[AT] now garden tractor

[farmallgray at aol.com]

As far as I'm concerned Cub Cadets are "real" tractors, just smaller versions. Various companies offered front end loaders for them and they were approved by IH. Johnson and Danco were probably the most popular.
Any crawler versions are home built. There was a Cub Cadet 100 crawler built by a very talented machinist in WI and it looks good enough to be factory. That is probably what you saw a photo of. The same fellow also built a front wheel assist 100 and a High-Crop version. Another fellow built an offset version (like a Farmall Cub) and an Orchard version. A lot of collectors, (myself included) get bored with OEM restorations and build various custom versions.
As for production numbers, The MTD serial numbers started at around 700,000 so IH built over 600,000 Cub Cadet garden tractors. That figure doesn't include lawn tractors and riding mowers as they had their own serial number sequences. MTD then continued to build a couple hundred thousand based on the IH design. In the mid-90s MTD changed their serial number system so it isn't easy to keep track from there on. 
Todd MarkleSpring Mills, Pa.

-----Original Message-----
From: HERBERT METZ <metz-h.b at comcast.net>
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>; Herbert Metz <metz-h.b at comcast.net>
Sent: Fri, Mar 1, 2019 11:01 am
Subject: Re: [AT] now garden tractor

 Since Spencer's engine photo did not show the entire tractor I googled and found that Cub Cadets also offered a front end loader and a crawler. That was back when many lawn tractors enjoyed a good reputation; I have no idea of their production numbers but they were in big numbers where we lived (Midwest). Herb(GA)

On February 28, 2019 at 11:01 PM Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com> wrote: 
 
<snip>Back to tractors.   Speaking of which, it’s not a real tractor but it’s the Kohler engine of my mid 1960s Cub Cadet 123 that I rebuilt.  Putting on the final touches.  Found an nice machine shop in Statesville North Carolina that handled the machining for me.  I have to button up a beefier front axle(mounting, etc), because I found a loader for the 123 and the stock axle probably would not handle the rates load of the loader.  While I managed to find two sets of wheel weights and a set of new Ag R1  tires for the rear to help with traction and have them installed, I still have to mount the hydraulic pump and install a new wiring harness that I went ahead and splurged on.  Engine has some new paint, but the 123 is an older restoration; so making the paint too nice would make the engine stick out like a sore thumb :-)
 

Spencer Yost
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