My New 1948 Farmall Cub – Reliving The Past By Putting It To Work Again

Old cars and other vehicles are all about reliving our youths, right? As in the actual experiences we had in them, or wish we had (we didn’t all get to have red GTOs in high school!). For many of us, that would be the first vehicle we ever drove or owned. I started driving Farmall tractors at the age of nine on a Mennonite farm in Iowa, so yes, I’ve always wanted a big red Farmall, but given that I live in an older part of a city, that’s not realistic.

But fate works in mysterious ways. I now have a pint-sized Farmall Cub tractor in my driveway, an almost perfect facsimile of the big Farmalls I drove. And it’s not just going to sit there for me to gaze at or occasionally drive around down the alley; after 25 years pulling a trailer once a year in a parade, it’s going back to real work, mowing a two acre meadow just down the street.

I’ve told the story of my tractor driving summers here, when I spent several weeks every summer during hay-making season with a Mennonite family near Kalona, Iowa. In 1963, age ten, I was put to good use driving their 24 hp Farmall H raking the hay fields behind Mr. Yoder who was cutting it with an old John Deere Model B.

After the baler did its thing, I got to drive the Farmall Super M-TA, the biggest Farmall of its times, pulling a flat drag through the fields so the men could stack the bales and then haul it back to the barn. I felt like the king of the fields, perched up there on that big (for back then) tractor, with its 264 cubic inch four cylinder engine that made a mighty 47 hp and a delightful growl from the exhaust stack when pulling hard. Which it did.

International Harvester dominated the farm tractor market in the 1930s with the first practical row crop tractor, dubbed Farmall, which came in three sizes. The second generation appeared in the 1940s and early 1950s, and in addition to the M and the H, the next step down in size was the C, which had 23.5 hp and a Super C, with 26.5 hp. The neighbors down the road had a Super C which I drove when they needed some help raking their hay.

And below it were the A and B, which had some 21 hp and were essentially the same except that the A had an offset driving position—”Cultivision”—which made it ideal for cultivating row crops. One can still see some vintage As doing that work on produce farms as they were hard to top in that role. The A and B’s engines’ power is estimated at 21.2 hp.

And then there’s the baby in the family, the Cub. It arrived in 1947, designed to replace a mule or horse on small farms (40 acres or less), especially in the deep South as well as on truck (produce) farms and such. It had all of 9.25 hp (8 drawbar hp), but that was deemed adequate for the jobs it was intended for.  A full range of basic implements were available.

But farm sizes and incomes were both growing quite rapidly in the ’50s, so a twice-as-powerful Farmall A or B was more likely to be used for serious farming even on smaller farms. International began to reposition the Cub as more of a utility or garden tractor, for folks with acreage.

In 1955, a somewhat reconfigured “Lo-Boy” Cub arrived (this is a ’58 model), which lowered the unit and made it more suitable for mowing and such, with a tighter turning radius and loess height to mow under trees and overhangs.

In 1963, a new square nose hood appeared and in 1964, a yellow and white paint job replaced the iconic Farmall red. The Cub was now aligned with the smaller one-cylinder Cub Cadet as lawn and garden tractors rather than as a junior Farmall.

In 1969, the Cub went through its biggest evolutionary change, becoming the Model 154 Lo Boy. It still had the Cub’s four cylinder engine. but power was upped to 15 hp. And it now had a frame and it sat significantly lower to the ground. It was essentially a pioneer of the modern compact yard-utility tractor.

This line was further developed into the rather similar 184 and 185 Lo-Boys, with power increased further to 18 hp, double that of the original Cub, but still using the exact same block. Some were sold as Internationals with that distinctive red paint, but the majority sported the yellow-white paint jobs. The conventional (tall) Cub was still being made too, in ever smaller quantities. Production of Cubs ended in 1981. From 1955 to 1964, Cubs were also produced at International’s factory in France.

There seems to be something of a consensus on Cub forums that these 154-184-185 models are not as reliable as the true Cub, due to changes in the clutch and drive line and such. There’s not nearly the following for them that the Cub enjoys.

