Cub Cadet RZTS 54 Steering Alignment

[mboessen]

Sound someone didn't let the dealer setup the mower.

The 2010 service manual for the S series should help if just an adjustment problem or a bent part. You are going to need two 5/16 pins at least to check alignment.

2010 Z Force S Series Service Manual

Thanks for the service manual! Awesome!

 

[mboessen]

I agree with your assessment of the RTZ slope performance. That was the primary reason I bought one. You may find my initial comments of interest.

enjoyed reading your assessment. I have already verified your comment that even if the grass is slightly wet the front wheels will slip sideways on slopes. I have ordered some different front tires that have a more aggressive tread design. This might turn out to be a mistake with the toed in front steering, but it was only 40 bucks and will probably take me a couple of hours to install them. If I don't like them I can take them back off.

 

[mboessen]

The adjustment procedure is complicated because you are timing the hydro controls with the front steering. If all that is wrong is a wheel not straight ahead when the steering wheel is straight you can adjust the link to that wheel or use the pins in the sector gears and the casters and adj the links to fit with the sector gears and caster when they are pinned in place. I have set one of these up without the special tools but you have to know what you are doing.

after watching the video, I am most guided by your last comment here "you have to know what you are doing". This looks like a serious rabbit hole to me if I were to start tinkering with it. That said, I am the kind of person who buys a thing and takes care of it to make it last as long as I can. I bought a John Deere (MTD) L120 at Home Depot in 2004. It has mowed three rough acres for 16 years, has 1500 hrs. on it and I am just now replacing it with this cub cadet. I rebuilt the transmission twice with a kit from MTD, and the steering three times. Sooner or later I will have to learn this procedure. It looks to me like it will be mighty tricky without some sort of a lift and that set of alignment tools.

 

[mboessen]

I have replied to several of the posts separately, but have a couple of additional comments that are unrelated. I specifically asked the dealer if this was an MTD product and he flat stated that it was not. Several things I have read here indicate that it is in fact an MTD product. I find this interesting. If you go to a big box store and look at a $2500 48 inch garden tractor, no matter what brand name is on it it will most likely be MTD. I have seen John Deere, craftsman, Husqvarna and several others that are all the same underneath. I find it interesting that cub cadet seems to be the only manufacturer that offers a steering wheel zero turn, at least from what I can tell doing Internet searches. Do they have some sort of exclusive agreement with MTD?

I have read several posts on other sites stating that other companies have tried to make a steering wheel zero turn and abandoned the effort because the coordination of the hydrostatic drive and the steering was too complicated, and was impossible to keep working for very long due to the need for very precise alignment that couldn't be maintained after a certain amount of wear and tear on the components. I would like to be able to lubricate the gears in this steering arrangement, but they are impossible to access without a very significant amount of disassembly in the case of the model I have. The model in the video someone provided shows taking the screws out of the cover and you can just slide it forward and remove it. Mine does not have that slot in the cover so you have to remove all of the control pedals and several other parts to remove that cover. Curious if anyone else here who has one of these has a hack for lubricating those gears without having to do two hours of work

Once again thanks to everyone for the help getting me up to speed on my new lawnmower.

Best regards

Mike

 

[Richie F]

You have a zero turn mower.
The front wheels are casters.
They can move anywhere.
There is no toe adjustment.
Read the manual that came with it.
Why do I think this is a joke and I got sucked in ?

Boy that was really dumb of me to write this.
You learn from your mistakes.
Next time I'll look into a machine other than looking at a picture of it.
"Stupid is, what stupid does".

 

[wrldtvlr]

I specifically asked the dealer if this was an MTD product and he flat stated that it was not.

That's going to be a surprise to MTD. They are pretty sure they own the Cub Cadet brand. https://www.mtdproducts.com/en_US/about-us/

 

[wrldtvlr]

I have read several posts on other sites stating that other companies have tried to make a steering wheel zero turn and abandoned the effort because the coordination of the hydrostatic drive and the steering was too complicated, and was impossible to keep working for very long due to the need for very precise alignment that couldn't be maintained after a certain amount of wear and tear on the components.

I tend to take statements like this with a large grain of salt. We've established the MTD owns CC, so there's no agreement necessary there. A quick internet search reveals that MTD has an active patent program, and is working on lawn mower steering. Having been a patent portfolio manager for a large technology company, I rather suspect that MTD either refuses to license their steering sync technology to other brands or make it uneconomical to do so.

 

[mboessen]

That's going to be a surprise to MTD. They are pretty sure they own the Cub Cadet brand. https://www.mtdproducts.com/en_US/about-us/

indeed. I was not aware that MTD owned the brand. John Deere, for instance sells MTD mowers for their low end offerings, as do many other companies, but I have been told they build their higher end mowers themselves. Our local cub Cadet dealer had a commercial steering wheel zero turn cub Cadet with a 72 inch deck that was over $10,000. At least in my past experience I had not seen MTD involved in building anything like that.

 

[mboessen]

I tend to take statements like this with a large grain of salt. We've established the MTD owns CC, so there's no agreement necessary there. A quick internet search reveals that MTD has an active patent program, and is working on lawn mower steering. Having been a patent portfolio manager for a large technology company, I rather suspect that MTD either refuses to license their steering sync technology to other brands or make it uneconomical to do so.

I followed your link, which led to a fairly significant amount of very heavy reading that is pretty much over my head. During my Internet research I saw a smaller (maybe 46 inch cut?) Troybilt steering wheel zero turn. I wonder if MTD made that? My cub cadet dealer told me that Troybilt had a ton of trouble with the steering and that mower is no longer available. I googled them this morning and Troy built shows several models with steering wheels, and they look an awful lot like my cub cadet. I also saw a craftsman with a steering wheel this morning. Two months ago when I started this research, I did not see any of these other brands with a steering wheel in my Google searches. I am finding that the salespeople at most of these dealerships are either not very knowledgeable about the origin of their products, or are not being honest with me.

 

[wrldtvlr]

indeed. I was not aware that MTD owned the brand. John Deere, for instance sells MTD mowers for their low end offerings, as do many other companies, but I have been told they build their higher end mowers themselves. Our local cub Cadet dealer had a commercial steering wheel zero turn cub Cadet with a 72 inch deck that was over $10,000. At least in my past experience I had not seen MTD involved in building anything like that.

Kind of the way business works these days. At the low end there's no unique technology, so it's all about who can manufacture the cheapest. MTD could make their own brands only, but that wouldn't be the most efficient way. By doing contract assembly for other brands, they spread the cost of assemby and parts purchasing scale over a much larger base. Companies like Husqvarna do the same thing with their own brands (Husqvarna and Jonsered), as well as the stuff they make for others, so that keeps MTD reasonably honest.