Farm truck and tow rig

Minor update but big comfort improvement to me, fixed the dash rattle. I would have sworn it was in the dash, was planning to take panels off and test... Well after a bit of searching online I kept seeing the trans dipstick being the culprit for many. Turns out it was my issue as well! Over time I guess it shifts and leans against firewall, then when you are in drive with foot on brake it shakes and causes a tremendous rattle which sounds like your dash plastics shaking. Simple fix, give it a yank so it's not touching firewall, problem solved.
 
Yet another project lol, this is a cub cadet 128, this was bought new by my wife's grandfather. He wanted us to have it so finally got around to picking it up. These were made in 1971 to 1974, so it's at least 49 years old. Plan to fix it up and and give it my son who's turning 6 soon as his "tractor" to work with.
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I've ordered new carb and ignition parts, spark plug, and correct oil for the tractor. It took me awhile to find the parts, with it being so old. It's been sitting for at least 8 years, however I was able to turn it over and crank it a bit when I replaced battery so seems like most of the wiring is still ok. I was seeing some spark on the old spark plug, but the carb is not working right which I think is preventing it from trying to start. More to come on the tractor soon hopefully!

As for the truck, got a few parts installed. EMF bushings for steering shaft and BD steering brace. Test driving later and will report back.
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Minor improvements from the above two mods. Still have a dead spot in the steering though so I'll keep on replacing parts. Truck is driving pretty good otherwise, I just pulled the front wheels off and retorqued dually hub extensions, inspected brakes all around, greased ball joints, etc. Dropped rear tire pressure to 45 as I'm not planning on hauling or towing anything for awhile, then retorqued all lug nuts twice. That was enough to wear me out on my lunch break lol.
 
RokAddict85 said:
Old habits, I still follow the "never impact on lugs". Seen it before with lug centric wheels where it didn't seat properly, caused quite a wobble.
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I dont have torque tubes either! But figured I would mention it with the amount of lugs you have. I still run them on by hand and then torque wrench all of them .
 
After sitting for potentially longer than a decade, the old cub cadet roared to life. New carb was installed, flushed the fuel tank out, new spark plug, cleaned up old points, ended up reusing old coil as well. Could not seem to get spark out of new ones. We drove it around about 4 laps of the driveway. There may be an issue with the creeper gear, which I guess is some type of under drive, or maybe just the engagement. It's a manual 3 speed with reverse. Had to Google the pattern lol, all instructions are worn away. Plenty of items to address still but I'm just glad it actually works, and pretty cool that this makes the 4th generation of family members driving this little tractor.
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Diamond eye cat back exhaust installed. What a pain. Unless you like modifying exhaust tubing and hangers on what should have been a bolt in mod, look elsewhere. It is finally fitting pretty good, had to chop 3 inches out of a tube and cut and reweld a hanger twice to get it right. Only thing I like about it is the muffler, has a deeper tone but it's close to stock loudness. The cat, which only came on later 3rd gens, really knocks down the drone and harshness of the Cummins, so I saw no reason to remove.
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RokAddict85 said:
Trimming a tube I can understand, it's probably a one size fits all kit, but cutting apart hangers and redoing is ridiculous.


You have my interest here lol, bad luck with them?
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Their fender chop kit that was supposed to bolt on required extensive cutting and fitting. When I asked about it they said every Jeeps different and some adjusting should be expected. Poor quality fitment is what it is , they just want to pass their issues down the line. This is the second time they got me and it will be the last.
 
Truck averaged 12.5mpg towing my TJ and 2k lb trailer to KY and back. Most of the drive was very hilly country highways and back roads.

Also while the TJ is getting regeared I'm taking the opportunity to clean and organize my shop, started with the loft which is my somewhat long term parts storage area:
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