while I can understand why he would think like this what does it really have to do with my original question? Another person commented my 126 would not "have the balls" Im sure you saw the out come of that and we all know they are both 12hp engines and the 46" worked fine on the 1211. I am a fairly well educated middle aged man that has been around the block. It stands to reason that a very small percentage of OCC members have been here in the last 24 hours. If you really do not have some input that fits a post correctly why post? I would have been happy to wait days or weeks to hear from that one guy that maybe attempted something like this or has one thats working and would give some input. No where in my post did I say this is an emergency and I need input right now.

Good Deal....

As a suggestion, when you get done with your project, snap some pictures and give us a report (good or bad) on your findings.

:ThumbsUp:

I sure will... Got both the tractors side by side, decks, carriages, bull gear off. Will take my measurements, create my drawings today then is
beer 30 :beerchug: Ill steal all materials needed from my shop tomorrow and get started on her. Between you and me. the 1211 has always done a good job. I just like the 126 a whole lot more and I have some things planned for the 1211 that do no include a deck. I hate dead grass clippings all over the yard and lines. To me its a pain in the ass to blow after cutting. The 46 deck on the 1211 worked awesome so why not put it on the 126. It might not be the easiest solution but Im ok with that.. To me the easiest solution would be to go buy a brand new XT, I just can't bring myself to owning plastic.

Post 2 assumed it couldn't be done because he hadn't tried it. Post 5 said he did it. It didn't work because the tractor couldn't handle it. Post 17 said he tried. It didn't work because it required too much fabrication and wasn't worth the effort.

So, you got your answers of someone who hadn't done it but commented anyway, someone who had done it, and someone who had tried to do it. I'm confused why you're getting your feelings hurt when you got exactly what you were looking for?:bash2:

Im not hurt at all. But you should maybe re read those posts your talking about. There was no assumption made in post number 2. One of the posts said it worked but underpowered.. He might have had some answers to lend but it never got that far. Hell, for all I know his governor gear was worn out.. I was not asking about the power of the engine. I was simply asking about the actually fitment of that deck on a 126. Sorry. but your response is the most convoluted yet.. I know all these other posters are your buddies and you would like to put up a good front for them but after the last 3 posts was yours really needed?

Cooperino.....
Buddy, I've got the same background as you. Heavy equipment and fabrication. If I wanted to put a John Deere deck on a Cub, it would be done. But I would not come on this board looking for advice. As a long time member, I'm well aware of the abilities of the membership, and the desire of most of us to keep things as original as possible. There are exceptions though, and and members who can put a JD deck (example only) on a Cub and make it look like it came that way. Rescue11 is one of those guys. But, since you seem so adamant that our advice is bad, and no one is answering your questions, then show us how good you are. Again, as an experienced fabricator and mechanic on large equipment, I don't need help.... you shouldn't either. But if you want to argue about who's helpful, and when someone should or shouldn't post, I'd be glad to engage. I don't think the thread would make it very far though, as I'm willing to bet it is about to be closed. I assure you, the only person on this board who has done what you are asking and posted about it, is Rescue11. If anyone else has, they've kept quiet about it.

One more thing..... even if I had done it, I wouldn't give any advice on how to do it. I make a living working on equipment. I assume anyone who has the ability to fabricate can figure it out for themselves. If you need to ask questions.... I assume either you are lazy, or not able. Like Roland says, there is more than one way to make a fabrication like this work.... my way and your way might differ. But I'm not going to post up info, measurements and advice on a custom build that I put hard work and money into, without compensation. I know Rescue11 feels the same way, as someone wanted his plans for a 3pt, hydraulic dump rear bucket.... and he wouldn't give the info out. So, I think you're on your own.

By the way, I have no idea what you keep calling a "bull gear".

That quote J was the 3rd post on this topic. That sound like someone who is lazy or cant do this ? You sure make a lot of assumptions dont ya.. Don't worry. I would never ask you for anything,, let alone pay you. You all made the choice to weigh in.. Even after the 3rd post where I had pretty much decided I would just go and do it. Excuse me for thinking anyone here would want to share any real past project exp..Oh.. and BTW CC is not the only type of equipment with MULE DRIVE AKA on other types of equipment BULL GEAR.. But You have enough exp with heavy equipment right.. you already knew that term.

Yeah, I do know that term. A bull gear is a GEAR. It's found in transmissions and gear boxes. A mule drive is a DRIVE.... NO GEAR. There is no other piece of equipment where a belt drive mechanism is referred to a bull gear. You sure you have worked on equipment?

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

In this reference the gear is not a gear as in a sprocket. Its gear as in a set. Like safety gear is not a gear or a sprocket.. Man your brilliant .. You take a look at my website. Thats about 1% of the equipment Ive owned, refurbished, rebuilt, and sold.... Buddy
Now go play with your little cub cutters

I just love the fact that you think you know every mechanical term, part and meaning of ALL equipment.. Freakin special breed you are indeed the "iknowsallthereistoknow" breed.. Im bored with you now tho... Peace out

Omg... take your safety pin and go. Gave you good advice without all the bs. It was not a personal attack, but you turned it into one.

Ffs.