Picked up a free Cub Cadet 383 Hydro!

[dgrapes59]

Yeah, I saw the lip, didn't know if it was the same level as the gasket surface. I assume it's a B&S engine, not familiar with them. All the CC's I fool with are the older, narrow frame garden tractors with Kohler engines. I assume you can surface the whole area, will just take more elbow grease. I would do a few practice sandings to see if it even needs surfacing. You'll see quickly if there's any low spots. You might luck out!

Don't know if this is true for B&S head gaskets, or if they're available, but with Kohler, you want one with a "fire ring". It's a tougher "lip" on the inside of the gasket. They are supposed to hold up longer/better.

Good luck!

David

 

[cdahl383]

Yeah, I saw the lip, didn't know if it was the same level as the gasket surface. I assume it's a B&S engine, not familiar with them. All the CC's I fool with are the older, narrow frame garden tractors with Kohler engines. I assume you can surface the whole area, will just take more elbow grease. I would do a few practice sandings to see if it even needs surfacing. You'll see quickly if there's any low spots. You might luck out!

Don't know if this is true for B&S head gaskets, or if they're available, but with Kohler, you want one with a "fire ring". It's a tougher "lip" on the inside of the gasket. They are supposed to hold up longer/better.

Good luck!

David

I laid the head on the top of the toolbox and I could see the mating surface sticks out further than the lip. I think for sanding purposes it will be fine and the lip won't be in the way.

I took a straight edge and laid it across all four sides of the mating surface on the head. I took a .002" feeler gauge and could not stick it under any spot except one and it barely fit. I don't think it will take too much sanding to straighten it out. It might be fine as is, but might as well just do it now since it's apart.

I just ordered whatever the B&S gaskets were, so I'm not sure what type of gasket it is or if there are even different ones you could use. I usually just try to stick with OEM stuff for gaskets, unless it's something simple where I can just cut my own out of gasket material.

Cleaned up the head bolts a little bit today on lunch. Cleaned the tractor up a little more too. It's looking pretty good for a 43 year old riding mower haha!

 

[cdahl383]

Picked up a piece of glass from Lowe’s along with some 220 grit sandpaper. Taped the sandpaper in place on top of the glass, sprayed it down with wd40, and started sanding.

It definitely had some high spots as I could see where it was wearing away at first. Moved it in figure 8 patterns and circles rotating the head every so often. Took a while but finally got it all even. Turned out really nice! First time I’ve ever done that. Pretty cool!

Didn’t get to the carb today like I had planned. Will have to mess with that later this week.

The gasket set should arrive Thursday or Friday. Hoping to get it back together this weekend. I’ll at least be able to test the compression and then move to the carb.

 

[Gary Dotson]

I have a couple old glass refrigerator shelves, that I use for such occasions. They are fairly thick and are tempered. Keep an eye out for one of those, they work excellent, unless, of course, you have Jim’s quartz!

 

[cdahl383]

Went through the carb today. Had to clean off the exterior first before I did anything. Scraped off the old gasket off. Took the carb apart and cleaned everything. It was actually pretty clean inside.

The needle had some crap on it so I cleaned that off. Took the other needles and jets out and cleaned those. Tested the float in some gas to make sure it floats.

Pretty sure before I took it apart the needle was stuck as nothing was bouncing around when I turned it over. Now I can hear the float moving when I rotate the carb around.

Carb is ready to go now. Just need to clean up the block where the head bolts on and it’ll be ready for reassembly once the gaskets get here.

 

[Don McCombs]

Actually, the best way to test the float is to immerse it in some hot water, so that the air inside expands. If there is a hole, you will get bubbles.

 

[cdahl383]

Actually, the best way to test the float is to immerse it in some hot water, so that the air inside expands. If there is a hole, you will get bubbles.

Never thought of that. I just figured I’d use whatever it usually sits in which is gas. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

 

[cdahl383]

Greased the front end fittings today and cleaned it up a little more. Still waiting on the gasket set.

 

[cdahl383]

Actually, the best way to test the float is to immerse it in some hot water, so that the air inside expands. If there is a hole, you will get bubbles.

Never thought of that. I just figured I’d use whatever it usually sits in which is gas. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

 

[cdahl383]

Got the mower running today! The parts took forever to arrive. Gotta love the US postal service! Already had everything all cleaned up and ready to go. Reassembled everything, checked to make sure it had oil, added fresh fuel, and cranked it over. Turned it over a little bit with the choke on until it popped. Then I put the throttle on fast and cranked it over and it fired right up!

Ran really good! No leaks. Throttled up and down just fine. Moved the lever to forward and let out the brake and it took off! Drove really nice! Steering is kind of sloppy but it’s not terrible. Reverse works too!

Then I thought I’d try the pto. Threw that lever forward and the blades engaged and started spinning! It was too dark out to see if it would cut. Will have to take it out again when I have more daylight.

Before I run it again I’ll change the engine oil. Didn’t want to mess with that until I knew it ran. I might put a new fuel line on and I need to oil the air filter.

Only thing I noticed was some smoke coming off the muffler. Im assuming that was just some residual oil or grease on there. I don’t think the carb was leaking fuel onto that from I could tell. Could probably use a new float bowl gasket too as I noticed a little fuel seeping around there but it wasn’t leaking.

