Timed blades on Cub Cadet ltx 1042 and ltx 1046

[deriter]

All the mowers I have had in the past have not had timed blades. I am considering a ltx 1042 1046 a littl bit. But I found out that these are timed blades. Is this a big problem?

Have any of you had experience with these type of timed mower deck blades?

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Boudreaux In Eunice La.]

A friend of mine has one and he talks well about it ...... He had a nice yard though with no tree roots and such.... Reminds me of a golf course.....

The belt lasts longer but is a bit pricier.... If you hit anything hard then it's time to take the deck off and retime the blades.... I have never done one yet but that would be my guess ......

He has never had to time it yet and never changed the belt yet, but he has one in reserve just in case.........

 

[NorthBama]

my neighbor has one and has been through several set of blades because he hits objects like tree roots. Once the blades hit each other they are history and makes a terrible noise but they do make a great cut.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Timed blades give the finest cut, visually on par with a reel mower.
Downside is they are held with shear pins so if you hit anything hard then the blade(s) will break the pins and munch into each other.
They are best suited to full mulching or rear discharge mowers and short grass.
Definately not for paddock mowing.

 

[deriter]

I don't have tree roots in my yard to be concerned with. Yard is pretty clear of objects other than the small sticks that fall from the trees. My concern was that if the belt were to slip or something that would cause the blades to become untiimed and collide, it would cause considerable damage to blades, deck, etc.

I just had not heard of this being a common problem so thought I would see what you folks have to say.

Thank you all that have responded so quickly!

 

[bertsmobile1]

Thousands of them out there.
Most of the articulated riders use timed decks
Most Walkers
A lot of Grasshoppers.
Thing is because the blades overlap, the deck total cut is smaller
Thus to get wide cuts you need more blades which pushes up the costs .
people are very cheap so if one mower is $ 3000 & cuts 38" perfectly and the other is $ 3000 & cuts 42" badly most will buy the 42"

 

[deriter]

Ok Bert, thanks for the info. I guess if it were a huge problem, there wouldn't be so many and they would have stopped making them that way long ago. I guess I just needed to hear from some of you that it is ok.
Thanks again,
deriter

 

[cpurvis]

We had an old 36" Cub Cadet that had a two-blade, timed belt mower deck. It used a Gilmer belt, like the timing belt on cars now. Never had any problems with it and the belt never wore out, either.

This was a '60s vintage CC. Pontiac had the first toothed timing belt that I can remember, on an inline six cylinder engine that was used in the Tempest. It was in the '60s, too.