Yes, us old guys want to relive the past, or live the past we never had. Somewhat curiously, I never had a chance to drive a Cub, but I sure wanted to, having seen several mowing the large expanses of grass at some of the other farms near the Yoders (the Yoder girls, whose job it was to tend the yard, had to use regular lawn mowers). The gentle purring of the smooth little four made them more appealing than the new but noisy rough single-cylinder Cadet that I did get to drive at their neighbor’s place. And when I took the family back to Iowa in 1992, we stopped at a little county park playground for the kids and the grass was being mowed by an old Cub. Again, it sang to me, and I’ve been wanting a Cub experience ever since, but had long pushed that aside, given that we live in town in an older neighborhood.

But life works in mysterious ways. My son’s Ted’s long-time partner’s grandparents live in Junction City, about 15 miles north of Eugene. We had met Dean and Kathleen before, and I had heard his many colorful stories about working in mills since age 16 and as a maintenance mechanic. I had heard that he had a Cub that he used in parades as well as a few other toys (Model AA truck, an home-built EV and a steam-powered “car”), but hadn’t been directly acquainted with the Cub. That all changed a couple of weeks ago when I got a call from Ted telling me that Dean needed to get rid of his toys. His body is very spry for 90 but he’s experiencing short-term memory decline that makes it impossible for him to work on his vehicles and such. But it hasn’t affected his long-term memory, and he does have stories to tell.

CC’s “dman” (Dimitry) was in town visiting, so he and I drove up to Junction City to see if we could get it running (he took this photo). Dean couldn’t remember when it last had run. There was no battery (6V) but I jump-started it from my truck (it’s ok to do that as long as a 6V battery isn’t also connected). I brought some fresh gas for the dry tank, but it refused to to even kick a little. I checked for the spark from the magneto ignition, and it was good. So presumably it was a a fuel issues; I unbolted the carburetor and took it home with me.

The idea was to get it running and then advertise it to sell, which I offered to do for them.

Back home I took off the simple little updraft carburetor to see how it looked inside. Not good. Rather than get a rebuild kit, I did what some here will disdain but what quite a few others at the Farmall Cub forum now do: buy a cheap Chinese knock-off for $28 on Amazon. I’ve had good luck with other cheap Chinese carbs on my small power equipment, and I really didn’t have time to tinker with the old one. I also ordered a set of spark plugs.

I went back a few days later and installed the new carb and plugs, and it started instantly! And it ran very nicely, without any smoke. It doesn’t have a muffler and I was afraid it would be loud, but this engine is tuned so mild that even with a straight pipe it’s pretty mellow.

Kathleen found some old photos that documented the Cub’s life with Dean. Here it as it arrived, having sat outside unused for some years, like so many old tractors that no longer were either needed or wanted. This was around the year 2000 or so. It had obviously been used to cultivate row crops, strawberries, most likely; more on that later.

The insides of the engine does not look good at all at this point. Dean was an excellent mechanic and although he remembers “just cleaning it up” he must have rebuilt it.

In this photo we see that the engine has been unbolted from the central tube and the front end. It was common in tractors to use the drive train as the sole structural “frame” member.

And here it is all ready for a fresh coat of International Red.

 

This is how it looked in 2001, ready for its first of many annual outings pulling this large this wagon with a polka band in it, in the Scandinavian Festival parade in Junction City. That explains in part why Dean fitted these used rear wheels and tires from a truck, as new tractor tires are a bit pricey and it didn’t need them in this role. But curiously, it’s still sporting the original-style rib front tires. It’s lived a rather pampered life the past couple of decades.

I drove it out of its hiding spot in the garage and took a bunch of pictures to use in an ad on FB Marketplace and Craigslist. But that would would have to wait until we got back from a week at Port Orford.

Admittedly, I had fallen in love with this Cub at first sight, and especially so when it fired up so nicely, but had just told myself that there was no space in our life for it. The day we got back, I suddenly had a brilliant idea—or a brain fart, depending on your POV: I can use it to mow Madison Meadow! It will have a useful life again!  Stephanie has encouraged me not to act on impulses in May or June, when it is well know that some people can be prone to a touch of mania. But she approved.

Madison Meadow was an undeveloped two acre parcel just a block down the street from us. In 2003 it suddenly sported a For Sale sign. An idealistic neighbor contacted the seller to see if he would consider selling to the neighbors to keep it from being developed (with 18 houses).  The seller had grown up nearby and his grandfather had bought this property ages ago. He and his sisters were now ready to dispense with it, but he liked the idea of it being saved as an open space.

