My old shredder, or pasture mower to the city folks, after 24 years was more weld than original metal. I recently bought a used John Deere shredder on the cheap, but the rear skirts were torn up badly.

Last Monday and Tuesday, I cut out what was left of the rear skirts, but forgot to take pictures before I started. I laid down the metal that I cut out so that it shows in the pictures. I then cut and fit 1/8" plate and welded it all together, then welded a brace of 2 X 3/8 bar stock around the back. I then slopped on some implement paint with a brush.

My fabrication skills have improved greatly in the last few years and I'm real proud of the work.

Here 'tis:

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Looks excellent!

You spent some money on new rear tractor tires too, I see.

That's my old tractor. I've had it for 24 years and it's now for sale. I have a new John Deere 5045D but I put the shredder on the old tractor to move it around for the shredder project so that I didn't have to risk the arc welder frying any electronics on the new tractor.

That old tractor with those same tires has been very faithful for all those 24 years and it's tough to turn loose of it. It's one of my favorite old bullet proof diesels.

It would be hard to sell my 37 year old Cub Cadet for no more than I use it. My parents bought it new, and we used it exclusively to push snow in Nebraska for decades. The snow blade is off, the three blade under belly mower is on, but I hardly use it to mow my postage sized lawn in Texas, no more than the grass grows in Summer anyway. When I move to wherever in the next few years, I'd sure hate to sell it though. It's got it's original tires on it too!

Larry, Nice work, you should feel proud of work like that!

SkidRow J
Is that a Cub cadet Original? I have one also, S/N 29327 made in March 1962.
I also have a 127 ( on permanent loan to my son) and, my working tractor, a 782.

I need/ want a snow thrower for the 782 if anyone knows of one for sale/ or trade for the Cub Original.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Mine, gifted to me from my Mom in the '90s is a "73." It is a three speed, shaft-drive manual transmission with reverse, 7 HP Kohler engine. It was purchased in I believe 1973. It was a season end close out for $1,250.00 or so. It has the light kit on it, but it quite working since I brought it to Texas. I can't figure out what's wrong with it (lights). I have the paid invoice around here somewhere. I may take some pictures of it and post them...

MS,

Thanks for the compliment. When my industry went South, a few years ago I ended up having to take a job doing contract fork truck work in a large plant near home on a fleet of about 80 lifts. As it turned out I did more crash repair every day after the previous days demolition derby than I did electrical troubleshooting and hydraulic repair. That year and a half or so, improved my welding and fabrication skills by a factor of about 10.

There is a pretty good Cub Cadet following at Tractorybynet.com. There is a Cub Cadet Compact Utility Tractor (CUT) forum as well as a Lawn & Garden forum which would have people that talk about what you are looking for.

I have a Cub Cadet mower that I bought in the early nineties, but it's not the early iron you're talking about. I replaced it with a 27HP Bad Boy ZTR, but I kept it because I have a bagger for it. I used it a few months ago to bag up everything off my wifes new garden spot. First time it ran in about six years, but I lit it off and used it with hardly any messing around at all.

Good luck.

Nice fab work Larry. Your fab looks better than new...green paint makes things look fresh, doesn't it?

I have a 6' Dale Phillips shredder that's almost at that point..patched a bunch of holes this year but was thinking all the time: "why not just cut off all that sheet iron and replace it?" My bit*h is that the Dale Phillips deck is flat and traps every leaf of grass. Nowadays, most of the shredding gets done by the drag-behind MX10 but the 'ol 6-footer still gets a workout on occasion.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Thats a great piece of work Larry !
Down hear in Australia we call that a 'slasher'. Normally they dont have a skirt on the back, instead they have a curtain of short chains. It allows all the grass etc to come out easy & any large objects can be thrown back, slowed by hitting the chains & then exit without getting stuck. I have a 12' triple blade unit that goes behind my JD 4320.
Its an old tractor (1966) but it pulls like a draft horse !! I had to build a 3 point hydraulic linkage as it was originally a draw bar only.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

layback,

Yes, most shredders (slashers) have an opening for releasing cuttings. This one is quite different. If you study the pictures, of the three rear panels, the leftmost panel is vertical while the center and right panels are at a 30 degree angle from vertical. I have yet to run this shredder so I don't know how well that will work, but John had some reason for building it this way, I suppose to deposit the cuttings.

The angles made for quite a challenge in rebuilding it.

When spring comes and I put it on my new tractor, I'll post some pictures of it and what the resulting cut area looks like.

Great work Larry....werent you in the Spring TX area at one time?

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Keith Schuster
2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles