Only Cub Cadets - The last couple days

I haven't been on much the last weak or so. I have been working on this 1861 I picked as a parts machine last fall. It was intended to be a parts donor for my "special" project. I was going to use the front axle, engine and drive line, and rear end out of it.

I started giving it a good look over and found, messed up steering box, bad wiring, Bad muffler, bad body "obviously" , bad oil line, broken hydro control lever, but has a real good running engine and a nice "minus paint" 54 inch deck. I will be putting that on the 1806 eventually.

I really did not intend to fix this up as a user , but it kinda has come to that.

I got the steering box out and could immediately see that someone had it apart that shouldn't have. Got that put together correctly and it works wonderful now. Put it back in and it makes a slight snap noise when starting to turn one direction, I think it is in the ball joint coupler though.

Next was the hydro control lever and shaft. I can say that I never thought it would be such a pain to change one of those. Once I got it adjusted correctly, the hydro feels good and tight.

Next was the muffler. the one that was on it was rusted out badly. I have a couple laying around so I put one on it. I did twist the end of the one bolt off that is under the muffler and holds it to the block, but that will be fine. The jam nut for the PTO is still on there.

The wiring is a total mess. Some jumped safety switches ,and a green ground (lead with a spade connector) from the neg battery terminal, that I can't find anything to plug it into. I myself prefer to remove the safety switches and rewire it correctly if needed. Jumping them just leads to problems later.

I took an oil line off another parts engine and fixed that up.

What is the trick to get the hydro release lever back up through the tunnel cover and get the ball on ? I think I need a third hand for this. I will have to push it up from underneath.

Anyways I got to take it around the yard a couple time last night, right before dark. Some of you may recognize the rear wheels and tires :biggrin2:, I needed to stick something on it and they were handy. It felt good but I need to get the seat moved back. That is another thing wrong with it. The seat slider does not lock. I will have to see about that.

I have no idea what I will do with this thing. I am thinking I will run it for the summer with the 54 inch deck. After I put the correct size wheels and tires on the rear. I do not have a body for it. The hood is the only thing salvageable from the front. And you can see that the rear fenders are done. then maybe next winter I can get going on the project again, make use of its parts.