Loboy turning radius

[Masmith]

I currently have 3 Cubs, 48 and 63 FCub, 58 Loboy. The turning radius on the FCubs are really good. The loboy is terrible compared to the others. Is that normal? I wouldn't think the height difference affects the tight turning radius.

[Scrivet]

I have both and don't notice a difference. I can't figure out how height would have any effect either. Wheel base (Cub 69.3" vs Lo-boy at 62") being shorter maybe, but that might be canceled out by the over/under tie rod arrangement. Is your lo-boy one of the early ones with regular Cub tie rods by chance?

A brochure I have lists the turning radius of a Cub as
......................9.3 ft and with braking 8.7 ft.
lo-boy is listed as 9.6 ft and with braking 7.6 ft.

So brakes help by 6/10 of a foot on a Cub and 2 feet on a Lo-Boy. Never expected that!

[Masmith]

I don't know enough about the difference in tie rods to give you an answer. I'm guessing the radius on the loboy is half of what the cubs are.

[Urbish]

My '58 LoBoy has a much larger turning radius than my '48 Cub. If I recall correctly, my LoBoy has hard stops that the standard Cub does not have (I'm not in front of the tractor to look).

[Masmith]

Interesting. I am not familiar with the hard stops either.

[Masmith]

I just compared the steering arm of the Loboy and Cub. The loboy has the "hard stops". Anyone know why these were needed? It really cuts down on the turning.

[ntrenn]

Yes the Loboy even in late years is inferior on turning circle. My 63 cub actually has the steering off center and turns far tighter to the right than the left. It was several feet different less for right turns. Without brakes, the 65 Loboy needs two mower widths to make an end turn without missing...over 10 feet.

[Gary Dotson]

If your steering is off center, it's not set up properly.

[inairam]

is it set up like this http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86221 and here http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=100856

I have seen a lot of loboys where the tie rods were not installed correctly.

[ntrenn]

Oh, but so nice to be able to have the smaller turning radius on the right side....
Somebody before me divided the sector to bias the right turn tighter. I like it that way.

[amecks]

"I have seen a lot of loboys where the tie rods were not installed correctly."
Yes, mine were incorrect when I bought it. A friend helped me figure out the tie rods were in the wrong way. Now it turns equally in either direction.

[nwfan1]

Any suggestions on setting up an early Loboy without the over-under tie rods? The outside wheel turns much sharper than the inside wheel- maybe this is the issue the over-under tie rods were meant to fix?

[Jim Becker]

. . . The outside wheel turns much sharper than the inside wheel- maybe this is the issue the over-under tie rods were meant to fix?

The over-under increase the amount the inside wheel turns relative to the outside wheel. However, even an early Lo-Boy should turn the inside wheel more than the outside. Something has to be wrong with your tie rods and steering arms.

Pictures might help see a problem.

[Glen]

Hi,
If the LoBoy has an adjustable front axle, you could check the tie rods and be sure they are set the same amount out as the axle is set.

Examples,
If the axle is set all the way in, the tie rods have to be set all the way in.

If the axle is set out to the 2nd position on both sides, the tie rods have to be set out to the 2nd position on both sides.

Below are pics from TM Tractor of an adjustable Cub tie rod, in the 1st pic you can see there are 5 notches in the solid, smaller rod, those are the 5 positions the tie rod can be in for the 5 different spacings of the axle. The bolt in the clamp has to go through one of the notches.
There is a notch in the tie rod tube, at the right in the 1st pic, the clamp and bolt go there.

http://www.tmtractor.com/tm-tractor/gst/tierod_001.htm

Sometimes people put them together set at the wrong length for where the axle is set, with the bolt in the wrong notch.
I would check that they are set right.
If the tie rods are rusted inside, or bent, it can make changing the length harder.

Below is a page from the 1957 LoBoy operator's manual, showing the adjustable front axle.
This manual shows the 1st style of LoBoy tie rods.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... e%2061.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Back to the original question, I decided to take a close look at one of each and see what the difference is. The Lo-Boy has added hard stops as Urbish said. They are on the steering gear arm. i don't have an early Lo-Boy to check, but it appears the stops were added with the crossover tie rods. The Farmall steering wheel turns 2-1/2 turns lock-to-lock. The Lo-Boy only turns 1-3/4. Both have the early steering gear ratio.

That brings the next question -- Why? After staring for a few more minutes, I came up with one idea, maybe right, maybe wrong. If the front axle is set as narrow as possible and you crank it all the way to the left, the left tire comes close to the front housing. It comes even closer, and possibly hits, if the axle pivots the left side up. With the crossover tie rods, the front wheel on the inside of a turn pivots more quickly than without. My guess is the stops were added to minimize the interference between the left wheel and the housing.