working on a CC 1200 that I reluctantly sold last year.... one that I thought I really wanted for myself, but had someone I know beg me endlessly every time he saw me to sell it to him for a "spare/backup" so I reluctantly gave in. he isn't very nice to machinery. 3rd gear, tall grass, just kinda runs thru it, what cuts, cuts, what lays over and pops back up, "what ever".... blew the new clutch disc with ~20-25 operating hours. a part I see on others still going on the original 40 years later. at the time I put a new driver on the engine with the new disc, with new clutch plates from Zach Kerber.
I have a solid driver on there, because I put solid mounts on the machine and the original flex driver was nearly in 2 pcs when I got the machine.
that 1st clutch I put on was always a bit stiff, figured the new parts had to wear in.
that 1st disc I had given to me by a "puller" guy, because he said it would be fine for a "mower" but wouldn't last for pulling. It didn't have the metal reinforcement between the 2 facings. The one I have in there now, does. I replaced everything having to do with the clutch this time except for the shaft which looked good, no wear marks. I went with new throwout, new teaser, new teaser cup, new blue puller spring, all new spirol pins, and a new rag joint. went with the lightest duty puller spring which has double the strength of a new "not tired" OEM one. figured I'd beef it up a bit. I did the clutch on this guys other 1200 about 10 years ago and its still going but I don't think he runs that one much to be honest. He also has a 1250 "hydro" that he uses mostly.
I also went thru all of the linkage, welded in a stiffener on the clutch fork making the part where the clutch rod pushes on it into a "U," instead of an "L" also welded on some machine shaft collars as bushings to take up play in the pivot end of the fork and the hanger bracket too.
I had rebuilt the engine completely, just before he talked me out of it. had it running great. He does comment that it has plenty of power and starts easy... but it had an oil leak. he mentioned it, and I saw the bottom of the engine and the frame was wet with oil... I had never tried to run it before I yanked the engine for the overhaul. When I got it I found the governor screw tht holds the gear in place laying along the frame among all the dirt and funk from the PO before it was mine. so I pulled it apart to make sure that the governor gear was intact, I wound up putting an iron gear into it that I had (because I had planned on this being a "keeper") so I didn't know the base plate (oil pan) was cracked. I even heli coiled the holes that bolt the engine to the frame....
I thought it was the gasket leaking so I replaced that and pulled apart the breather to make sure it was reassembled right. (it was)
After the new gasket I filled the engine with oil and left it hang from the lift for a good couple weeks while I decided what I wanted to do about the clutch, and kept checking the dipstick. I had slightly overfilled it (haven't started it yet since the regasket job) and it hadn't lost a drop.
I needed the lift, so I set the engine down on a roll around hydraulic lift table I have, so I could free up the lift. I set the shallow part of the pan on a 2x4 set upon that table. the engine was never ever dropped.
after I set the engine on that table, a couple days later, I saw the one end of the 2x4 sticking out from beneath the engine and the floor next to it was wet with oil. and the level on the stick was now dropping. How? Why? was it the drain plug? No, bone dry in that area.
nobody had touched that engine since I set it there.
I laid it forward towards the shroud side, (not all the way on its nose) to look. all seemed dry, except for 1 edge (opposite starter side) of the pan/block seam. got to looking at it again and discovered a crack (orig pan was aluminum) right along the engine mount bolt hole. shiney silver squiggly line. Crap. Hosed it with brake clean. sure enough then I could see the seepage. so I wound up bead blasting the cast iron pan that I recently found for a good price on Ebay (that I had bought for something else, BTW) (I have a hard time finding cast iron ones for the narrow Cub base) and painting it, tomorrow it goes on that engine so I can get that damn thing outta my way...
Frustrated with the machine/ but more so with the guy I reluctantly sold it to.... I hadn't even really had a chance to "de bug" anything when he started hounding me to "sell him one of my tractors" "since I had so many".....(I store them at his farm) I figured it would be this one... he AIN'T touching my 129... and since he already has a CC 1200 and a 1250, it didn't make sense to let him get my NH or Ariens machines, figured he could swap decks around, if one of the others was down for whatever reason ////suppose I can't blame him for the oil pan issue, but the clutch?
I can go out and jump on this or either of his other 2 machines, and mow out his 4 acres of grassland.... and other than having to refuel, not have any problem. He gets on any of them for 15 minutes and something breaks. things like belts, him hooking jumper cables backwards and melting the battery terminals, he had a problem with the throttle control on the 1250 and I had it on full throttle and told him to LEAVE IT ALONE but he couldn't... tried to mow at idle and ran the battery down because it wasn't running fast enough for the stator coil to keep up with the PTO electrical demand so it died and he leaves them in the middle of the yard and "mows around them" til I am out there the next time pisses me off. Ive had the "I have NO running mowers" phone call, 2 or 3 times this season. this guy is mid 60s never married, no kids, living out in the middle of nowhere at the "family farm"... has no interest in farming, never did.. cash rents his portion of the ground and works in town.
so I have been "debugging" this particular machine over the course of this year, he's eaten thru a couple of deck drive belts because of how he mows, sometimes not getting a single mowing out of a belt.... I have replaced all the tie rod ends this past spring, while the engine is out now I adjusted the slop out of the steering. It needs the front axle channel either shimmed or squeezed tighter, but screw it....
