If you’re like me, you probably enjoy tinkering with old vehicles, trucks, tractors -anything with an engine basically! Anyways, we had just finished the last on the to do list for the 1952 Massey 30 and I was feeling open for another project when this one popped up. Looking back, its funny how it works out as this was a perfect spring-summer project for me!
This was one of those projects that I did NOT need …. but I simply could NOT pass up!
At first, I was not sure what model it was, but I did know that it was in fact an old International Harvester Cub Cadet! These have quite the following to this day, with many people collecting them. The truth is, they are hard to find in decent shape - but they are reliable old machines worth saving.
Long story short; I ended up grabbing this ‘76 IH Cub Cadet 1450 for $150. It sure needed a bit of work, but it had potential. It had good bones and decent body on it. Rear tiller gearbox sure was a plus as well! Paint was honestly not all that bad on it.
Once I got it back home the first order of business was to wash it thoroughly and to remove the deck to see what we were dealing with. I still have kept the deck to this day, however it would need a rebuild to become operational again after sitting for so long!
The next order of business was to get it running. I was able to get it running briefly off the fuel in the tank and using the original carb on it. It ran for about a minute before it died, and then from there I knew I had some cleaning to do! While I was at cleaning it, I found the serials on the engine, and found that it had the Kohler K321 14HP in it.
I didn’t have any luck with the fuel screen that was on it. Going forward, only the filter style ones for me as they will actually catch debris.
I had to wait a few days for the OEM carb rebuild kit to come in. I ended up having issues with the needle and float, and continued flooding issues. The float wasn’t punctured and would float in water. I couldn’t seem to get the OEM rebuild needle to seal properly. I ended up using the carb float and needle out of an Amazon kit and got it to finally seat. The other bonus of using the Amazon carb float; was that it was plastic and had a “tang” to keep it seated and on the round dowel at all times.
After I got it running, I decided to lift it inside of the shop to work on it further. At this point in time, I hadn’t decided what tires to put on it (sourcing issues) and the right rear tire was still completely screwed haha. I took off the original glass lights that came with it, and swapped over to some LED’s. After some wiring fixes; the front lights worked again!
After the lights, I decided that I had better service the rear differential as I was getting ready to run it in gear to tune the carb completely! I started with removing the rear differential cover, filter and fluid. I used about 2 cans of brake clean, a vacuum, and some small wire brushes to clean the differential out. I had an issue with the old filter nipple; where the “filter nipple” stuck onto the filter instead of staying with the machine. Nothing a hacksaw and some rethreading won’t fix!
After some cleaning, I used IH HyTran in the rear end, and threw a new filter and gasket on it. Wow, was I ever impressed with the size of rear differential on it! While I was at it, I did also inspect and soak the relief valves in diesel overnight (to remove any crud). I did replace all relief valve O-rings as well (not pictured). I’m also glad to know that there are vendors on EBay selling rebuilt relief valves for these old machines.
With the fresh HyTran and diff service; she was good to go (minus tires)! I had decided on ag tires for the unit, and initially tried rear + front ags. The front ags didn’t last too long; as the ride was super rough with them. Nonetheless; it was good to have it running and driving for the final carb tune.
It was at this stage that I had to try it out and put it to work. I ended up ordering a Brinly hitch off Ebay, and hooking the beast up to my 4x6 utility trailer. I used it that very same day, to cut down some fallen trees after a wind storm. It did very well - almost effortlessly towing a 30ft tree out! I did also use it to tow a nearly full 103 gallon water trough filled with water around (likely 900 lb). Once again, no issues, but went slow - these things are pretty stout, and it was after this that I was thoroughly impressed!
I’ve also had some fun with it “offroad mowing” - or whatever you call it. Genuinely surprised and pleasantly impressed with its ability to just climb and keep going. There are a lot of folks online that say IH Cub Cadets are tough, and that you can just “point them and they’ll go” - and I would have to honestly agree.
Oh and P.S; it also wheelies really nice!!
