New lawn tractors...
 

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but hear me out.

So while waiting for the new starter for my 2155 I borrowed my neighbor's 3ish year old Yard Machines lawn tractor. Holy crap it's a night and day difference, and NOT in a good way.

The entire tractor is just smaller - the 42in deck sticks way out either side where the 42in deck on my 2155 only sticks out a few inches past the front wheels. The seat is tiny, the steering is super tight with a poor radius. Engine is some kind of MTD branded 420cc thing that doesn't sound anywhere near as good as my 15HP Command.

And don't get me started on the gear drive transmission - once you go hydro it's hard to go back!

How can they get away selling this crap these days?

Well that was 3 y.a. they have gotten crappier since then...

They only get a away with it cus people buy it. Sad thing being that
a whole bunch of those buyers, didn't have an upbringing that taught
em how cool this solid stuff we work on was made. Plus there is no
money for the manufacturers in 50 year old machines that still work.
I guess that makes 2 of us preaching eh?

Ken

They're great when you have a broken down Cub Cadet, huh?:biggrin2:

The Current MTD Made Cub Cadets I Like just as the Old MTD or IH
I have a 2018 Cub Cadet XT3 GSX which replaced a 2002 Cub Cadet 2206

We Bought the 2206 with a 48-inch deck(standard) an electric lift sleeve Hitch, 30-inch Belt driven Hydraulic tiller

Great Tractor! We Traded it for the XT3GSX, Only downside was couldn't use the electric lift sleeve Hitch,30-inch Belt driven Hydraulic tiller as the Rear hitch plate was changed to accommodate a Larger Gas Tank

But In spring 2021 Bought a 30-inch Bercomac Belt driven PTO tiller for the XT3GSX Going to be it Main Job now

Have the following for the XT3GSX
OEM 46-inch Front Blade Lifted By on Board electric lift
54-inch Fabricated deck
OEM weather enclosure. Not An Original Cab, But very easy to Take on & Off
OEM sleeve Hitch with Johnny Products electric lift upgrade Kit

Plan to Purchase a Bercomac 48-inch PTO driven Rotary Broom for it (for future Winter & fall work)

The XT3GSX will not Be used for mowing anymore since I Bought a Cub Cadet SX54 Z-force Steering wheel zero turn.

The wife and I Bought a friend a XT2 GX54 D In 2017 to replace his Old Craftsman lawn tractor

XT2 GX54 D is a belt driven Garden tractor with a Tuff-torq K62 with Pedal Operated Diff Lock. He had close to 800hrs On it as of last spring

Issues with the XT2 GX54 D all replaced Under the MTD warranty

The seat was replaced Twice

Fender deck Once and That was his son damaging it and the covered it under warranty
The Oil drain, which was a Kohler design flaw which Kohler Had Updated and MTD/Cub told him about it

But other than those Minor Issue It has been a great Tractor for Him

The Only other Issue was the Agri-Fab Made snow plow, this model https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/ridin...A30017OEM.html fell apart within 1 year and Dealer that it was purchased from Told MTD that he was using it commercially which was false, so it was Not covered and that dealer neither one of us go to anymore. So Purchased a New Dozer Blade That Agri-fab came out with for the XT1 & XT2 series https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/ridin....html#start=11 and it is a Much better Made Dozer Blade and Hasn't been an issue.

So while the New Tractors are Not MTD clone of the old IH frame design Tractors anymore. They are decent machines. Their Frame are Much better than any Husqvarna Lawn or Garden tractor On the Market today. Because MTD/Stanley, Cub's still use a rail frame design. Husqvarna uses a stamped design
.

For the Price, they are very ergonomically friendly and decent designed Lawn or Garden tractor.

