Should I get a Lo Boy? Need advise...

[MikeEyre74]

I have a cub lo boy 185. I also have a standard F Cub of 1949 vintage. I have mower decks for both, and all I do with them is mow grass, tow a small trailer and drive them for fun. Of the two, I am partial to the F Cub, because I love its simplicity and ease of maintenance. I like the 185 as well, and feel that, of the things that I do in my yard, it is probably better at mowing, is more comfortable, and certainly feels safer on the hills that I have in my yard. If I didn’t have those hills, then I probably would not have purchased the 185… because the F cub sometimes it scares me a bit on those, and since I only have bar tread ag tires for that one, it tends to chew up the yard more while mowing. I know, I know, I could swap the tires out but that still wouldn’t make it less tippy. Unfortunately, the 185 seems to be nickel and dime-ing me regularly since I got it a few months back. I knew it had a bad gear and shifter so I fixed that. A couple new PTO belts wasn’t horrible either... The rear main seal leak was an added bonus problem but now that she’s up and running seemingly ok, i find it burns oil like nobody’s business. I wouldn’t mind fixing it *more* if I loved the tractor, but I just don’t. Not like I do the ‘49. I could turn a wrench on the fCub all day and enjoy it, but that’s not the case on the 185.

While comparing the two in the garage the other day it occurred to me, if I could meld these two together, they would be perfect. And then it occurs to me that the original Lo Boy Cub pretty much is that beast.

Trying to decide if an original Lo Boy is the answer to my
Issue or if I should just keep chugging along on the 185, costs be damned. Thoughts?

[Urbish]

Since you seem to enjoy the simplicity and ease of maintenance with the standard Cub, a non-numbered Lo Boy just might be the ticket. You'll also benefit from being able to use the same tools and familiar parts that are consistent between the two. I have a standard Cub and a non-numbered Lo Boy and wouldn't have it any different. Bear in mind that a non-numbered Lo Boy can still tip too, but it is much more stable than a standard Cub.

[Jim Becker]

Be aware that neither of your existing mower decks can be easily moved to an offset Lo-Boy. The mounting brackets will be different. If you have a thought towards moving mowers or other implements between your '49 Cub and a Lo-Boy, you will be unpleasantly surprised.

[MikeEyre74]

Well... that was one of the plans, yes. I’d have thought that the brackets would be different for my Woods 59 and a different belt... but figured the rest of the deck would be fairly similar? If I need to shop for a Lo Boy with a deck (shouldn’t be too hard to find that, since that’s their forte....) then I’ll keep that in mind.

[Urbish]

Well... that was one of the plans, yes. I’d have thought that the brackets would be different for my Woods 59 and a different belt... but figured the rest of the deck would be fairly similar? If I need to shop for a Lo Boy with a deck (shouldn’t be too hard to find that, since that’s their forte....) then I’ll keep that in mind.

[Jim Becker]

For most model mowers, the decks themselves are the same. But when you look at all the pieces of a mower, there is about as much brackets as there is deck.

[welderrx]

I have a 52 Cub and 60's Yellow Cub Lo-Boy old style, my wife grew up around a Ford 600 and IH 300 utility and is a pretty darned good operator. My 52 has the standard pogo stick mounted pan seat which I find if kept oiled and with a good cushion on it very comfortable, my Low-Boy has the bench seat and I do feel a bit cramped on it, but my wife loves it and wont let me touch it, but she wants me to put an old round style hood on it and paint it red ! The lo-Boy definitely feels more stable on uneven ground. We had the Lo-Boy a lot longer than the Cub and I have lots of hours doing all sorts of tasks with it and like it a lot, I grew up with an Allis C and the Lo-Boy but I'm 6'2 and my wife is probably about 5'4 so I guess that's why she likes the lo-Boy better. If you like mowing with a regular cub you should like the Lo-Boy just as much. Iv'e never been around a numbered Cub in the field so I cant offer any advice on comparing them. TJ

[Jackman]

The original Lo-boy maneuvers better than an F Cub, it turns tight and quickly . Also my property is hilly and the Lo-boy feels right at home on the hills and the F-Cub that I sold never felt comfy on the hills. Lo boby is a great around the home tractor but its not really a farm tractor like the F-Cub is, that said I think you'd like the Lo-boy ......

[MikeEyre74]

Well, I’ve put out the feelers… Checking craigslist and marketplace, but the lo boy does not seem to come up nearly as often as the standard Cub. It looks like it may be in this for the long-haul! I will continue to run the 185 and see how things go… Maybe I will learn to love it more than I do right now...

Or maybe I’ll just add a Lo Boy to the fleet and keep them all

[Indy4570]

I love my 55 loboy but only use it to pull trailers around so far. I do have a pennington 3 blade finish mower. one thing I like is the transmission mounted mule drive for the mower. I also have a 57 loboy I hope to resurrect one day soon

[ntrenn]

I have a 65 offset Loboy and a 63 regular cub. Both have Loboy 59’s on them. The loboy steers with one hand. The 63 is much tougher to steer. Loboy is better on hillsides, but cub with wheels out a notch or two and with fluid and weights does fine with the engine uphill.
I redrilled the seat frame and moved the seats back on both of them...at 6-2 you’ll like the new seat position but wife will want to kill you...
Patience...a Loboy will turn up at a reasonable price.
The 185 probably could get by with reringing in frame...I’ll mail you the flex hone when you get ready

[muleboss]

I know where there is a yellow and white lowboy for sale in Kansas. Has a 42 in woods mower on it. Also know of one ( just tractor) also in Kansas.

[outdoors4evr]

I like the look of the cub loboy tractors, but just can't seem to get past the PTO not being live. That tractor really deserved a live PTO and a 3-point hitch.

[ajhbike]

Amen to that.

[MikeEyre74]

Well, that’s what the numbered series is. But that’s where the weird added complexity comes in as well... more stuff is more to go wrong.