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Hi,

I am a relatively new forum member. I joined last year but really haven't been active in posting, being new to Ride on mowers.

A bit of history first:

I am in Queensland, Australia. Spent all my life in the city but recently (a bit over 12 months ago) moved to the country and now live on 5 acres. I mow around an acre and a half (my guess) around the house and have a local mowing contractor come in every couple of months to do the rest.

With the property purchase I "inherited" two Cub Cadet mowers, a GT 3200 (Kohler 25 HP twin 54" deck) and a LT1018 (B&S 18.5 HP 42" deck). The latter has been my primary mower, as the GT 3200 seems to need a bit of work. Also the 42" has about 200 hours whereas the GT 3200 has around 650 hours on it. However, they both seem like pretty solid mowers (I still fairly new to ride ons, though). See pics below.





I am starting to think about bringing the GT 3200 up to operating condition, with a service, engine belts replaced (they badly need that) and what looks like the deck idler bearing and pulley replaced too (it's sitting up at an odd angle).

The purpose of this post is just to get feedback from Cub Cadet owners, particularly of GT 3200s, to see what their impression of them is (for mowing 1 to 2 acres), any issues to be aware of and anything I should look out for with the hours mine has done and servicing, etc.

Thanks in advance. Peter

Take it in and get an estimate on how much and go from there. Might be better if your mowing 5 acres is to upgrade to a zero turn

:welcome:

Go to the USA Cub Cadet web site and download the owners, parts and service manuals for both the tractors and the decks,
Cub treat the deck as a separate stand alone item and there should be a serial number on the deck on the 3200

Don't bother with the Australian Cub web site as it is nothing more than a fancy advertising platform.
In OZ Cub is another franchise distributed by the Melbourne Moron Mafia so parts are artificially grossly inflated and the supply is less than pathetic.
parts I can not get from Gripskies or Stens locally I get from Jacks in the USA and they get here faster and cheaper than by ordering locally.

The 3200 is a full on garden tractor so you could farm your 5 acres with that mower let alone just mow.
Lots of handy stuff to go with it, blades rotary hoes, brooms, rakes & Snow blowers but I doubt you will need the latter.
The LT was a cheap mower to give Bunnings something to sell. if you get my drift.
The Kohler will do 3000 hours standing on its head with a little attention to servicing so don't worry about 650 hours I have a lot of 2000 series in my run with way over 3000 hours on them.
Cub use funny size belts so you need either to buy OEM or Cub ( MTD ) branded belts and they are in the bend over & apply plenty of vasolene price range.
Make sure you grease the spindles on the 3000 deck as it has tapered roller bearings cause this is a full on commercial mower, the LT will have sealed deep grove balls.

If you don't have a compressor , get one and then get a 4' long dusting gun and use that to clean under the mower, the transmission and the deck. Never use water.
Change the oil at the end of your mowing season, if there is one, or July- August on each machine each year.

Thanks guys for all the good input.

OK, about to dot he work on the 3200. The work consists of:

1. replace the PTO belts (I have 3 belts left here by the previous owner)
2. replace the deck moveable idler pulley and bearing. I have a new one coming should be here next week.

i would appreciate it if anyone has step by step instructions on how to do these jobs. For information the deck is model 190-295-100 54"

Thanks in anticipation.

If this is your deck
https://www.partstree.com/parts/cub-cadet/mower-deck-assemblies/295-190-295-100-cub-cadet-54-mower-deck/54-inch-deck-drive/
Then replace the pin , part # 26 if it shows any signs of wear.
And part # 22 as it tends to wear to a wedge shape.
The square hole is for a breaker bar to stretch the spring when replacing the belt.
Check the hole where the spring mounts to, the spring cuts a groove in it which will eventually cut through the arm and the spring.
I fit a bolt with a bush that is a good fit inside the loop on the spring to fix this forever ( it was quicker than welding the slot .grinding it back & repainting )

Check the uni joints on the drive for a concealled grease nipple and grease them , I use marine grease.

If you have the earlier belt drive deck, the process is the same except you will have a larger tensioning arm and the pivot has 2 sealed ball bearings.

Thanks Bert for all the good advice.

Started the job this afternoon and this evening. Got the deck idler pulley (c/w bearing) and bolt 26 and washer 22 you recommended. Also replacing the deck belt tomorrow.

We are also replacing the two PTO belts at the front of the engine (GT3200 Kohler 25HP twin) the belts part # 954-3084 are fitted but at idle they look a bit big, do they contract (get pulled in) when the PTO/deck (and vacuum pulley) is engaged. Do these look right (see pic below)...



Appreciate any advice.