I’m not going to relate all the juicy details of how this transaction actually transpired, but a critical element was that Stephanie and I took out a mortgage on our house so that the group could have two years to create a 501-3-c non-profit and raise the money to buy it. It was a drama-filled couple of years, but the important thing was that it worked out in the end. Now Madison Meadow is supported by volunteers, and one of the board members used to mow it with a regular gas push mower! He spent days on it. But this year they raised the money to pay a guy to come in with a tractor to mow, which had just happened a day before I took these pictures. It takes 2-3 mowings per season, which is over now as we will not get anymore rain until about October.

For the two years we owned it before passing it on to Madison Meadow, I mowed it with my battered old 13hp riding mower. Despite it being a cheap, low-end unit, I abused that thing for years until it finally became decrepit.  But I (and Will) had to mow it pretty regularly as it would not have handled the tall grass that they prefer there now. But with a 42″ Woods rotary mower, the Cub will handle it just fine.

So I went back to Junction City with my utility trailer and offered Dean and Kathleen a bit more than what we had planned to advertise it for, loaded it up and hauled home. Stephanie took this picture and said: now you have a red sports car and a girl friend (Wanda the dog)! True that!

I unloaded it, backed out, struggled a bit with the balky shifter and of course managed to stall it. The carb needs some fine adjustment.

And after a short run down the block and back, I parked it in the driveway.

My Cub will be the only “real” tractor in my neighborhood. There used to be this Oliver Super 88 parked behind this house a few blocks away, but they were old folks and moved out some years back, along with the tractor.

So let’s take a closer look at what I’ve actually got here, as it’s not quite a stock Cub.

Some of you may have noticed that this Cub has a very narrow track. I did, from the get-go, but thought maybe it was the different rear wheels and the adjustable front axle had been narrowed. Not so; it turns out I’ve got a narrowed Cub, referred to as an orchard or vineyard Cub, although more likely it was modified to cultivate strawberries, which was a popular crop here back in the day. The photo of it before it was restored shows it with a cultivator on the back. I figured this out thanks to a cornucopia of Cub information at the farmallcub.com forum.

So how was this done? By actually cutting the Cub in its width, on the right side.

Here’s the right side axle, and the cut and weld seam are quite obvious, just to the right of that vertical seat post.

And here’s the seams where the operator’s floor “board” was cut down.

Dean gave me the original rear wheels, which are dished and can be mounted either way. My plan is to mount the right side with negative offset, which should put it back to close to where it would normally be before having its axle cut. And mount the left side with positive offset, as was most common originally. They need to be sanded and repainted, obviously.

The front axle track is adjustable, with the inner axle tubes sliding within the outer ones. But it’s possible that it was cut too. If I can’t get the adjustment out enough to meet the dished rear wheel, I’ll get the proper parts, which are readily available from a major Farmall salvage operation in Missouri (J.P. Tractor Salvage). One way or another, I’ll get it back from its current 34″ track (measured at the center of the tires) to closer to the 40-42″ that was stock (they could be widened further too).

As to how it ended up with traction tires and wheel weights on the front, we will never know. It’s exactly the reverse of what it should have.

Let’s take a closer look at the heart of the Cub. A major part of the Cub’s attraction is that it has a proper four cylinder, water cooled engine just like the big Farmalls. These engines are considered beyond bullet-proof due to their quality construction and being so low stressed. It has a 2 5/8″ bore and a 2 3/4″ stroke, for a 59.5 cubic inch displacement (981 cc).  These early units had all of 9.25 hp, at a governed 1600 rpm. That may raise the question as to why tractor engines were governed to run at such low speeds? The most important reason is that this governed speed also corresponds to the torque peak, and gas engine invariably operate most efficiently at their torque peak. Yes, one can easily override the governor and probably double the peak hp or more, as they do in tractor pulls, but that rather defeats the original purpose: to operate efficiently as possible, since fuel burn was a major expense in tractor operation.

This is also why quite a few of the larger tractors were set up to operate on much cheaper kerosene, with two tanks: one to start off with gasoline, and then switch to kerosene when it was hot. I well remember Mr. Yoder looking worryingly at his farm gas tank as its contents went down during the busy summer. Having a truck come refill it would likely have been his biggest cash expense of the year. This is also why diesels started to take over in the late ’50s and ’60s.

Here’s that new Chinese carb, but it’s not connected to the air cleaner. There’s an aluminum pipe that does that, bit it’s missing (Dean rightfully said it wasn’t exactly needed for its annual parade duties). Fortunately, new parts for Cubs are also plentiful, at TM Tractor Parts. That pipe is in stock for $18.00.

