Farmall Cub

The old Cub 982 has been running great but lately I've run into some wiring problems. With vibration and age some of the wire terminals are coming loose, and today I found one was rubbing on the engine and totally broke in two. I stripped and cleaned the wires and swedged them back together which made my mowing day start great. I had good charge to the battery (14VDC) until about an hour into mowing and then my voltmeter went to 12VDC. I checked the battery and it showed 12V but nothing from the alternator now.

I have an owners manual and a service manual. The electric schematics look like the coil is also the alternator...is this true? I'm still getting great spark from the coil to the plugs, but no juice from the alternator to the battery. I checked with a multimeter from the battery to the coil and there's no alternator volts anywhere.

Just double checking if I need to replace the coil or is there an actual alternator. My books are a little vague.

Also, when I set my brake to shut down the motor the tractor tries to move forward and my reverse is a bit slow. Is there an adjustment I can make to the linkage or something to get it to go to a neutral setting?

The coil is not the alternator. There is a stater on the engine, behind the flywheel. You're not going to like dealing with it. You basically have to remove the engine just to get all the sheet metal off. Then pull the flywheel. No other way to it. I'd look around REALLY CAREFULLY at all the wiring, connections, grounds, etc., before going to the stater. Unfortunately, youll have to fix it eventually. The PTO switch on the Cub Cadet pulls more juice than anything, and it will kill your battery while you are mowing. Then everything's dead and your stuck until you can charge the battery.

Hydro lever, yes it is adjustable, and it needs to be adjusted. Pull the tin tunnel cover off and the swash plate and adjustments are underneath. The best way to adjust it is to jack the back of the tractor just off the ground, disconnect the brake linkage to each wheel, start the engine and set the brake. Then adjust until the wheels stop turning.

Good luck,
Bill

Thanks for the info Bill!

My initial guess is wiring anyway since I've had to do a few terminal lead repairs on a few wires. Now I have a good point to look at since I was looking at the coil before...lol. There's a three prong terminal box on the right side of the engine and the middle wire was completely broken. After I swedged the wires back together my voltmeter on the dash was showing 14VDC. I don't know if it was related or not, but it was showing good charge. About an hour into mowing, and hitting a few good bumps, the gage was back to 12VDC and bouncing. I know my wire fix is still good (I'm an aircraft mechanic and do wire repairs from time to time), but something must be loose somewhere else.

That 3 prong piece is a regulator/"rectifier'. The top and bottom prong have an ac value and tHe middle one a dc value.
I don't have those voltage values at hand now, but if a wire came loose from the middle one, it is possible one came loose on one of or both the others. I know its a pain to get back in there to where the wires connect, but..