The entire POT unit should look like this
View attachment 3206-PTO.pdf

Pulley # 26 should swing in to tension the belts and take up the slack.
Check it before you put the spring on there.
I would have thought it had an electric PTO but it looks like it is manual on yours.

So if it is a manual PTO then they look about right, as they have to slip on the pulley for the drive to dissengage.

If it has been sitting for a long while you might need to purge the air from the hydraulics.
There has to be a reason why the previous owner used the smaller mower.

If everything fires up it would be prudent to change all of the hydraulic fluids I would imagine they would be loaded up with water by now.

Fun getting those front belts on isn't it.
A regular 2 XXXX job

Hi Bert,

Once again thanks for the input.

Yep, mine looks like that although mirror reversed, the pulley #26 and vacuum unit are on the left (rather than the right) side on my engine.

The previous owner used this (GT3200) mower mainly (I think he did some contract mowing here, has a complete catcher assembly for it too). I had used it a few times back over 12 months ago but then used the little (LT1018 18.5 HP B&S) as it was easier to use and we noticed the state of the idler pulley and bearing and PTO belts on the big mower. It starts OK, fluids (oil & transmission) look OK.

The old PTO belts were tight and took quite a bit of getting off (we removed the pulley #26) but the new ones slipped on quite easily and we a bit loose as you see in the pic I posted and that surprised me.

A bit late now but did you measure the old ones against the new ones ?
Secondly what is the part number of the belts you have fitted ?
If you are only going to mow you can get away with a single belt.
The double belt is there to run things like ploughs & snow throwers.
Check the bearing in the tensioning pulley.
usually they need replacing

Hi Bert,

Just started the mower after replacing the mobile idler pulley. Didn't replace the deck belt this time. All assembled back.

Started the mower and tried to engage the deck/PTO. I will upload a video later but PTO pulley moves the belts in but still too loose to operate properly. They were belt left here by previous owner (3 of them) in genuine Cub packets part #954-3084, which appears to be the correct belts as per the Cub parts list. I am thinking that they are the wrong belts.



Just order a set of new belts 954-3084 from the local Cub dealer.

They code out as A 36 & 3/8" ( aust ) or A 38 & 3/8 US..
and 954-3084 appears to be the right part according to my parts list as well.
However for the belt to be the correct size according to the book all 3 pulleys need to be the correct size according to the book
Now if you are 100% sure that the PTO is set up properly & working properly then just grab some shorter belts
If you still have the old ones measure the outside of the belt for the Aust belt size.
Kevlar belts do not stretch and pollyester ones actually get shorter .
Otherwise get 40" of 1/2 rope and run it around the pulleys, PTO off , mark where the 2 ends meet then add 1" to it.

Always a problem with used mowers, you can not trust anything on there is std.
The engine pulley is a variable one consisting of 3 Sides with spacers between to change the pulley size and thus the gearing ratio.
So check that there are no spacers between the sides on the engine shaft which would have the effect of making the pulley a smaller diameter.

It's been a while, winter here, so not much activity for lawn mowing. Plus we've had a really dry spell for the last few months, so no growth in the lawn. Well with almost 100mls (about 4") in the last 10-15 days and sunshine between the lawn is now green and needed a mow. Since my last post I have fitted, with the help of a friend, a new deck belt and just today a new deck fixed idler pulley too.

I had started mowing the lawn with my little Cub (LT1018 18hp B&S 42") but a front deck wheel bracket came loose and will need re-welding.

So I took the GT 3200 (54') out for the rest of the mow, around half (about 1 1/2 hours). Everything went well but the "power" steering is woeful. heavy as anything and tends to stick on a full and half lock and needs to be dragged back. It was like an hour at the gym compared to the LT1018 (direct steering). Any clues what's the matter?

Update on this. My lightning fast mind alerted me to the sticking, particularly on full lock, might be due to the mechanical element of the steering rather that the hydraulics. On checking the manual I see there are greasing points on the L&R knuckles. Since the mower hasn't been used for close to 2 years I decided to give them some grease, first of all cleaning well around the nipples. Well they each took at least 4 (perhaps 5) very generous pumps of my grease gun before grease appeared to be oozing out of the top of the knuckle. So I took the mower for a "spin" using half and full locks. Sticking problem solved. Power steering is still heavy, heavier than a car, and needs to be pulled back from the lock but much easier than before. It doesn't return automatically like that of a car.

Also the manual said to grease the "front pivot axle" but couldn't find the greasing point for this. So any assistance would be appreciated.

The front cross member pivots on a bolt through a bush
If you get under the machine you will see the grease nipple tucked away inside a hole