Woods 59 Mower and Fast Hitch

[Doug Lentz]

Hello all. Two weeks ago I purchased my first Farmall Cub, a 64 with fast hitch. Excited to use it as a mower I investigated belly mower options and found the l59 to be very popular. Found a mower deck and purchased it, but after browsing this board for a while it seems I may need additional mounting parts or a chain drive.

Not sure what is necessary, does anyone have any suggestions? Hoping I didn't blow a bunch of money on a deck I can't use!

[Urbish]

Welcome to the forum. I just sold a nice Woods 59CF-1 mower with the fast hitch chain drive and I'm not that far from you (Washtenaw County). Did you buy a L59 or a 59C? The L59 is left hand discharge and the blades spin counterclockwise. The 59C is right hand discharge and the blades spin clockwise. Could you post some photos of the mower? That will help us figure out what you need or if you need a different mower altogether.

[Doug Lentz]

Thank you for your response. I'm located here in Brighton Michigan near The Proving Grounds, pleasure to meet you!

It's a 59 C, photos attached. It was just sandblasted and repainted, hope this one will work!

[Doug Lentz]

This is the tractor and fast hitch

[indy61]

I don't think you will be able to use what you have without removing the fast hitch.

Here are a couple of parts diagrams to compare a fast hitch mower with a non fast hitch mower. Click on Main Assembly.

https://www.messicks.com/wo/95203

https://www.messicks.com/wo/95201

[Jim Becker]

Looks like you have some mounting parts for a mower already on the tractor (maybe for an IH-Danco).

[Doug Lentz]

The Cub is very new to me and it appears that removing the fast hitch would be difficult, would you advise against it? Considering my inability to find a 59 CF or a mounting kit with a chain drive.

It does appear to have mounting equipment for pulleys installed, I could not find out which mower though.

[indy61]

If you have no fast hitch implements and plan on using the Cub for mowing, than I would remove it.
You should easily be able to sell a good and complete fast hitch for more than you spent on the mower.

[Urbish]

If you have no fast hitch implements and plan on using the Cub for mowing, than I would remove it.
You should easily be able to sell a good and complete fast hitch for more than you spent on the mower.

I second this. Finding a FH compatible belly mower will be difficult as they are kind of rare as far as I know.

[Glen]

Hi,
It looks like the mower you have is for a Cub with a Drawbar, not a Fast Hitch.
The drawbar was standard, the Fast Hitch was extra.
Below is a page from the 1955 Cub owner's manual, showing the drawbar.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... e%2016.jpg

The drawbar is held on the final drives with 4 of the IH tapered head bolts.
Below is a listing for them at TM Tractor.

http://www.tmtractor.com/new/gb/324fp.htm

The mower drive, in your first pic, is held onto the drawbar vertical brackets with 4 bolts, and 2 flat pieces of metal. It looks like the bolts and flat metal pieces are not there in the pic.

Below is a Woods 59 C2 owner's manual. There is a parts pic on page 8. The metal pieces are number 19 in the pic.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... index.html

Removing the Fast Hitch is some work. If you remove it to use the mower, you will need to buy a drawbar.
If you prefer having the Fast Hitch, you could try finding parts for the drive, or buy another mower for a Fast Hitch.

Below is a pic of a drawbar from TM Tractor.

[DonMountain]

I see several other choices that weren't mentioned. 1. Buy another Cub that fits that mower deck. 2. Sell that mower deck and purchase the correct one for your tractor. I have a 1959 International Cub Lo-Boy with fast hitch and also have an L59 Woods mower deck mounted on it with the fast hitch still usable. When I bought the Woods mower deck it came with all the correct mounting parts for my Cub. And it fit easily and runs great. Except its really slow mowing with only 9 or 11 horsepower like the Cub has. It needs at least a 25 horsepower engine on that Cub to make time.

[indy61]

I never thought it was easy to install a belly mower on a Cub, I'm sure a fast hitch would make it harder.
I agree a 59/60 deck is a little much for Cub. A one spindle 42 seems to cut nice with little effort with decent blades.

[tst]

your tractor has the hard parts already to mount the IH or Danco brand mower deck which they lots of, the mule drive and right angle pulley setup, the deck for that mower is the same for a cub with or without a fast hitch, to use the woods mower you bought you would need the fast hitch mule drive and brackets which are not easy to come by

[Doug Lentz]

Thank you everybody for your help, this is an incredible resource and invaluable learning tool. There is no way I would have found my way out of this without your help.

As of now I do not have any fast hitch implements, so I will remove the fast hitch. Today I purchased the drawbar, brackets and bolts as well as the flat metal plates to mount the spindle assembly. I may need more parts when the check arrives, but I believe I have a good shot at assembling this without too much trouble.

Of course, if 59 c f we're to become available, I would be very interested to reinstall the fast hitch and find a way to make it usable in my garden or elsewhere.

I've no doubt I'll speak to everybody again, but until then thank you once again!

[Doug Lentz]

Another question just for fun. I've heard from several sources, including some here, that the woods 59 is a little much for the Farmall Cub. With the removal of the fast hitch decrease weight enough to improve the deck performance?