2554 heat shields and underhood temps.

[JSharp]

Ok, I started a new thread on this subject since I'm going to try a few things to get the underhood temps down on my 2554. This might be of interest to anyone who needs to mow when it's really hot like I do and would like to see better engine life and fewer hood problems. I'll take some pics and temp measurements as I go and post them back in this thread.

Here's the starting point. The current heatshield setup as just installed by my dealer -

The parts don't exactly fit perfectly. Who's surprised about that. But if you have a later model than my 01/06 you're likely to have a one piece heatshield instead of the two piece part I have.

It looks like this setup will at least help the hood and latch vs. what I had before. At the expense of making the now 1/2 buried high $$ PTO clutch assembly even hotter...

To add a plug for my dealer, I couldn't be happier with them. Birkey's Farm Store in Gibson City IL. Even with the 4th of July breaking up last weeks shipping and work time they picked the tractor up, got it fixed, and got it back to me in reasonable time.

They have branches all over Illinois. If you're looking for a Cub in this state I'd recommend them highly.

 

[Northstar]

Here's something you might find interesrting : after reading your last thread I removed the center louver cover on my 2544. I can now shut the engine down with the throttle in any position without a backfire or engine run on. I couldn't do that before, I even went as for as running 93 octane to stop the backfire. This is only a guess, but it must be letting enough heat out to cool the muffler enough to prevent run on..

 

[JSharp]

Here's something you might find interesrting : after reading your last thread I removed the center louver cover on my 2544. I can now shut the engine down with the throttle in any position without a backfire or engine run on. I couldn't do that before, I even went as for as running 93 octane to stop the backfire. This is only a guess, but it must be letting enough heat out to cool the muffler enough to prevent run on..

Mine doesn't run on but it does backfire sometimes if you try to shutdown with the throttle lower than 1/2 - 3/4.

My brand new hood came with a brand new louver cover. I'm pulling it before I use the tractor again. I don't see how leaving it on and having less ventilation can be a positive thing...

 

[jay25rs]

Thanks for the picture. I kind of want to do this to mine now and make a little 'tunnel' for the pto pulley and belt to help keep the hot air off of it.

 

[GreenQuality]

I get the picture of air flow Now! on the 2554 New design! that design must get caked with grass in the flywheel screen.I would still use a header warp!Let me ask where does the hot air flow to now with the box type heat sheild?

 

[Fordlords]

I don't like that heat shield. Remember on the past thread how I stated one of the standards for air cooled engines was the cooling air outlet is supposed to be at least 4 times the size of the inlet? That shield looks very restrictive, and ducts the engine heat downward instead of upward and out the grille where it should go.

-Fordlords-

 

[Northstar]

I was thinking the same thing, it looks like a heat dam that could cause pto problems. I thought of fabricating a smaller version of the heat shield to mount over the hood latch as this is where the problem seems to be.

 

[JSharp]

I'm not surprised we all agree. This setup is a cluster.

GreenQuality - The engine fan does fill with chaff as does the air filter. I blow out the engine fan and the prefilter on the intake after every mowing. 2-3 hours typically. Just think about how much crap is collecting under the engine shrouds that can't be blown out easily. Kohler says to remove the shrouds every 100 hours and clean everything out. I think that's a good idea as is adding a cleanout kit to the engine.

Fordlords - The shield isn't as restrictive as it appears in that photo angle but it's pretty bad. The hot engine cooling air has to move over the exhaust manifold under the heatshield which adds much more heat to it, then down. It's a concentrated and hotter stream than it should be thanks to the ducting. So it can also bake the expensive PTO clutch on it's way to burning the grass. Great eh?

Northstar - A shield on just the latch I don't think will work. My hood started melting first near the opening for the exhaust pipe. You can see it in the photos I posted in the other thread. There's just so much heat trapped under the hood. All Cub has done is to add some metal to try to keep it away from things that might melt. That's OK I suppose, but the rest of the answer is to get more air through the area so the outlet temps are lower. Lower than the proper design temps for any item that might be in the airstream.

I've done design engineering most of my life and I can understand how these problems happen yet become almost impossible to fix properly. A change is made to reduce cost, in this case the plastic hood. Problems appear that require product modifications after the change is implemented. Those issues require new and redesigned parts in effect forcing some of the initial savings to be "given back." But the bean counters won't allow it. They only begrudgingly allow nickel dime fixes and only after lots of warranty $ are spent. Then they blame the engineering people for the higher warranty costs and lower product quality...

I'm going to mow tonight if I can. I'll get some baseline temp readings then so we can compare later to whatever mods I come up with...

 

[Fordlords]

They designed that very cleverly- the Cub Cadet PTO clutch-cooker. They know the clutch is expensive, so why not decrease it's life 50 fold by pumping all the engine heat on it? They will get that money back and then some from all the melted hoods they have to replace under warranty somehow LOL!

Nice they have to make some donkey-rigged thing just to protect their precious plastic hood.

-Fordlords-

 

[TractorLarry]

Has anyone considered mounting a standard, small thermostatically controlled radiator fan up in the grille area?

We have standard 12v systems and you can get these pretty small at your typical auto parts store.

-Larry