NON POLITICAL OFF TOPIC!! Cub Cadet??

[MS Fowler]

Perhaps the same desire for quality that has me driving a Benz now has me looking at a 30+ year old lawn mower.
I am tired of rebuilding my MTD riding lawn mower at the start of every season. I have to replace all the bearings for the spindles on the deck, and they do not last the whole season before they get loud and wobbly.
I want something durable.
I am drawn to the early ( before MTD bought them) Cub Cadet, probably a gear drive one as I fear the hydrostatic units may be nearing the end of their useful life.
I am looking for people with experience, either good or bad with Cubs. Let me know what models are great, which should be avoided, how to tell a good one, what are the points to check, what can be fixed and what is a deal-killer.
You know, just like the newbies who post here on MB. Tell me your experiences,
Please!

[Azimyth]

Halliburton has a no bid contract with MTD as a bearing supplier. The deal was brokered through Dick (the blaster) Cheney via Jack Abramoff for the benefit of the national magician and clown union local #666.

George Bush is an idiot.

Where's the eggnog?

[waybomb]

I've had two Cubs and various other lawn tractors, Deere's included. All of them need blade bearings changed too often, along with other maladies.

I finally broke down and bought a commercial hydraulic zero-turn mower. Instead of wasting countless hours attempting to drive a multi-purpose tractor around trees and bushes and landscaping on 6 acres, it takes less than 3 hours with a commercial ZT Mower. No breakdowns either.

Do yourself a favor and buy a purpose-built grass cutting machine.

Or do what I did later - save money and have someone cut the grass for you. After 30 years of cutting grass every week every summer, I gave up. Now I enjoy summer. No more back and forth with gas cans, no chnaging blades, oil, bearings, belts, etc, etc. If you figure it all up, it is way cheaper to pay somebody. Let the pros do it.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by 123c

Cub Cadet sucks, that's why we stopped selling them at Lowe's and went over to John Deere...

You obviously did not read my post. The Cub I would consider was built before MTD took them over; not the current stuff.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by waybomb

I've had two Cubs and various other lawn tractors, Deere's included. All of them need blade bearings changed too often, along with other maladies.

I finally broke down and bought a commercial hydraulic zero-turn mower. Instead of wasting countless hours attempting to drive a multi-purpose tractor around trees and bushes and landscaping on 6 acres, it takes less than 3 hours with a commercial ZT Mower. No breakdowns either.

Do yourself a favor and buy a purpose-built grass cutting machine.

Or do what I did later - save money and have someone cut the grass for you. After 30 years of cutting grass every week every summer, I gave up. Now I enjoy summer. No more back and forth with gas cans, no chnaging blades, oil, bearings, belts, etc, etc. If you figure it all up, it is way cheaper to pay somebody. Let the pros do it.

I appreciate the thoughts. I especially appreciate the creative approach; outsource the work.
The problem is that I actually enjoy mowing the lawn....most of the time.
I do not have enough lawn to justify a zero turn, purpose-built mower. I hope to do whatever I do for under $1000.

[TimFreeh]

I bought my father a brand new Cub Cadet mower around 1993, it was problematic after the first mowing season. He 'outsourced' his mowing duties after the third season and gave the mower to my uncle. I was very disappointed in the performance of the machine and when I purchased a house with a 2+ acre lawn I bought a small Kubota 3 cylinder Diesel mower. I ran it for three seasons with nothing but routine maintenance and sold it for 85% of my purchase price after I sold the house. My cousin also has a similar machine that he uses for mowing 5+ acres in Virginia and he has been using it for at least 15 years.

I can highly recommend Kubota - the build quality of my mower was very impressive when stacked up against anything else I looked at.

[Lebenz]

We use the Craftsman brand. In the stix I take care of several acres of hilly and rocky terrain. Broke one mandrel on a immovable object the first year I had it, but, despite my efforts there has been no damage in the almost 4 years since. And, to my amazement, Sears came out and fixed the damage free of cost! Our other one is almost 9 years old and it has yet to have any problems. Wish any of our cars were as reliable as these. . . .

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by Lebenz

We use the Craftsman brand. In the stix I take care of several acres of hilly and rocky terrain. Broke one mandrel on a immovable object the first year I had it, but, despite my efforts there has been no damage in the almost 4 years since. And, to my amazement, Sears came out and fixed the damage free of cost! Our other one is almost 9 years old and it has yet to have any problems. Wish any of our cars were as reliable as these. . . .

I must admit that the Craftsman mower must be a solid machine. Between the immediate family, various in-laws and all the family friends, I seem to be the go-to-guy for fixing what ails the fleet of riding mowers around here. Of all the different brands I’ve worked on (Deere, MTD, Cub, Toro), I’ve never had to fix a thing on my brother-in-laws Craftsman. He’d call me for sure if it ever had an issue. He beats on it pretty good too. Must be tougher than it looks.
As for me. I’m with Tim. We use a Kubota GR2100 to do all the mowing around the house and hangars. And a Kubota L39 to push the aircraft in/out of the hangars. Neither has had a single issue yet. Very solid machines.

As for the Cubs. I have heard the older ones are much better than the newer. My only real advice (like Fred stated) is not to attempt commercial type mowing with a residential designed machine. I’ve seen many folks around here go out and buy a 42”+ Deere (like the LT or LX series) and try to mow a 3 to 5 acre pasture with it. Then wonder (and complain) why its spindles (and other parts) went out in the first season.

[Honus]

On most things, I say older is better, but this is one case where newer is better. New mowers give a better cut because they have better decks and higher blade speeds.

Hydrostatic is also a big improvement over gear drive. Cuts down mowing time and makes mowing more enjoyable.

We have two mowers: a Kubota rider with a 19 HP diesel and hydrostatic transmission; and an old John Deere with a 12 HP Kohler motor.

The Kubota runs like a dream, but doesn't have as nice a cut as some other mowers of similar price. The John Deere is a tank. I use it for ditches, but it is much too slow to do much real mowing.

Get something with a deck out in front. IMHO, that makes a huge difference in the quality of cut.