Curt's 1955 Farmall Cub, SN 192959

Welp... I survived another winter.

I also managed to roll the Cub onto its side in a slow-motion accident. It felt a bit like one of those Wile E. Coyote cartoon moments... one moment I was motoring up the gravel road towards the house, the next moment the road collapsed and dumped me over into a creek. Right about then I just wanted to pull a 45 and put the Cub out of it's misery. I wish I would have taken a picture of that moment... tractor laying on the left side, bleeding oil out onto the ground out of the dipstick tube.

In the end, the actual damage done was pretty minor. Scratched up the paint on the left fender and tore the seat cover trying to lift the Cub out of the creek using chains and a front-end loader. (I guess Dad's John Deere is good for something after all.)

So, here I am a few months later, back working of various odds and ends. A few days ago I got the jigsaw puzzle that is the mower reassembled. Not too bad, but I still have to make a few of those odd plow bolts to replace the carriage bolts connecting the cutter bar to the castings.

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And for the past few days I have been getting the two-way plow cleaned up and ready for use. The bulk of the work being done with a wire-wheel to knock 40 years of rust off of it. Almost done today, just re-installed the Left-Hand coulter on. Paint is still drying, but given the rains of the past few days, it will be next week before I can take a stab at plowing one of the fields with it. I am hoping the plow was set up right decades ago.. some of the adjustments are not going to be possible without grinding off bolts and replacing them.

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I suppose I should start blasting the rust off of the discs... perhaps tomorrow.
 
Alrighty, looks like tomorrow is the day to see if the Cub can still pull a plow... well... more like the day to see if I remember how to make the Cub pull the plow. Plow is all cleaned up, everything greased and free to move around. Just have to wait for daylight to come.

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Started working on the discs. Going to be a challenge, the grease in the journals has solidified. I guess I'll have to take them apart and see if I can clean them out. One rather disappointing discovery was that three of the four grease fittings are missing. Looks like I'll need some time on the lathe to make a few of the fittings.

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Well... it works ;) I plowed up a 75 yard x 100 yard patch of the field today. Had to call it quits when it started to rain.

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And, you can hear how bad 1st gear is... shame the Cub can't plow in 2nd gear (I tried, only made it halfway down a furrow when it stalled.)

 
That bottom really shined up. I suggest you get some plowcoat or even some spray-on wax to keep it that way without having to use paint.
 
Jim Becker":ms7e45b8 said:
That bottom really shined up. I suggest you get some plowcoat or even some spray-on wax to keep it that way without having to use paint.

Yup... I'm rather pleased at how well the field polished them up (all those sandstone rocks in the fields have some use after all :) ) Weather looks good for the day, so looks like today will be round two of plowing. One more cup of coffee and then out to the fields to finish the job.

After this is done I plan on polishing and waxing the plows before putting them in storage for the year.
 
And now the harrow... I need to use it today, so the paint will have to wait. Fresh grease, all of the bolts tightened down, and new hair-pins to replace the rusted away one.

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clm2112":2912l4mz said:
And, you can hear how bad 1st gear is... shame the Cub can't plow in 2nd gear (I tried, only made it halfway down a furrow when it stalled.)
Sod will do that to you. Next year you can plow it all in 2nd gear. Great job!
 
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