1811's turn in the shop

[J-Mech]

I have. It's still slow. Sam's idea is the best.

[jaynjeep]

Sounds like you had an awesome day with the Cub and your dad!

I second Sam's idea about the vent! It works great!

Also think it was a really good idea to do the cork seal! No way I would go near that far without doing one...even if it wasn't leaking at the moment

keep up the good work! All looks great! you will have a reliable workhorse when you get done!

[Sam Mac]

Originally Posted by jaynjeep

Sounds like you had an awesome day with the Cub and your dad!

I second Sam's idea about the vent! It works great!

Also think it was a really good idea to do the cork seal! No way I would go near that far without doing one...even if it wasn't leaking at the moment

keep up the good work! All looks great! you will have a reliable workhorse when you get done!

X2 on the cork gasket, it's way past it's due to leak date.

[Dirty Steve]

John, drilling and tapping the top of the case for a vent is the way to go.

[john hall]

One thing we discovered yesterday--the tires are loaded! I keep an old set of bathroom scales at the shop to calibrate the planter and grain drill. I decided to weigh the tires--both came in at 95lb. I don't think it will spin cutting grass! I knew something was up as when I took it for a test drive after I bought it. I would go full speed in one direction and then switch direction as fast as I could (in gravel so it could slip)---well with all that weight and traction I only did it a couple times, that sucker will bite! Dad looked and it doesn't appear the guy used tubes Guess I'll have to see what fluid is in there and go from there.

[john hall]

Attachment 80510Finally got back to the 1811. Put the rear back together and back in yesterday. Everything went nice and boring (which is a good thing!). One of the more aggravating things to me is getting the 6 mounting bolts back in the rear, after you get a couple started its not that bad. The other thing that can be a little aggravating is hooking up the pedal return spring. I left the lock nut off the front bace bolt that doubles as a place to hook the spring. Hooked the spring on the pin at the front, ran a loop of electric fence wire over the other end of the spring and out the back of the Cadet to a big screwdriver. This one was light enough I could pull it with one hand and slip it into place with a different screwdriver. Dad taught me this trick for springs many years back, you just have to sometimes use several loops of wire depending on the strength and always be prepared for something to break or slip off--in other words stay out of the line of fire!

I did find the bushings on the shaft that actuates the brakes are gummy. Appears to be a welded assy. I'm going to drop the 4 bolts so I can slide the bushing down the shaft and polish things up a bit so the pedal will return on its own. It appears it may have been dragging a little on the brakes, some uneven wear on the pads. I pulled the calipers apart and cleaned everything up including sanding the pads to bust any glaze. I wire brushed the brake discs before putting them back in the rear end.

[jaynjeep]

Looks Great John! Funny thing.... my dad taught me the same trick with the wire and spring! He told me it was a trick he learned in the army!? But that is what he always told me when he showed me something!! I believed him until I was in my mid teens!

[john hall]

Got to spend more time with the 1811 yesterday. For starters I pulled the brake shaft bracket (1 side at a time), slid the bronze bushing down the shaft an inch or so (not easy) and polished the pivot area with sandpaper. Put one side back together and then did the other. I'll give credit for using bronze, nothing should rust and seize. However they hardly have any clearance so the shaft itself rusts and the whole works get gunky, so now nothing pivots. Regardless of the design, its only about a 15-20 minute repair--easier with tunnel cover off so you can see bolts. I did note there is so much slop in the brackets that you may have to get them snug and then tap them square with a hammer, otherwise they can be bolted in crooked enough bind the shaft--been there.
On to the electrical. To make things easier, I knew the PO had carb trouble so I pulled the fuel tank to drain it--good thing because it had some trash and a bad fuel outlet grommet. So the reverse switch had the arm missing, but then both wires were unplugged. The small red wire to the solenoid that passes through the clutch switch had been cut and discarded at the solenoid. A new wire had been run from the solenoid almost to the key switch where the other end of the cut red wire had now been skinned so the new wire could be spliced in. A quick test proved the clutch switch was bad. So I removed the new wire, taped back up the skinned area of the good wire and added a 6" extension to where it was cut so it could be hooked up proper. Made a jumper to bypass the clutch switch and taped it up until I can get one. Hooked the reverse switch back up--a little testing required as the switch can be normally open or closed depending on which of the 3 terminals you hook the 2 wires onto. Amazing everything works and all the guy needed to have done was tie the 2 wires at the safety switch together to get it to crank instead of all the work he did. No wonder these idiots had a 1/4" bolt in place of a fuse.

Next attention was turned to the engine. Pulled the top muffler shield and the head shields (as best as we could) Things were fairly clean but I was able to blow out a lot of gunk with a long air gun. You can really get to the starter side and the front but the oil filter side, not so much without pulling the lines--I ain't doing that unless I see a lot of trash. Flywheel seal not leaking but the one on the PTO is--got to get one ordered. Put the tins back on and installed an inline fuel valve--we have gone to keeping the fuel shut off, valve under the tanks isn't designed for accessing every time you put the mower away.
Changed oil and filer--it took a 1/2" pull handle to break the drain plug loose. Not surprising it was a fair amount of effort to get the filter off with channelocks. Dumped in some IH Low Ash and a Napa filter. Still had to put the fenders and seat back on. After that it was show time. Tried a slight bit of adjusting on carb, no luck so I'm going to pull and clean it and put a kit in.

I did drive it around a lot,, hydro is amazing, probably the best one we have. Those loaded ag tires make it drive completely different than any lawn mower I have ever parked my rear on. Twice I did a wheelie taking off from a standstill on flat ground. Certainly going to have to use some sense driving this one. Considering where I want to mow with this one, all that traction is going to be perfect.

No pics for the day, just progress. I did bring the 50C deck into the shop. Its going to take more parts than I planned for but should be nice when done.

[john hall]

Looks like I'm going to need a set of pulleys. The center is rusted through, the outers look too rough, I'm afraid they will destroy a belt. I only saw one center pulley in the parts book, is there a speed up pulley offered for a 50C?

[J-Mech]

There was no speed up pulley offered for any of the CC decks. But some decks had more pulley options because they were meant for different tractors. It just so happens that one of them will speed it up if used on the right (wrong) tractor.

Yes only one pulley for the 50C.