Lowboy smoking

[Jimmy Joe]

I looked at what I believe is a 1960 Lowboy it started and ran very well when I drove it and throttled up while moving it smoked you could even smell it but it ran very smooth and started immediately, The guy who owns it said you seldom need to choke it to start it he has had it only a few years so doesn't know the history of the engine wondering how big of a concern the smoking is. When idling there is no smoke.

 

[jaxs]

To be clear people confuse Cub,Cub Low Boy,154,184 along with IH and Farmall and there's some distinctively different tractors in that bunch. IMO Farmall is twice the tractor and worth twice as much as IH.
I wouldn't be put off by the smoke. You could be looking at an engine that had everything refreshed besides valve guides but should be prepared to machine/replace everything. Hard to tell until it's opened up but if you want to spend time you can get an idea of ring/piston/cyl wall conditions with a compression test. Test to see how close to spec psi is and just as important how much if any psi varies cyl to cyl. If one or more cyl is low put an oz of 80 or 90w oil in clys,rotate to distribute then retest. If psi dramatically increases,one or more of rings,pistons,cyl bore needs attention. If there's negligible change odds are cyls are ok but valves need ground and seat. Not to confuse you by mentioning valve seats while talking about smoke,seats don't matter,stems and guides do. If you eventually wind up rebuilding engine,ask machine shop if guides can be knurled in place of valve and/or guide replacement.
To answer question of should you be concerned about smoke,nea,these are sweet little tractors worth putting time and money into. On a side note parts cost about 10-20% what they do for "furring built" plus much simpler and forgiving to work on. Did I mention I'm a hopeless fool for old iron?

 

[workinonit]

Weren't they all made by IH? I think those later Cub and Cub Lo Boys were different creatures. I too love the old red tractors. I own 3 140s.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

I believe Farmall was part of International Harvestor they rotated the rear axle forward and shortened the front spindles on the Farmall cub to get the lower clearance to make the loboy.