I was concerned at first as it only showed 70psi of compression after I replaced the head gasket. But I thought maybe I was wrong and it does have a decompression feature on the cam. It fired up and ran great, so it must have more compression than 70psi once it’s running.

Anyway, got it running and moving for a grand total of $28 and some time! Pretty cool!

 

[cdahl383]

Now I have the dilemma of deciding whether to keep this mower or sell it. I really don't need another mower, but it wouldn't hurt to have a back up. I can't imagine this old thing is really worth that much to anyone. What are old mowers going for these days? Maybe $200-300 or so?

 

[dgrapes59]

Now I have the dilemma of deciding whether to keep this mower or sell it. I really don't need another mower, but it wouldn't hurt to have a back up. I can't imagine this old thing is really worth that much to anyone. What are old mowers going for these days? Maybe $200-300 or so?

I'm not up to speed on the value of the riding mowers, but I think $300 - $350 would be a good starting point. Quick market place search only showed one, $225. Listed by a guy that's big into Cadets. Not near the condition yours appears to be, no deck (available for $50). Only runs on spray, has fuel issues.

I was at Home Depot the other day and commented to my wife the crazy price on a new Murray riding mower, over $2K. Will probably sell a lot of them. Likely only last 5 to 10 years at best. With a minimal investment you brought a 40+ year old machine back to life!

 

[cdahl383]

I'm not up to speed on the value of the riding mowers, but I think $300 - $350 would be a good starting point. Quick market place search only showed one, $225. Listed by a guy that's big into Cadets. Not near the condition yours appears to be, no deck (available for $50). Only runs on spray, has fuel issues.

I was at Home Depot the other day and commented to my wife the crazy price on a new Murray riding mower, over $2K. Will probably sell a lot of them. Likely only last 5 to 10 years at best. With a minimal investment you brought a 40+ year old machine back to life!

The new ones are insanely priced now. I might keep it for a backup if it’s only worth $300. Very easy to work on and very little to go wrong with it. I’ll just have to find some space for it.

Now every time my wife and I go for walks I look for free mowers haha!

 

[cdahl383]

Got the little cub cadet out today and did some test cutting. Did great! Cut for about a half hour or so with no issue.

Carb might still need a little adjusting. It tends to surge and hunt a little with no load, but it’s not too bad. I have the idle and main screws out about 1 1/8 turn out which is what the manual says to use for a starting point. I’m guessing if it’s hunting it might be running a little lean, so maybe I’ll try turning the screw out another 1/8 to 1/4 turn next time and see how it runs then.

It cuts good though. Blades seem to cut good and even. Haven’t even looked at the blades yet but they seem alright.

The seat is ugly but it’s comfy. Just wish it was black. Maybe I can just fit a cover over it or something.

Pretty happy with this little thing!

 

[cdahl383]

Cleaned up the old mower today. Turned out pretty good!

 

[staninlowerAL]

Lookin' good!!

 

[cdahl383]

Couple more questions on the old mower:

1.) Can the steering be adjusted at all? It has a lot of slop / freeplay. Wondering if there is an adjustment, or if parts would just have to be replaced. It's still usable as is, just a little annoying.

2.) What would cause the engine to surge up and down once warmed up under no load (blades not engaged)? It's not bad, but it will surge up and down sometimes when not under load. I'm assuming this is due to something with the carburetor (too rich or lean, etc). Since it runs fine under load, I'm assuming the main jet is probably fine. It must be the idle jet or idle screw that needs to be cleaned more or adjusted, etc. Is that correct?

I used it over the weekend to cut some more grass and it did a great job. Always starts up and never craps out. If I could correct the minor surging issue, tighten up the steering a little bit, and get a better seat on it, I think it would be perfect. As perfect as an old 43 year old mower can be I guess haha!

 

[dgrapes59]

Again, I'm not very familiar with this model, but I'll attempt some insight. I did a quick parts look up, wow, very simplistic compared to the IH built garden tractors. They have Ross steering with bearings, cam gear and cam followers, all adjustable and rebuildable. Yours just has a couple parts, some that don't appear to be available. I would try to isolate the "slop". If it's in the gear assembly, you might have to live with it. There does appear to be a bushing available. It could be worn tie rod ball joints on the drag links. Those are readily available, even at places like Tractor Supply.
Good luck!

 

[Gary Dotson]

On the surging, try going just slightly richer on the high speed mixture screw, if that doesn’t help, try going leaner. Either rich or lean can cause surging.

 

[cdahl383]

Again, I'm not very familiar with this model, but I'll attempt some insight. I did a quick parts look up, wow, very simplistic compared to the IH built garden tractors. They have Ross steering with bearings, cam gear and cam followers, all adjustable and rebuildable. Yours just has a couple parts, some that don't appear to be available. I would try to isolate the "slop". If it's in the gear assembly, you might have to live with it. There does appear to be a bushing available. It could be worn tie rod ball joints on the drag links. Those are readily available, even at places like Tractor Supply.
Good luck!

Ok cool I’ll take another look at the steering. Would be nice to tighten it up a little more. Maybe I’ll take a video and post it up here. Might be obvious to some of you more experienced guys what’s wrong.