Congrats on a nice 102 :beerchug:

You bolt up a QA-42 ( or QA-36 ) as I used my QA-42 on my former 122

It just bolts right up.

Probably going to want to add a creeper/creeper drive shaft before or at the same time of getting the snow thrower. Place an ad in the wanted section

Are you suggesting this........http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cub-cadet-cr...MAAOSw0UdXsN~7

I'm new so please bear with me......

Ya thats A creeper . You find creepers cheaper then that

I always use ear muffs for hearing protection anyway this morning I took it out back for a short ride without hearing protection.

While driving in 2nd gear I could hear a rotational noise, it wasn't a grinding noise.

Kinda hard to explain....anyway reading on the issue some suggestions on other sites was they all or most make a noise while in gear and it's the behavior of that machine.

Would anyone agree with that or should I be concerned of another issue.

Yes. Creeper designed for snow throwing and tilling. Running WOT for thrower is sometimes too fast in first for wet deep snow so creeper low ranges needed