Cub Cadet LTX1050 Fire?

[hotrodpapa]

Cub Cadet LTX1050 Fire?
This is a photo of my 2 year old cub cadet. I need everyone痴 help locating any other people that have had this happen to their mower. While mowing I noticed some smoke coming from the engine area and stopped to look. When I raised the cowling, the top, front of the engine was on fire. Before I could get anything to help put it out, all the plastic had caught fire and there was no putting that out. I contacted the Cub Cadet customer support and they were very nice and helpful until I heard this was NOT going to be under warranty. Seems they have never seen such a thing and said it was more than likely a bird nest under the carburetor, near the exhaust pipe. This nest must have caught fire causing a malfunction in the fuel system which then feed gas to the fire. How many birds would build a nest 8 off the ground in a piece of equipment that is used every week? It was also mentioned that I could prove otherwise, so their best guess is a new mower is less than a lawyer (great company policy). What ever happened to helping a customer in a weird circumstance?

 

[reynoldston]

So you don't know what cause the fire? It looks like you were doing some real heavy duty grass cutting. I have found its up to the dealer to make a warranty claim. Maybe you might try another dealer and see what they say.

 

[mechanic mark]

Cub Cadet Corporate Mailing Address and Telephone Number Get all your information together, sales receipt, place of purchase & date of purchase along with owners manual & warranty information & pictures you posted & contact corporate headquarters by phone, tell them you want to talk to someone in charge & one who has authority, CEO President if necessary. Let us know how it goes, thanks. They should be delivering a new tractor to your residence at no cost to you.

 

[hotrodpapa]

that is who I have been talking with. I have not even asked Home Depot but went straight to Cub Cadet

 

[bertsmobile1]

It is not unheard of to have a fire on a mower particularly when doing heavy cuts in dry grass and I have never heard of a successful warantee claim for a burned mower, domestic or commercial.
Most originate on the deck from a build up of dried grass clippings being ignited by either the exhaust or friction from the actual belts.
Another was eventually found to be a mouse nest under the air ducting which blew out in operation, sat on top of the exhaust, started a fire which caught the carb fuel lines and the result was not too dissimilar to yours. Roasted mice were found between the cylinder fins. This customer mowed Friday, went shoping Saturday & the fire happened Sunday arvo, the little buggers can be real quick to set up home.

As a PR exercise I would have expected CC to come to the party which is very disappointing and very bad form on their part but as a warrantee clain you have just about zero chance of getting any where. Sorry if I sound cold & cruel, but mowers are tested to the nth degree for fire risk and a lot of recalls are done to reroute fuel lines, fuel filters etc to alleviate any slight possibility of the machine itself causing a fire without opertor negligence to some extent.

OTOH check your houshold insurance policy as apparently a lot do cover things like mowers.
If the claim goes through it will be conditional that a fire extinguisher be fitted to all future mowers and this is a very good idea.
I have had a deck fire start on me when cutting tussock grass but luckily enough ( and it was pure luck ) there was some garbage on the side of the road that I used to flick the burning grass out from under the mower & I stamped it out so apart from a pair of belts , a plastic belt guard and a pair of undies the damage was quite minimal.

The landlord has a similar problem. I have now fitted extinguishers to all 4 of their mowers. the tractors & farm trucks already had them but they just never thought about the mowers till the good lady went flying into the dam with smoke pouring out from under the deck, quite a sight from all accounts but I was out on call & missed it.


Good luck & very sorry to hear of your misfortune.
you might do better approaching it from their marketing department with a softly softly approach.

 

[gainestruk]

If you don't have any luck with Cub Cadet you can file a claim with your home owner policy.

 

[reynoldston]

that is who I have been talking with. I have not even asked Home Depot but went straight to Cub Cadet

Try Home Depot, who knows?

 

[gfp55]

So you don't know what cause the fire? ((It looks like you were doing some real heavy duty grass cutting.))I have found its up to the dealer to make a warranty claim. Maybe you might try another dealer and see what they say.

It is not unheard of to have a fire on a mower particularly ((when doing heavy cuts in dry grass)) and I have never heard of a successful warantee claim for a burned mower, domestic or commercial.
Most originate on the deck from a build up of dried grass clippings being ignited by either the exhaust or friction from the actual belts.
Another was eventually found to be a mouse nest under the air ducting which blew out in operation, sat on top of the exhaust, started a fire which caught the carb fuel lines and the result was not too dissimilar to yours. Roasted mice were found between the cylinder fins. This customer mowed Friday, went shoping Saturday & the fire happened Sunday arvo, the little buggers can be real quick to set up home.

