[Farmall] drawbar bolts

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

There were quite a few of the 154's sold around here but by the time the 
184's came out, they had lost their popularity. The vast majority here were 
sold for mowing, a handful were equipped with 3pt hitch. I've ran several 
Cubs, Lo-boys, and 154's all equipped with 5ft 3 blade mowers. My mowing was 
always to check one out to make sure whatever needed fixing was repaired. 
The later 154's seemed to me to have more power than a regular Cub. I don't 
know if the engines had been speeded up or if it was a gearing/pulley 
arrangement, tire dia., or just my imagination. I'm not a big fan of having 
to mow with any of them as they are just too slow. Would much rather have a 
belly mower under a Super A.  Now the belly mount sickle mower on a Cub is a 
different story, wonderful tool for maintaining around the farm!

We haven't worked on a 154 in a few years. The last one was a pretty nice 
machine, but the owner wouldn't fix the PTO, there were two kits or 
something we needed and the parts were going to be close to $500.

Close to 20 years ago I remember helping to change the driveshaft to the 
transmission in, it seems they kind of copied the Cub Cadet setup? Anyway, 
the shaft cost a fortune, even back then.

Isn't there a potential problem with the frame breaking at the transmission?

I wouldn't mind having one of the last 18x series that was painted red. They 
just looked cool!

John Hall


-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 12:38 PM
To: Farmall/IHC mailing list
Subject: Re: [Farmall] drawbar bolts

If you are at all familiar with the later "numbered Lo-Boy's", they are
essentially what the Cub would have been if IH had fixed many of the
things we find fault with: full length frame, separate radiator,
standard throwout bearing, clutch that can be changed without splitting
the tractor, electric (constant running) PTO clutch, somewhat standard
hydraulic system, key/solenoid start, optional Cat I three-point hitch,
separate tank and hood, optional creeper auxiliary transmission, and
even a pressurized cooling system. On the downside, they used an idiot
light instead of an oil pressure gauge and kept the proprietary PTO
speed/direction arrangement. The final iteration, the 184, had an
alternator. But everything else about the Cub that we know and love
remained the same - the same old F head engine (hot-rodded up to 20 hp),
three speed transmission, etc. On the downside, the steering was more
like a garden tractor's, and the Cultivision offset was gone. For
whatever reason, IH put the (Cub Cadet) belt driven generator/starter
and an outboard clutch on the early 154/185 but went back to a regular
starter and flywheel clutch on the 184 (the later number went backwards
because IH wanted to the "new" '84 series tractors to all be numbered
and look alike). I suspect that the reasons for keeping the oddball PTO
arrangement were 1. to sell more implements and 2. the engineering cost
to add a regular 540 PTO would have been prohibitive. The numbered
Lo-boys were targeted at the commercial landscaping market, where most
of the implements were rotary mowers and snowblowers, and maybe pulling
a trailer or drag.

<http://public.fotki.com/mikesloane/international_184/184_painted1.html>

Mike