Cub Cadet any good ?

[shona13]

What is your opinion about beer ?
What do you think about Ford ?

Please treat us with some respect.
Every manufacturer makes good stuff and some not so good stuff then if you are lucky some outstandingly great stuff and if you are unlucky total trash.
I now have near 50 2000 series Cub Cadet mowers in my service run
Up untill MTD stopped making the spindle housings I was activly seeking out trashed ones to repair & on sell to my customers.
If one of the after market companies starts making them then I will resume doing so
OTOH I would not do the same with the LTX series.

If you want an opinion then be specific otherwise all you are going to get is prejudices

I couldnt agree more, having bought my first cub cadet ,now 6 years old 1042 RD and it goes through deck belts like you know what, It got that bad that I fitted those rubber loaded tension arms with shielded flat idler pulleys to keep the belt running true,working for the last season and the belt is good, apart from that the deck Pressed Metal is ok for clean lawns but too thin for areas that are a bit rough other than that as good as any of the other Big Names out there

 

[gle_kirb]

A while back I was talking with someone in the Business who was using only Cub Cadet. He had a few crews working for him and said he was happy with the machines they made.

What are peoples opinions regarding Cub Cadet and real world experiences ?

There's good, better and best in just about all brands. Depending upon your $$ and what you intend to mow with it should inter into the debate.
My property is largely on rough terrain so I purchased in 2005 a Cub Cadet LT2180 with 42" deck. This was the shaft drive model.
Of course you have to maintain wear points on them but I am here to say that this little monster was as tough as nails when it comes to power, durability of the power train. It would claw a hole into the ground and set down on the axle and keep on spinning if you so desired.
It had the 18hp Briggs Vanguard Motor
Now for my recommendation: The 2020 models has a shaft-drive with a 27ish hp Kohler Command motor that I would buy if I were going to get a new one.
Get the fabricated deck and not the stamped deck.
Install and or always maintain the bridge across the grass exit area. This usually is metal strip attached. This keeps the deck from warping in case it gets a bad bump.
Last I looked they are in the $5,400.00 range in price. Never run anything but "NON-ETHENOL" fuel in any lawn mower.
I sold the Cubby in 2019. It's still running.
Hope this helps.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Like everything else they get worse as time goes on and they try to cut costs because people will not pay a fair price for anything now days.
The older ones are 200 times better than the newer ones
I buy all the old 2000 & 3000 series Cubs that I can find, recon them and sell them to my customers.
They are astonished that a 1998 mower cuts better than their current 2010 mower
Not only do they cut better, the blades last near 3 times as long because they are real commercial blades .
OTOH I would not bother with the new L series .
Having said that I would not touch anything that comes out of the AYP factory either, again build down to a low cost .
My opinions are of course biased because I only know about mowers that come through the gate for repair which is not a true sample of what is on offer.