Here’s the other side, with its stout 6V Delco-Remy starter. And just behind the steering shaft is the magneto ignition. This does not require any electric source (battery or generator) as it creates its own high voltage. That explains why there’s no generator on the early Cubs; later ones did have one and a more traditional ignition system. It’s easy to hand crank these Cubs, and I’m sure that’s how many were started in its early days.

The one key difference between the Cub’s engine and the larger Farmalls is that it is a side valve (flathead) engine while the others are all ohv. In fact, side valve engines were always relatively rare in tractors going way back to their earliest days (Ford being the obvious exception) due to the inherently improved efficiency of ohv engines. Tractors were all tested by the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory for power at the belt and drawbar and for fuel burn, most importantly. These statistics were sort of the equivalent of EPA mileage numbers and used for bragging rights. Obviously, for the Cub the extra expense of an ohv head was not considered worthwhile.

Climbing up into the Cub is a bit ergonomically compromised, more so due to the narrowed floor. This is why I do yoga.

The Cub also only has three forward gears, unlike the four in the Farmall A, B and C and the five in the H and M. Speed in the gears at the governed 1600 rpm is 2 1/8 mph in first, 3 1/8 mph in second, and 6 1/2 mph in third, although most Cubs now run slightly larger rear tires for an honest 7 mph top speed in third.

If more speed is desired, one can always swap in something a bit livelier, like this 3.0L Mitsubishi V6 from a Chrysler minivan. Or hop up the Cub engine to some 20 hp or more. I’ll pass.

The two brake pedals are on the right. Looks like Dean bolted them together for street use. The clutch is on the left. All the controls, clutch, brakes felt very good, and the engine runs sweetly and without any smoke. Not surprising, given Dean’s skills.

The lever and notched detent on the right is for the throttle; well, governor, really. The one on the left is unknown as of yet, but presumably for an implement. The round button pull switch on the bottom of the “dashboard” is the ignition on-off switch. The dial above is for the lights, but Dean wired up his own lights and trailer lights, operated by those two toggle switches. The one gauge is for the oil pressure.

The governor is operated off the back of the magneto. It’s all very mechanical and extremely simple. Which is of course why the Cub still has a strong following, for its simplicity, durability and ease of repair.

But realistically, Cub prices are drooping, as its use as a working tractor on very small farms and rural properties is increasingly being replaced by modern diesel tractors that can do everything better and quicker. And the nostalgia market for it is shrinking too as the age group of those that grew up with Cubs is also shrinking.

So I’ve got a bit of work to do to get the cub ready for work. I need to find a Cub-specific 42″ Woods belly mount rotary mower. None other will work, as the Cub has an archaic PTO (Power Take Off) that runs at engine speed (1600 rpm) instead of the usual geared-down 540 rpm. And it turns the “wrong” direction, as it’s essentially connected directly to the engine. But these mowers can be found with a bit of looking.

And I need to restore the rear wheels and put some proper tractor tires on them. And hook up the air filter. And get a muffler. And widen the front track. And…

Dean also has a very sweet restored Ford Model AA stakebed farm truck hiding in a friend’s barn that he needs to get rid of too. I’ll be going back shortly to get it running. No, I really cannot take it. Anyone interested?

Update 6/26: I’ve already ordered all the parts from a Farmall salvage operation to restore my Cub back to this original width, which includes the right real axle housing and axle shaft, the front axle and right side tie rod and the floor board. And they also had a mower too.  I’ll be ready for next spring’s mowing season.

 

Turns out I’m not the first at CC to buy a Cub; former CC contributor Lee Wilcox wrote up his (none too happy) experiences buying a very tired 1978 Cub here:

My Fieldside Classic: 1978 International Harvester Cub: America’s Mechanical Mule  by Lee Wilcox

Related CC reading:

Auto-Biography: Tractor Driving Maniac by me

Backyard Classic: 1955 Oliver Super 88 Diesel Tractor – I’ve Got the Biggest Garden Tractor In Town! by me

Porsche, Lamborghini, Field Marshall And Much More- CC Does Powerland Steam-Up by me

Fieldside Classics: A Visit To Hentze Family Farm – “I’ll Shoot The Old Tractors And Trucks While You Buy The Walnuts” by me

Fieldside Classic: Classic Tractors And Other Farm Toys by Jon Stephenson