Please help me purchase a new mower to mow 1/2 acre. I have specific requirements.

[bertsmobile1]

Congratulations with your sledge hammer enjoy cracking the walnuts with it.
Seeing that you got it so cheap, go out and buy a complete set of spindle housings NOW.
they were discontinued last year and are NLA at most mower shops on line including the 3 specialist Cub Cadet only sites.
There are a stack of them on evilbay right now heavily discounted so I am guessing that MTD auction them off with other superseded obsolete parts.
When they are gone there is nothing else that can be made to fit those decks.
I bought 10 to keep in stock as I have a lot of 2100 series Cubs in my customer list.

Apart from that the only other impossible to get unique part is the tail shaft coupling.
On your yard, if maintained properly your great grand kids should have a whale of a time with it because it should last that long.
Always throttle down before you engage the blades as the PTO has a tendency to give troubles if abused and the mechanical fuel pump has a bad habit of filling the sump with petrol when the diaphragm packs it in . So check the oil EVERY time you go to use the mower without fail.
Usually the diaphragm wil start leaking for a while befors dumping the entire fuel tank into the sump.

On the subject of fuel tanks, keep an eye on the fuel outlet.
A lot are not as open as they could be and couples with that huge filler cap gets a fair bit of crud in there which blocks off the fuel supply an hour or so into mowing.
For best result only use genuine Cub belts, they are 21/32" so not a standard size and standard section belts just won't cut the mustard.

 

[Ric]

Well, I am super excited to say the least. This thing is near mint condition, almost museum quality! My buddy owns a 3000 series cub cadet with all the attachments and his tractor is in pretty good condition, but this unit was show room quality. The knobs on the tires were even still there, all the factory stickers, original mower blades still had paint on them, oil looked brand new, air filter, etc etc etc. This was a real find!

I walked away with the 2000 Series tractor for $630! My buddy told me as soon as we left that he would buy it off of me because he wanted a smaller tractor for his lawn. I told him I would let him keep it over night but that was it. Haha! I couldn't be happier. The thing looks like it rolled off the factory floor except for a small dent in the front grille , but no paint removed from the front grill area. I am hoping I can bend it back in place and make it look new. This is a shaft drive unit, everything is serviceable, the deck must have weighed 100lbs.

After looking at the new units made today and this unit, I could tell a night and day difference. One of my best purchases to date.

That's a pretty good deal if you purchased the 2166 for $630, what year and Check out some of these prices

http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/li...T&ETID=1&Mdltxt=2166&MdlX=Contains&notfound=1

 

[Alaska_Guy]

Thanks, Not exactly sure on the year. The owner said they thought it was a 2003 model, but wasn't sure. I doesn't have a bagger attachement (yet). :wink: But otherwise is in great shape. I plan on cleaning up all the electrical connections tonight as it has been stored in a shed for over 10 years and needs some maintenance. I purchased a new battery today and figured I would use dielectric grease on all connections and just normal maintenance items before I decide to take it for a test run. The tank is bone dry, so I need to put in new gas, clean the carb system etc.

Will post back when I get it all put back together and fired up.

Appreciate the advice here, thanks again.

 

[bertsmobile1]

If te tank is one dry then pull off the fuel cap & a fule line and give it a good long blow out with compressed air to clean out all the crud.
Get a mirror and a strong torch and have a really good look inside now while it is empty.

 

[1striper1]

Congratulations with your sledge hammer enjoy cracking the walnuts with it.
Seeing that you got it so cheap, go out and buy a complete set of spindle housings NOW.
they were discontinued last year and are NLA at most mower shops on line including the 3 specialist Cub Cadet only sites.
There are a stack of them on evilbay right now heavily discounted so I am guessing that MTD auction them off with other superseded obsolete parts.
When they are gone there is nothing else that can be made to fit those decks.
I bought 10 to keep in stock as I have a lot of 2100 series Cubs in my customer list.

Apart from that the only other impossible to get unique part is the tail shaft coupling.
On your yard, if maintained properly your great grand kids should have a whale of a time with it because it should last that long.
Always throttle down before you engage the blades as the PTO has a tendency to give troubles if abused and the mechanical fuel pump has a bad habit of filling the sump with petrol when the diaphragm packs it in . So check the oil EVERY time you go to use the mower without fail.
Usually the diaphragm wil start leaking for a while befors dumping the entire fuel tank into the sump.

On the subject of fuel tanks, keep an eye on the fuel outlet.
A lot are not as open as they could be and couples with that huge filler cap gets a fair bit of crud in there which blocks off the fuel supply an hour or so into mowing.
For best result only use genuine Cub belts, they are 21/32" so not a standard size and standard section belts just won't cut the mustard.

