Brought 57 cub home today

[lilranch2001]

I’m not so sure of that after seeing how fast the schedule 80 pvc wore down after just two uses. Limestone is pretty tough on plastic and soft steel. The plow edge piece is hard, high carbon steel about 3/8” thick and that is showing some wear. I’m thinking I’ll be lucky to get (3) years out of a schedule 40 steel pipe, before I wear thru the bottom. The wall thickness on that pipe is only about 1/8”.

There really is no comparison between the PVC and the steel

 

[wolc123]

There really is no comparison between the PVC and the steel

Maybe so but what about the high carbon steel cutting edge that is also showing wear ? That makes me think I’ll be lucky to get (3) years out of a 1/8” wall thickness low carbon steel pipe.

 

[lilranch2001]

The bucket on my tractor is 15 years old and I see no wear on it and I’ve plowed my 1200 foot driveway for 14 years with it, along with dirt projects every year

Good luck

 

[DJ54]

I'd be surprised if you'd wear it out in 10 years. When I had my new horse barn and shop built, I hauled 3500 tons of bank run gravel in for the pads. Hauled it all on the 1 ton Chevy dump truck, leveled it with the Farmall A, and compacted it with the Massey 180 shown with a 3 pt. platform carrier with approx. 1,000 lbs. of bank run I dumped on it for weight.

6 years after that another 1,000 tons of the same material for the new machinery shed I had built hauled with the same truck, leveled with the A and compacted with the Massey in the same manner.

Previous to this I hauled 1600 tons of shaley clay and filled in a pond that my mare went through the ice after walking out on the pond and broke through. My mare survived so decided to fill it in so there wouldn't be another nightmare like that. Neighbor next door was digging out a new very large pond and had thousands of tons of shaley clay to get rid of. He said I could have all I wanted and even let me use his backhoe to load it out. All that hauled on the little dump truck, and leveled with that A with the same piece of pipe that is still on the blade today. That plus all of the snow I've plowed since I put it on in '05 at both places. It does show some wear but far from being worn through.

 

[wolc123]

^ That sounds good. I’ll just make one and I’ll only put the tabs on one side. The Cubs are quite a bit lighter duty than the A’s.

I got to beef up the plow frame, to handle the tongue weight of my boat, when I put the trailer hitch on it. That means I need to minimize the weight of the plow, because too much front end weight is bad for traction on a two wheel drive tractor.

I remember our neighbors horse breaking thru a pond and drowning one winter when I was a kid. Glad to hear that yours survived.

 

[DJ54]

Might not hurt to put tabs on the backside too. When making a fill I have a tendency to back drag to smooth things up and didn't want mine to loosen up or spring the pipe open. Not that you will, just a thought.

 

[wolc123]

Might not hurt to put tabs on the backside too. When making a fill I have a tendency to back drag to smooth things up and didn't want mine to loosen up or spring the pipe open. Not that you will, just a thought.

Yes, it sounds like a good idea to go with front and back. Lining up one side with the existing holes, then welding an un-drilled tab on the other side, then drilling like you did sounds like it worked well.

I’ve got a pretty good pile of scrap steel behind the barn and should be able to come up with the material without too much trouble. There are 5 holes across the cutting edge. I’ll put tabs on the two outer ones and the center one. Three 1/2” bolts should be plenty across the 53” plow width.

Right now, I’m not seeing any more snow in our long range forecast. We are definitely not out of the woods yet as far as that goes though. I’m not going to take that plow off until the end of March. The two pvc pipes I made up ought to last me until then.

Now that all our snow is melted, I’ll dig thru that steel scrap pile for the proper materials. I’ve also got to find a length of 3” angle iron, that I can slice lengthwise down the curve with my cutoff wheel, to make the side reinforcements for the plow frame.

 

[wolc123]

We got a 6” snowfall last night, so I got to use the Cub again. I did our two driveways and our neighbors on each side. The PVC pipe, on the bottom of the plow, stayed on the whole time. I’ve plowed snow with many different rigs, but none were as fun or did better quality work than this one.


I know lots of guys like heated cabs for snow work, but I really like getting out in the fresh, cool, crisp winter air. It was 25 degrees F this morning and I wore insulated bibs and jacket, face mask and wool hat, wool lined mittens, and Mickey Mouse boots. I was very comfortable for over two hours out in the elements, suited up like that.

One of the best things about an open station tractor, especially with the offset “cultivation” Cub, is excellent forward visibility. That makes it very easy to clean right to the edge of the driveways and avoid turf damage on the unfrozen lawns.

I’m guessing that’s going to be our last plowable snow this season, but I’m not taking it off until I see no more sub-freezing temperatures in the long range forecast.

I’m looking forward to reinforcing the plow frame so that it is strong enough to move my boat around with a front mount hitch. I hope to do some April salmon fishing, so I’d like to get it welded up in time for that. It’s easier getting the boat back into position in the barn with a front hitch on a tractor than with the rear one on my truck.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Good to see you're having fun. I saw the thread, not realizing it was your old one bumped, and thought you bought ANOTHER Cub. I was coming to give you a ribbing!

 

[wolc123]

Good to see you're having fun. I saw the thread, not realizing it was your old one bumped, and thought you bought ANOTHER Cub. I was coming to give you a ribbing!

I’m just thankful that I gave a Cub a second chance, after not having much luck with my first one. I owned that one for about 20 years. The only thing I missed about it after I sold it, was plowing snow.

It’s hard to exaggerate, just how good these are for that job. There’s just something about the unrestricted forward vusibility, smooth hydraulics, smooth running, easy starting engine, excellent clearance, and good ballast, that make it better than just about anything else for light snowfalls.

My first one was real good in snow after I put like new, loaded R1 tires on back. The tires that one came with were almost completely worn out and didn’t work so hot.

The R1 rears on this one also have almost full tread and are loaded. I also added a 200 pound plate to the drawbar, which helps it push significantly better than my prior one.

The biggest difference between this one and my prior one was that that one was almost completely worn out when I got it. It had been heavily modified with a steering box from a pickup truck welded to the top of the front axle, a 12 volt conversion, and a funky plastic seat.

I bet it had over 15,000 hours on it when I got it and I probably added 2000 more, which were anything but trouble free. I don’t remember how many times I hauled it to the shop for repairs.

I doubt there are more than 300 hours on the one that I have now. There is no noticeable wear on any of the parts, and it starts very easily cold on the factory 6 volt system. I will never again buy a used tractor that has been converted from 6 to 12 volts. That’s too often used as a bandaid to help start a worn out, weak compression engine.


I really don’t have room for or need another tractor, so I doubt I’d buy another Cub, even if it was a good deal. I’m very thankful for this one though, and it has certainly earned its keep.