Looking for a vintage lawn tractor.

[Redbarn]

My 1974 J.Deere 312 has sat in the barn collecting dust since the motor broke in 1994. So as a "Father and Son" project, we resurrected it as an electric tractor.
We took out the gas motor, fuel tank etc. and and fitted a DC electric motor and Lithium batteries.

We now use it a a tow vehicle. With trailer attached, it is used to pull firewood up to the house for winter, amongst many other uses.

Always starts, needs no gas or oil, makes no smell, virtually no noise and has great low down pulling power.
Lithium batteries do not self discharge so it is just parked over the winter and looses no charge.

 

[Charles1981]

Sorry, chins = chains, Ags are Agricultural tires, or farm tires, plowing in reverse would mean (or should mean) that you will have to bend around backwards if you want to see what your going to hit or plow, not very comfortable for any period of time, you'll see. Wouldn't be hard to fabricate a front blade from a 54 inch John Deere blade. If the previous owner said he did not use chains on those tires in the Michigan winter, I would seriously take stock of everything else he professed to you. On a snow/ice packed driveway (flat or not) about the time you get a load of snow on the blade those tires will sit in one place and spin the same way your car would. Have you lived in Michigan long? When I was up there it snowed alot in the winter and often cars needed chains just to drive on the roads, and they weren't pushing a blade

Its my boss. He has a windy uphill incline, very mild. I dunno they had the tractor 15 years and have plowed the same driveway the entire time without chains.... Dunno we will find out, but i can always invest in chains. The wheel has a little ball turner, it isn't to bad to turn around and steer the wheel with the ball turner thingamabob. I'm sure it isn't ideal but he plowed backwards for 15 years....so I guess i will just have to see.

 

[Okie1]

i disagree about the cub engines needing rebuild because they are only "rated" at 12 hp. they arent the most powerful tractor in the world, but it has more then enough to handle the 60" deck on fairly flat an level ground. i have mowed grass that was several feet tall on a property and was abandoned and had not been mowed all year. while its only rated at 12 hp thats draw-bar hp and not crank. these engines put out around 50 ft/lbs of torque. the main reason they need overhaul often times is that they are old and allot of them have many hours on them. the trick is to buy one that does not smoke when you buy it, and you will get many years out of it. i would venture to guess that it has quite a bit more power then your 14 Wisconsin, not that wisconsons arent good engines they are. i also think that parts availability for rebuilding might be better for the farmall, allot of parts have been reproduced for the IH tractors. i have also had kohler k series 12 hp engines and that 4 cylinder has ALLOT more lugging ability. 4 cylinder tractor engine are almost always going to have more lugging ability, after all you have 3 more pistons.

i do think allot of these cubs have ALLOT of hours on them, but once you overhaul the engine it will last a very, very long time if not a lifetime. talking to someone at a tractor show he said he was mowing 6 arces a week with a cub.... no problem, lasted 20 years doing that until he had to rebuild the engine; which he did.

i have a good running spare engine under my bench that i picked up for $300 (i stole it) that is ready to go if i need an engine, so im not worried about it for a long time.

I apologize, I didn't mean to say they weren't good engines or they needed rebuilt alot, but rather at 60 years old, many have blowby and issues that a set of rings won't solve, many are needing a full rebuild bored and/or sleeved, might check your specs, my 1950 manual says 10.1 hp, it isn't the hp really as it is the gearing and the cub has a great rear end, and is a fine machine on a small lot, like I said, it did not fill a need for me on 20 acres, it wasn't a hydro and basically it was an tractor older and more primitive than I was interested in.

 

[Okie1]

My 1974 J.Deere 312 has sat in the barn collecting dust since the motor broke in 1994. So as a "Father and Son" project, we resurrected it as an electric tractor.
We took out the gas motor, fuel tank etc. and and fitted a DC electric motor and Lithium batteries.

We now use it a a tow vehicle. With trailer attached, it is used to pull firewood up to the house for winter, amongst many other uses.