Bert - the guy paid USD630 for it. If something pukes after a few years so what? He'll be able to find spindles for it on US eBay for years.

Go rain on somebody else's parade.:thumbdown:

 

[1striper1]

Alaska Guy - go to the Home Depot in Anchorage and look for this:

Mechanic in a Bottle 4 oz. Synthetic Fuel Additive-2-004-1 - The Home Depot

Mix it in with a gallon of gas. Run your engine for 30 minutes then let it sit for two days. After two days, start it up and run it till it gets nice and hot.

I'm not a snake oil kinda guy but this stuff works. Use it to clean out the fuel system on that "new to you" lawn tractor.

Get some Mobil 1 grease and keep everything nice and lubed up.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Bert - the guy paid USD630 for it. If something pukes after a few years so what? He'll be able to find spindles for it on US eBay for years.

Go rain on somebody else's parade.:thumbdown:

So you are going to give him one of your mowers when he can't find parts for his Cub ?
Rain on the parade ? You better check your medication .
He had a budget of $2000- $3000 to spend so some thoughtful advice on using some of the remaining $ 2350 allocation to ensure he can keep it going for many year to come is hardly "Raining on a parade".
It was prudent advice to the long term benefit of the OP and if you care to read the whole post you will see it was quite positive and supportive.

I like the 2100 series Cubs, if your memory is actually functioning ( which is looking dubious ) you should have noticed that I oft suggest a poster look out for used one as they are excellent and way under rated mowers that I have a lot of respect for and one of the very few that use a horizontal engine so can handle big hills without killing the engine from oil starvation.
However the blanket grose & general assertion that "They will be available on ebay for many years " is a pile of puss.
The part has not been made for the last 5 years and has been deleted from MTD's parts inventory so the only ones left are the ones that are out there now and they are not going to become more plentiful as time goes buy and good old USA Capitalism dictates as they get scarcer the price will skyrocket,'
Complete decks for 2100's are in short supply already. If your memory goes back over a month or so there were two people on this very list looking for them.

I did not spend $ 1400 buying in a supply because I like to piss money up the wall I did it because I am a professional who knows just how hard obsolete parts can be to get, I restore vintage & classic mortorcycles as well.
If you go to the effort of checking out the people who are flogging them off on evilbay right now you will note that they are all dead stock specialist , the people who buy remaindered stock at a discouunt and shift it as fast as possible to make as much short term profit as possible from shifting "dead stock" so once they are sold out, that will be it.
I seriously doubt that there will be many retail shops who want to hold $ 100 spindles for obsolete decks for 20 years as a public service.

Down here the two Cub specialist do not carry any in stock & my customer was told NLA then offered a "good trade in" on a new Cub.
The MTD warehouse also does not carry any stock and they told my customer it was NLA and suggested they buy a new mower as well as the entire stock of parts for this mower had not been made for the last 5 years and will not be made in the future. This is how this person became another customer with a 2100 series Cub as they happened to see one of my regular customers with 2 Cubs mowing their orchard and pulled over to see where they get their parts from.

 

[1striper1]

So you are going to give him one of your mowers when he can't find parts for his Cub ?
Rain on the parade ? You better check your medication .
He had a budget of $2000- $3000 to spend so some thoughtful advice on using some of the remaining $ 2350 allocation to ensure he can keep it going for many year to come is hardly "Raining on a parade".
It was prudent advice to the long term benefit of the OP and if you care to read the whole post you will see it was quite positive and supportive.

I like the 2100 series Cubs, if your memory is actually functioning ( which is looking dubious ) you should have noticed that I oft suggest a poster look out for used one as they are excellent and way under rated mowers that I have a lot of respect for and one of the very few that use a horizontal engine so can handle big hills without killing the engine from oil starvation.
However the blanket grose & general assertion that "They will be available on ebay for many years " is a pile of puss.
The part has not been made for the last 5 years and has been deleted from MTD's parts inventory so the only ones left are the ones that are out there now and they are not going to become more plentiful as time goes buy and good old USA Capitalism dictates as they get scarcer the price will skyrocket,'
Complete decks for 2100's are in short supply already. If your memory goes back over a month or so there were two people on this very list looking for them.

I did not spend $ 1400 buying in a supply because I like to piss money up the wall I did it because I am a professional who knows just how hard obsolete parts can be to get, I restore vintage & classic mortorcycles as well.
If you go to the effort of checking out the people who are flogging them off on evilbay right now you will note that they are all dead stock specialist , the people who buy remaindered stock at a discouunt and shift it as fast as possible to make as much short term profit as possible from shifting "dead stock" so once they are sold out, that will be it.
I seriously doubt that there will be many retail shops who want to hold $ 100 spindles for obsolete decks for 20 years as a public service.