As a PR exercise I would have expected CC to come to the party which is very disappointing and very bad form on their part but as a warrantee clain you have just about zero chance of getting any where. Sorry if I sound cold & cruel, but mowers are tested to the nth degree for fire risk and a lot of recalls are done to reroute fuel lines, fuel filters etc to alleviate any slight possibility of the machine itself causing a fire without opertor negligence to some extent.

OTOH check your houshold insurance policy as apparently a lot do cover things like mowers.
If the claim goes through it will be conditional that a fire extinguisher be fitted to all future mowers and this is a very good idea.
I have had a deck fire start on me when cutting tussock grass but luckily enough ( and it was pure luck ) there was some garbage on the side of the road that I used to flick the burning grass out from under the mower & I stamped it out so apart from a pair of belts , a plastic belt guard and a pair of undies the damage was quite minimal.

The landlord has a similar problem. I have now fitted extinguishers to all 4 of their mowers. the tractors & farm trucks already had them but they just never thought about the mowers till the good lady went flying into the dam with smoke pouring out from under the deck, quite a sight from all accounts but I was out on call & missed it.


Good luck & very sorry to hear of your misfortune.
you might do better approaching it from their marketing department with a softly softly approach.

I looked at the same pictures you both looked at and I don't see the same thing as you both, (("It looks like you were doing some real heavy duty grass cutting.")) & (("when doing heavy cuts in dry grass")). I do see dry grass but, "real heavy duty grass" or even "heavy cuts" is pushing it. There are always hazards in cutting dry grass with a gas powered machine and if said machine has a build up of old dry grass around the engine, muffler, under the engine tins that is a recipe for disaster. Its always best to keep the hot parts of the machines clear of combustibles and like bertsmobile said about fire extinguishers on board. I hope you will get some help from Cub Cadet, Home Depot or a lawyer. Whatever happens if you get help or not you should get a few fire extinguishers that are rated for gas, oil, rubber, plastic, etc. and keep them onboard for the future. Good luck and I'm sorry to see your CC is a total lose.

 

[333]

Re: Cub Cadet LTX1050

Cub Cadet LTX1050 Fire?
This is a photo of my 2 year old cub cadet. I need everyone痴 help locating any other people that have had this happen to their mower. While mowing I noticed some smoke coming from the engine area and stopped to look. When I raised the cowling, the top, front of the engine was on fire. Before I could get anything to help put it out, all the plastic had caught fire and there was no putting that out. I contacted the Cub Cadet customer support and they were very nice and helpful until I heard this was NOT going to be under warranty. Seems they have never seen such a thing and said it was more than likely a bird nest under the carburetor, near the exhaust pipe. This nest must have caught fire causing a malfunction in the fuel system which then feed gas to the fire. How many birds would build a nest 8 off the ground in a piece of equipment that is used every week? It was also mentioned that I could prove otherwise, so their best guess is a new mower is less than a lawyer (great company policy). What ever happened to helping a customer in a weird circumstance?

View attachment 25602View attachment 25603

My mower was a cub cadet RTZ-L. I had turned it off and gone in the garage to start a weed eater when I heard a strange noise. The mower was ablaze and I was lucky it did not catch the house on fire. I don't believe cub cadet is going to admit any fault, and it may be very difficult to prove it was a manufactures defect at this juncture. The mower was purchased 6/2/2014 and burned on 1/15/2016.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Did you remove the engine cowling every 50 hours and clean out the accumulated debris ?
No need to answer this question we know you did not,
No body does.
Because of the way they are built ZTR build up debris around the engine worse that tractors do.
I have been training my customers to blow down the mower with compressed air or at the worst with a leaf blower with varying success.
A good deal of head gaskets and almost every sticking valve I have repaired was due to dust & debris built up around the mower.

There is very little chance that a manufacturing defect would have lasted 18 months without failure then suddenly happen without warning while the machine was turned off.
Any potential chaffing problems would have been picked up in the 5 hour, 50 hour and the 1 or 2 100 hourservices that have been done to your mower.

If you have a good home owners policy then your mower & household maintanance tools will be covered but some will not allow claims unless you can prove your mower was serviced.