not like they used to be

I completely refurbished everything on my 682 from the hydro to the steering gear, engine replacement, deck replacement, etc. I can honestly say there was nothing about working on this tractor that I found to be overly difficult or agonizing, and it was the first garden tractor I refurbished, most all of my prior work has been on old Japanese motorcycles.

Anyone with good mechanical skills and manuals can refurbish one of these, "wide frame," Cubs IMHO, and will have a great time doing so. There are just tons of parts and conversions etc. available new and used on the internet for the Cubs, which makes getting your Cub project completed quickly, at least a lot quicker than many old motorcycles. I found the only tool I used a lot that is out of the ordinary was my impact wrench which came in handy to remove tight and rusty bolts. There was no point where I had to cut or weld anything, or break or distort any part to the point of not being re-useable. The parts on these tractors are VERY meaty, and it's not likely that with any of the procedures you do that you will mess anything up to a catastrophic point- a very easy thing to do with the cycles.

Like anything though, costs can add up if you desire to make one of these tractors as good as or better than new. On the 682 I probably spent over $100 just on good grade 8 hardware alone. A full refurbishing with new power, new deck, professional paint, etc. can be in the neighborhood of $2500-3000. But, like what "Country" Elliott said, I'd much rather have one of these tractors in full restored shape than any of the new machines out there in the stores. :o

-Fordlords-
 
If you want a good grass cutting tractor that will outlast any throw away tractor on the market consider the 7 HP Narrow Frame Cub Cadets(all gear drives). They can be restored or refurbished to be the most dependable tractor and you can obtain a large number of implements to use with the tractor to keep large garden well maintained. Some of the implements are hard to come by but are very neat. I cut my grass with an Original and a front mounted Mott hammer knife mower(flail) that is really cool. I have an other Original with a 9 speed M&W that has the 38" timed deck on it which is one of the best mowers made by IH and can be adapted to the other 7 HP tractors and the next best deck is the cast Iron End deck which I have on my 73. You can find disks(double), Harrows, golf ball retrievers front, back and middle grader blades, 3 sizes of plows(dirt, the 7 HP is a great plowing tractor that I have set up with tri wheels on land side(using the dual adapters), Log splitters(unicorn), sprayers, generators, Tiller(IH #1) plus three are bodies out there to make it a golf cart. You can put a rear PTO, a front PTO and a wheel PTO on them. I There is even a hydraulic front loader fro them plus a good sickle bar. There is also an optioal hydrulic lift. If you really want to out do your neighbors try 7 HP.
 
It is very amazing what the old low HP tractors can do- they are not to be underestimated! My grandpa's old Jacobsen Chief 800 with 8 HP Kohler was fully capable of mowing and throwing snow right with the best of them of its size today. Still very easy to find Cubs, Deere 100 and 200 series, and other garden tractors that are 25+ years old and the tractor part is good as new. Many times though the same can't be said for the mower decks, because unless they were barely used or really well maintained, finding excellent mower decks that aren't all rusted out or cracked for the old tractors can be difficult. In the case of many of the older tractors, new deck housings are no longer available, leaving one to find a good used or repairable deck, or use the tractor for things other than mowing which in the case of those with a lack of other chores or places to store things makes having the old tractor that can't mow impractical. One of the things I insisted on with my 682 project was to have a 100% like new mower deck while it could still be done, and ended up paying big $ for one of the few brand new 44" CC deck housings available. Another thing is for many the wife or kids are sometimes the ones who do the mowing and operate the tractor, and most wives st least are not kind to putting up with the idiosynchracies that might have to be dealt with on an old tractor. So... you are either a fellow who loves the oldies (like most of us) or one who buys something new.

They are using these high HP engines in lawn/garden tractors today only because they are taking advantage of what modern technology can do, and it is done without a loss- most of these 20-25 HP small engines today with overhead valves and higher compression ratios can make that power while using less fuel than even those 7-10 HP small engines of 25-30+ years ago. Some of the new mower decks aren't too bad either, offering cleaning options and heavy stampings. Unfortunately a lot of the good stuff on tractors of years past that used to be iron and steel are now plastic and aluminum, and the tractor part just doesn't make it much past the life of the mower deck.

-Fordlords-
 
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