One for mowin' and one for showin'!
 

My son and I picked up a 1715 a while back and we've been working on that for some time. I just picked up a mower deck today and planning on using it to keep the weeds at bay throughout the summer.

We went to a tractor show here in Central FL. and we came across a '62 Original, just waiting for someone to take him home. We worked out a price that was good for both parties and we loaded 'er up!

The previous owner said he:

Changed the voltage regulator and put on a new starter/generator. It has brand new AG tires (still has nubs on them) and he installed a pulling spring on the clutch and gave us the original one. It also has a larger pulley for the engine in case we want to go faster. It has a 10hp Kohler in it now, in place of the original 7hp. He said that he bought it so he and his son could pull with it. Then, they found a 70. He said he just rebuilt the rear with new bushings and seals. It has fenders and runs and drives great!

There are a few bugs to work out. It wasn't charging when we got it home. I checked the wiring and the blue wire was mated with the yellow wire on the Field terminal, instead of the Armature post. I moved it and when I grounded the Field terminal, it started charging. I noticed that the generator was getting pretty warm, so I was glad to see that it did start charging again.

I went through the tractor and found a bunch of loose fasteners and, it had a galvanized pipe exhaust. I HAD to get rid of that ugly exhaust! it has a few oiil leaks so gaskets are in order. I'm actually thinking of a re-power with a V-twin. We're not going to be mowing or anything so, I'm thinking of just using the crankshaft instead of the front of the engine on the V-twin. I know that will change the rotation of the engine but, I read somewhere that you can swap the differentials around to restore the proper direction again. Anyone know about this for sure?

Anyways, I KNOW that if there aren't any photos, it didn't happen. So, I'll be getting some tomorrow to feed the need for photas. More to come tomorrow!

The very last line you posted is precisely correct. We need pics.

Sounds like you found an excellent O to start playing with. Congrats, you and your son will surely love it. Im still waiting to find my O one of these days.

As for the v-twin on the O. Ive seen it done by 2 close friends of mine and it worked out very well for them. Ill try to include a pic of it to give you an idea of how he mounted it in the frame. Keep us posted with progress and PICS!!!!

You might check out the rebuild using a v twin on this "O".
http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=15155

That is sweet! What did they do to reverse the rotation since the engine is mounted backwards?

You can rotate the carrier and ring gear to the opposite side inside the rear to compensate for direction of an engine.

Sounds like a simple fix

Congrats and looking forward to your pics!

As Promised, THE PICS!!!!
 

Here ya go. First one is of the both of them. You can see in the one picture how a previous owner cut a hole in the hood for (I guess) a gas tank at one time. There are a few other modifications that have been done. I think this makes our hood a prime candidate for a V-twin install, just in case we need to trim it anywhere.

I added the chrome pipe (I just COULDN'T show it with that ugly galvanized pipe on there) by cutting the peice of pipe threaded into the head and attaching a 15" piece of sink drain pipe. I know, sounds pretty low brow. But I think it still looks okay. And, it's a LOT lighter than that heavy pipe was! I bought a shorter section of straight pipe and cut two 2" sections of it. Then I sliced it and trimmed out a section of the pipe to make it smaller. I used both of them as bushings (trimming a little more off the second one so it would be a little smaller than the first one and, the inside of the original pipe. It slid on pretty well and stayed there without the clamp but, the clamp will keep it there as we drive it.

We picked it up for 3 1/2 bills and considering that the tires are new, the engine runs, it now does charge and there doesn't seem to be any odd noises, I think we did okay. There will be some gaskets in its future but, if we're going to go the V-twin route, I don't see a rebuild any time soon.

Just in going through and tightening up a bunch of bolts and stuff has made a big difference on how it runs. I'm liking it a lot! Hope you do too!

Thanks for the pics ILuvTruks! That is one sweet Cub!

I can only hope to have something that nice when I'm done with it. Nice to see that it has been done before and there doesn't seem to be a lot of tedious custom fabbing to be done.

I think you did great for that price! I'm not sure if hose clamp will work long term. You should be able to pick up a muffler clamp pretty easy.

Thanks for not making us wait on the pic!:beerchug: