I went with a blue spring, 3 pin driver and pressure plates by Zack Kerber, OEM disc, and OEM rag joint, a bag of 25 spriol pins from Ebay (I wanted extras as I have more than 1 Cub to work on) was able to reuse everything else on my last clutch job after careful inspection....
and I cleaned up some slop in the linkage along the way, plus did a little welding on the original release fork and hanger, what a world of difference... the blue spring is definitely stronger than the old original spring but really it doesn't seem to be hardly if any more effort on the clutch leg....
I had done clutch jobs on Cubs in the past (including on this machine previously) and discovered a lot of "little things" that I did that I never really thought of before that made a HUGE difference in tractor performance as compared to before....
Saw a writeup here by "two ton" which had a writeup by Merk embedded within that made me look harder at a few things that I never really gave a 2nd look to previously....
This most recent clutch job was on a 1200, but much of it is the same on other gear transmission cubs... the biggest difference is the vast amount of debate on solid vs cushion engine mounts.... so many put solid mounts in place of worn out cushion mounts with widely varying satisfaction results.... Besides having done this 1200 twice now, and another 1200 some years back, I had bought solid mounts to be used on that 1st 1200, took them out because neither I or the tractor owner could stand the harshness and vibration. so I compromised, no solid mounts or OEM mounts but I went with sway bar link mounts designed for a car instead on that one.
I still had those solid mounts here (spent too much on them to just throw them away, figured I'd find a use for them somewhere, even if not on a garden tractor.... ) so I put them on this 1200 and gave them a 2nd try.... Originally and with the 1st clutch job they didn't seem quite as harsh on this tractor as they were on the 1st machine that I had tried them on.... so they stayed.
and when the guy that owns this 1200 (both 1200s described here are owned by the same person but not me) killed the 1st new clutch in this 1200, meaning I had to redo it, I was determined not to have to redo it again. I did the clutch on the 1st 1200 several years ago and no problems since.
When all was said and done with the 2nd clutch job on this 1200 (1st clutch lasted all of about 30 operating hours at the most) and the solid mounts still there, I couldn't believe it, almost all the roughness and harshness went away...… it's like not even the same machine any more.
Like has been said throughout industry and the DIY world "It's all in the small details" as to how a job turns out.
when all of this white crap that we are getting today goes away, I will be bringing the guy's other 1200 home to get ready for the mowing season.... changing fluids, greasing, sharpening, etc and I will be going thru the clutch system again... I don't think much will need replaced as it still works fine probably a couple of hundred operating hours after I did that clutch job, but just to tighten things up and eliminate any slop in the linkage and such and see what a difference I can make in that tractor being the difference in this tractor is so huge...…
In the future I see myself buying blue springs any time I go into a clutch, no need for yellow or red, especially if you use these tractors for any purpose for which they were originally built for.... which wasn't competition "pulling"....
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