Always starts, needs no gas or oil, makes no smell, virtually no noise and has great low down pulling power.
Lithium batteries do not self discharge so it is just parked over the winter and looses no charge.

Very nice F/S project, looks great. I hate to think what those batteries cost, but I venture to guess almost as much as the machine cost new, unless you work for the company

 

[Okie1]

Its my boss. He has a windy uphill incline, very mild. I dunno they had the tractor 15 years and have plowed the same driveway the entire time without chains.... Dunno we will find out, but i can always invest in chains. The wheel has a little ball turner, it isn't to bad to turn around and steer the wheel with the ball turner thingamabob. I'm sure it isn't ideal but he plowed backwards for 15 years....so I guess i will just have to see.

Was his driveway gravel or asphalt, big difference, yep you will see. If you don't like plowing in reverse don't hesitate to put a front plow on it, she and you will do much better looking and driving forward, just imagine turning around in car to backup, now maintain that position for an hour or so. Some don't mind, its pretty uncomfortable and unnatural position for me

 

[Okie1]

That's a great idea for tire fluid, I might just have to do that.

Plus side to the idea is that if you ever use wheel weights you have a valve on the inside

 

[ad356]

the cub is a perfect fit for my 2 acre lawn and im confident that i could mow quite a bit more with it and not have an issue. mowing 20 acres is allot and personally i like the old tractors so if it was me i probably would be looking at a super-a with a 72" mower (im quite sure they made 72" mowers). my cub has the electrical system ( i know 6volt), the lighting system and a has the touch control hydraulics the only thing it doesnt have is a 3pt hitch and for what i do with the tractor, that's not much of an issue. i know its not a hydro and i really dont care about that either, i dont have a problem clutching and shifting.

as far as being rated at 10 hp, i think those engines are rated less then they actually produce OR more modern equipment is rated much higher then they actually produce. A 60" cut is a wide mower and i dont know of any other machine ever produced that will successfully turn a 60" mower and actually mow well on only 10 hp. if you were to try to mow with that same mower and only turn it with a little briggs 10 hp or a k241 (kohler k series 10 hp) i have a suspension that it would never work. the cub engine actually does a pretty good job with a 60" deck, but if you are mowing really deep grass your going to have to make a pass with the deck raised some to knock it down. if you maintain your lawn and mow it at least once every two weeks you will never have a lack of power.

 

[Okie1]

Your

the cub is a perfect fit for my 2 acre lawn and im confident that i could mow quite a bit more with it and not have an issue. mowing 20 acres is allot and personally i like the old tractors so if it was me i probably would be looking at a super-a with a 72" mower (im quite sure they made 72" mowers). my cub has the electrical system ( i know 6volt), the lighting system and a has the touch control hydraulics the only thing it doesnt have is a 3pt hitch and for what i do with the tractor, that's not much of an issue. i know its not a hydro and i really dont care about that either, i dont have a problem clutching and shifting.

as far as being rated at 10 hp, i think those engines are rated less then they actually produce OR more modern equipment is rated much higher then they actually produce. A 60" cut is a wide mower and i dont know of any other machine ever produced that will successfully turn a 60" mower and actually mow well on only 10 hp. if you were to try to mow with that same mower and only turn it with a little briggs 10 hp or a k241 (kohler k series 10 hp) i have a suspension that it would never work. the cub engine actually does a pretty good job with a 60" deck, but if you are mowing really deep grass your going to have to make a pass with the deck raised some to knock it down. if you maintain your lawn and mow it at least once every two weeks you will never have a lack of power.

You're absolutely right about the horsepower thing, todays 25hp lawnmowers are a joke compared to your old Cub

 

[Redbarn]

Very nice F/S project, looks great. I hate to think what those batteries cost, but I venture to guess almost as much as the machine cost new, unless you work for the company

Actually, the project cost less than a new tractor. I got the batteries on clearance when new, lighter, smaller batteries became available. So the cost was not too steep. Lithium batteries have dropped in cost but are still a high initial cost. However, they last much, much longer than lead acid batteries and I calculated that they are cost effective after 7 years.
As a "Father/Son" project, this was priceless.