Down here the two Cub specialist do not carry any in stock & my customer was told NLA then offered a "good trade in" on a new Cub.
The MTD warehouse also does not carry any stock and they told my customer it was NLA and suggested they buy a new mower as well as the entire stock of parts for this mower had not been made for the last 5 years and will not be made in the future. This is how this person became another customer with a 2100 series Cub as they happened to see one of my regular customers with 2 Cubs mowing their orchard and pulled over to see where they get their parts from.

Getting a wee bit personal there Aussie? No meds here....may YOU need them with all the X's and O's you waste here.

I have a feeling that you're some old dude in a wheelchair who USED to deal with lawn mowers, but your crumbled body and mind are only good for typing sheet on the WWW now.

He'll have no problem finding parts. Unlike where you reside, we live in a BIG country where you can find just about anything.

Type away......you're good at it.

 

[Shughes717]

And there is is 2000 hours = 20 years of domestic use.
More than good enough regardless of weather you can service them or not.

So you are going to give him one of your mowers when he can't find parts for his Cub ?
Rain on the parade ? You better check your medication .
He had a budget of $2000- $3000 to spend so some thoughtful advice on using some of the remaining $ 2350 allocation to ensure he can keep it going for many year to come is hardly "Raining on a parade".
It was prudent advice to the long term benefit of the OP and if you care to read the whole post you will see it was quite positive and supportive.

I like the 2100 series Cubs, if your memory is actually functioning ( which is looking dubious ) you should have noticed that I oft suggest a poster look out for used one as they are excellent and way under rated mowers that I have a lot of respect for and one of the very few that use a horizontal engine so can handle big hills without killing the engine from oil starvation.
However the blanket grose & general assertion that "They will be available on ebay for many years " is a pile of puss.
The part has not been made for the last 5 years and has been deleted from MTD's parts inventory so the only ones left are the ones that are out there now and they are not going to become more plentiful as time goes buy and good old USA Capitalism dictates as they get scarcer the price will skyrocket,'
Complete decks for 2100's are in short supply already. If your memory goes back over a month or so there were two people on this very list looking for them.

I did not spend $ 1400 buying in a supply because I like to piss money up the wall I did it because I am a professional who knows just how hard obsolete parts can be to get, I restore vintage & classic mortorcycles as well.
If you go to the effort of checking out the people who are flogging them off on evilbay right now you will note that they are all dead stock specialist , the people who buy remaindered stock at a discouunt and shift it as fast as possible to make as much short term profit as possible from shifting "dead stock" so once they are sold out, that will be it.
I seriously doubt that there will be many retail shops who want to hold $ 100 spindles for obsolete decks for 20 years as a public service.

Down here the two Cub specialist do not carry any in stock & my customer was told NLA then offered a "good trade in" on a new Cub.
The MTD warehouse also does not carry any stock and they told my customer it was NLA and suggested they buy a new mower as well as the entire stock of parts for this mower had not been made for the last 5 years and will not be made in the future. This is how this person became another customer with a 2100 series Cub as they happened to see one of my regular customers with 2 Cubs mowing their orchard and pulled over to see where they get their parts from.

Apparently there isn't a supply shortage of spindle housings for a 2166 in the U.S.. You can get them on parts tree. What 1striper1 is saying is that even if mower does crap out in 5 years or so and the parts are no longer available the mower only cost $600. That breaks down to a mower cost of $120 a year. I agree with 1striper1 that the parts will be available for several more years. The mower hasn't been made for 10 years and parts are still available. Not everyone has a mower repair shop. It's great that you have the forethought to stock your business with parts so you can repair mowers brought to you, but that is what you do for a living. No need for a homeowner who is only mowing one lawn to stock up on parts. It is such a waste of money. If 6 or 7 years down the road the mower craps out the op can just get another mower. He doesn't have much of an investment in this mower as it is. If he gets 5 years out of that mower it is worth the investment. if he gets 10 years or more out of the mower it will be considered a steal.

 

[Shughes717]

Getting a wee bit personal there Aussie? No meds here....may YOU need them with all the X's and O's you waste here.

I have a feeling that you're some old dude in a wheelchair who USED to deal with lawn mowers, but your crumbled body and mind are only good for typing sheet on the WWW now.

He'll have no problem finding parts. Unlike where you reside, we live in a BIG country where you can find just about anything.

Type away......you're good at it.

I think it's getting a little too personal. We are here to help others with their mower decisions. It's fun to have a little playful banter every now and then. Ric and I do it all the time, but let's not get angry. Things are different across the world. We have cultural differences, and we should respect those differences. Bertsmobile does have some knowledge. I think he just assumes things in the U.S. are as difficult to come by as they are down under. Btw bertsmobile, I would love to visit your country some day. It's on my bucket list.