New member from the "nutmeg state"
Hi all,
My name is Eric and I'm new to the forum and an inherited 128 owner. My dad bought the tractor new some time back in the 70s and it ran strong his whole life. After he passed back in '02 the tractor sat in the garage at my parents house. My mom used it to cut the grass for a few more years till it finally failed. Since I was living in Kansas City, Missouri there was nothing I could do to help. The poor woman was cutting 2 acres of grass with a push mower so I called my buddy Russ, a Jacobsen and Club Car mechanic, to get it running again. He did get it running again but it broke down again soon after. Fast forward to last summer I moved back to Connecticut to help my mom sell the house when she retires later this year. I pushed the old 128 out into the driveway and had it thumping 15 minutes later, these things are like tanks and now i understand why all the old timers say "they don't build 'em like they used to".
As of three weeks ago when the weather turned I pulled it out into the driveway again to fix some issues. The implement handle button was broken so I fabricated another. The PTO handle wasn't even functioning so I adjusted and fixed that. Also I pulled the deck to sharpen the blades up and hit all the zerk fittings with grease. I was cutting the grass yesterday when I heard a crazy rattling sound throttled down and it went away, then I realized no brakes or clutch. I finished cutting the grass in second gear and limped it back to the garage. First thing I checked was the clutch shaft and saw the outer race of the throw out bearing in the middle of the tension spring. It was my bad because as i just found out you never clutch these old cubs to slow her down, that's why the bearing failed. Pulled the clutch out today and everything else looks good, just a new throw out bearing and friction plate. My buddy has a pre-WWII South bend so I can turn the pressure plates.
I remember my dad taking me on tractor rides as a kid on the 128. My kids want to do the same, maybe this weekend when I get it running again.
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