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HELP! IH 184 Lo-Boy - Engine Bogs Down When Mower is Engaged

R

RTR

Well-known Member
Hey guys, we recently purchased a 184 lo-boy with a 5 ft Woods 59 mower about 2 months ago. We had to send it to the CASE/IH dealer to have the clutch repaired. They ended up replacing the PTO shaft bearing as well. It was costly to let them do it, but I didn't want to mess all that electronic clutch stuff up, and didn't know anything about them as well as finding those parts.

Once I got the tractor back from the dealership, I ordered a new, correct belt (I've double checked) for the tractor/mower and installed it. Now, when I go to cut grass it wont hardly cut without the motor bogging down and stalling.

You literally have to cut with the deck all the way up, in 1st gear stopping ever so often so the motor can catch up to the mowing deck without it killing the engine.

The engine runs great, as well as the transmission. What the heck is the problem?!?!?!?!!!!
 
Have you checked to make sure that your bearings on the mower tuen freely? You could have a froze up bearing. I would imagine it would smoke or squeak really loud though
 
As mentioned. How tall is your grass. These are lawn mowers not bush hogs.
The 184 has the same engine as the Farmall Cub (8-9HP). The 184 has domed pistons, Zenith carburetor and increased RPM to get 18HP. One common cause for lack of power is a low governed RPM. Make sure you have 2510 no-load RPM. A couple hundred RPM makes a big difference. Of course the governor has to be working as well. As load increases, does the engine try to maintain RPM. If not maybe a new governor spring would help. One way to check would be to drive in second gear up a steep incline. You should hear the engine try to maintain RPM. This should all be checked with the engine fully warmed up.
The throttle lever assembly is a weak link. Often the throttle cable anchor under the dash is bent which prevents getting full RPM.
Also, general tune-up. Plugs, points and timing.
Check adjustment of the mower deck. Make sure the front of the deck is not pitched up. If it is, the mower has to cut the grass twice. Make sure the deck is level front to back. If anything have the front of the deck down about 1/8".
 
Did it work before you sent it to the dealership? If it did, I would make a firm, but not angry, phone call to the dealership, and speak to the service manager. They screwed something up.

After that, it's a process of elimination...
1. Bearings in mower siezed
2. Belt WAY WAY WAY too tight.
3. Dirty carburetor.
4. Mud daubers nest in the air cleaner.
5. Bad spark plugs.
6. Bad distributor cap.
7. Bad points & condensor.
8. Timing is off.
9. Low compression because engine is worn out.
10. Valves badly out of adjustment.
11. Poor quality gasoline.
 
Your tractor is probally running fine,These little tractors are gutless.They do a good job if you mow your grass every week or LESS

jimmy
 
As the others say, a 5 ft mower is too big for a Cub. I can easily bog my 5 ft Super A mower in tall grass and weeds. Take half width cuts and mow more often -- in addition to the suggestions others have made.
 
In addition to the great advice below, Make sure the front of the blade cut is lower than the rear by about 1/4 inch (measured on concrete with the blades turned front to rear, at the tip of the blade to ground. This keeps it from cutting each blade of grass 20 times. Jim
 
check your belt routing also to be sure the blades are turning the right way. if you need a copy of the bet routing on the woods 59, shoot me an email, i have the instructions scanned on my computer.
 
5' is way bigger than the mower on my cub. I'm not sure of the size of mine and I'm at work but my mower deck does not extened any wider than the rear wheels and it mows through about anything. But I don't think my cub would run a 5' mower at all.
 
Hey guys! Thanks to all of you for all of the responses! Please bare with me and I'll try and get a video up of what its doing.

The tractor runs great, and acts as if it has plenty of power; except for when mowing. When we mowed, we had to mow with the deck in the up position. If I lowered the deck, it would kill the engine.

Also, one more thing. When the deck is up, the brakes will not work. Haha, weird problems.
 

Here are some pictures of the tractor if you guys are intrested.

We bought it in North Central Tennessee from a guy that had just refurbished it and he used it a few times then had the clutch problems, and he just lost intrest (haha, or knew what it took to get it fixed).
 
Pictures...
a134098.jpg
a134099.jpg
 
If you can't mow with the deck down, it doesn't have "plenty of power."

Have you tried any suggestions we've given you over the last week?

Looks like a nice straight tractor, but until you figure out the power problem you really only have a pig wearing lipstick :)

What do you mean the brakes don't work? Do the brake pedals hit the mower deck when it's up?

Help us out here a little! Most tractor "mysteries" can be solved by simply looking carefully. Follow the mechanism... You push on the brake pedal to activate the brakes, right? Well, get someone to sit on the seat and push the pedal while you crawl around down below looking for the problem.
 

Hey, we are gonna do all of that. I'll help yall out soon. Just bare with me because the tractor is down at the farm, and I haven't had a chance to get it and take a closer look.

Once we get it back, I'll let yall know; as well as post videos of it.
 
It's all cool.

Don't listen to the guys that say these tractors don't have the power to run a 5' mower. That's baloney.

That 184 is the most powerful version of the Cub ever built. Running properly, it should have more than enough power to run the mower.

I've personally had two much older Cubs, a 1966 and a 1967, both with 5' mower decks on them. That 1967 would take a full cut in heavy grass with no problems. The 1966 wasn't so good at first but after sharpening the blades, tilting the deck properly, and doing a complete engine tuneup, it would take a full cut in heavy grass too.
 
Looks like everything is already covered. The only thing I can add is pretty obvious, but...You wouldn't happen to have taken the blades off between taking it to the dealer and having these problems? You'd probably notice a poor cut, but are the blades on backwards? Just a thought. Do you have any other way of putting a load on the tractor other than the mower deck? Maybe like a plow? That might help narrow it down to a deck vs motor issue...Shawn
 
One more thing. You stated "I ordered a new, correct belt (I've double checked) for the tractor/mower and installed it." I don't know much about the cubs early or late models, but I do know that on tractors such as my H, which has a woods L59, if the belt is installed backwards, it will cause the blades to spin in the wrong direction, which would again create a poor cut, but also rob the tractor of power substantially. shot in the dark...Shawn
 
(quoted from post at 22:54:33 10/06/10) One more thing. You stated "I ordered a new, correct belt (I've double checked) for the tractor/mower and installed it." I don't know much about the cubs early or late models, but I do know that on tractors such as my H, which has a woods L59, if the belt is installed backwards, it will cause the blades to spin in the wrong direction, which would again create a poor cut, but also rob the tractor of power substantially. shot in the dark...Shawn
Click to expand...

I found the "Belt Routing Decal" on ebay and printed a picture of it to aide us when installing the belt. I am pretty sure we got it on there just as the decal showed. We did take the blades off to sharpen them (they really need replacing), and I am pretty sure we wouldn't have put them back on incorrectly. Surely it would cut better than it does since we had sharpened them!
 
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