Hello new friends,
Pull up a chair, pop a cold one and let me lay it out for you.
My best buddy is a retired Marine who bought a used Cub Cadet 682 tractor for mowing his back acre. He paid too much for it, mainly because he's brave but not smart - about mechanical stuff anyways. However if you tell him to take a village he will kill everyone in it and deliver the village to you. So he is smart about some things... Anyways, almost immediately, the tractor stopped running and the mower stopped mowing. I showed up with some new plugs, clean fuel, and copious amounts of starting fluid and was able to get it running. But it still doesn't mow - I suspect the clutch assembly. But that's neither here nor there right now and certainly not our biggest concern. Read on...
Predictably, my friend's wife has been riding his butt for months and months about the broken tractor. She never misses an opportunity to point out his mistake in buying the tractor. And she is worse than any DI he ever had... She won't let him sell it and she won't let him buy another one. She has him right where she wants him...
So, I have organized a secret rescue mission for my friend which I call Project X. I plan to "steal" the tractor from behind his house, much like that TV show Overhaulin', restore it to showroom operational quality, and then give it with a hot, custom USMC paint job and then present it to him in a "reveal" at his annual BBQ next July 2017. I will be engaging some of his other friends former Corps buddies as co-conspirators to help with the caper (and hopefully to help pay for it).
I have joined this board to gain expert advice as I take on this project...I can turn a wrench but I have my limits. Like, I don't weld, I don't have any fancy clutch pullers, I probably am not going to rip an engine down to it's skivvies. I can do carburetors and electrical stuff and truly know enough to be dangerous. Very dangerous.
So finally, my ask to all/any of you: I need some bang-up, rock solid Cub Cadet guys/gals willing to put up with newbie questions and help coach me through this restoration... I am going to need lots of advice and probably lots of parts. I will supply pictures throughout the process and keep you all informed. This is for a good cause for a good guy and it will absolutely hopefully make him cry, which I will then capture digitally and mock him relentlessly. But I am getting ahead of myself...
I am based in Maryland. Sorry for writing you a novel. That's my introduction and hopefully I've come to the right place.