The Only Issue I have Had with My Cub Cadet XT3 GSX was a Warner Issue and Not MTD/Cub's Fault. Bad front Electric clutch seized at 1.5 hours. The XT3 is basically an MTD/Cub 2500 series with some Updates. The electronic Power steering is not Bad. The Hand Lever diff/lock work nicely(but would prefer a pedal). The electric lift is a Heck of a lot faster than the Old Duff-Norton Actuators In the Narrow and wide frame Tractors

That's great stuff Sergeant . This forum surely needs some people with
experience in the newer machines. I feel bad when people need help
with the newer stuff and for myself I don't even know what they are talking
about. Here is hoping a few folks like yourself can start to fill the roll.
thanks for input.

Ken

It all comes down to money. Yes, they could buy a new Cub Cadet XT3 GSX but most people are too cheap to spend $6100 on a tractor and probably another $1k for a deck. Deere makes some nice machines too but the X500's start out around $7k and the X700 series start out around $12k.

I have 2 friends that purchased POS throw-away riders at Home Depot 12 years ago. One was a little over $1k(Toro) and the other was about $1,700(Deere). Both guys are still running them today but I will say that they have small yards (3/4 acre) and only mow with them.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!:biggrin2:

Whelp, I paid $200 for my 2155 last summer. And put around $350-400 in repairs. So I've got around $600 in it total. And I think it's worlds better than any of these modern el' cheapo machines they are peddling these days. But then again, retail for the 2155 was around $3K back in 1996 when it was new. That's not exactly cheap, even back then...

Well I don't List My JD Machine's In My signature On this forum But On top of the Cub Cadets I have

1964 JD 110 Bought used In 2019 for $300

1969 JD 112 Bought used for $230.00 in 2007

1974 JD140H3 Bought Used 2006 for $1,000

2004 JD GX335 Bought used In 2016 for $2,000

2012 JD X748 it was $10,300 Used in 2014 with 110Hrs & a 54-inch deck I ended Up Paying $12,100 had a Limited Cat 1 3point, 540RPM rear PTO and Loader relief Valve Installed as I was Transferring my 45 Loader from My X485 to the X748

2018 JD 2025R TLB Bought New

But I spent about $6,200 with a 54-inch Fab Deck On the XT3GSX back in 2018. A little cheaper then compared to what I would Have to spend now On a XT3GSX with a 54inch Fab deck $7,398.00 at MSRP

The XT3 series Basically has the same Transmission design as a Cub Cadet 3100 But with a BDU10 Pump Instead of a BDU21 Pump which the 3000 series tractors Had

The Toro Model is a clone of The Cub GT1500/ LT1000 clones at the time as MTD took over Toro Tractor Production in North America for the 2009 model Year

The Most expensive Belt Driven Tractors On the Market are Currently the Simplicity Conquest $9,349.00 and Prestige $11,049.00 so a Deere X500 series is a Heck of a Lot less Money

A JD X590 with a 54-inch deck Is $650 Less than a New Conquest

A X590 with a 54-inch deck Is $2,350 less Than a New Prestige

JD X500 series Come with a K72 Transmission

The JD X570 with a 48inch deck starts at $6,799.00

The Simplicity Conquest & Prestige Use the same electronic Power steering that the XT3 series uses, and For their Hydraulic Lift they use Warner Electric Over Hydraulic actuator as of the 2021 Models. Really the Simplicity Models are more or Less Lawn Tractors with either a K66(Conquest) or K72(Prestige) Neither is really set Up to work in the Garden anymore except for an Agri-Fab Tow Behind Tiller. They do still produce a sleeve Hitch(one Point Hitch) for them. But they don't Market it on the website(actually have to remove the rear suspension to use the OEM 1 Point Hitch anyway)

Deere still make a belt driven Pump 42-inch Hydraulic tiller for the X500 series. Plus, they either Have a Manual lift or Hydraulic Lift Integral Hitch(sleeve Hitch)


A belt drive actually has an advantage over a shaft drive. Belt's actually transfer Horse Power more efficiently than a shaft, But as the Belt ages it does degrade that advantage. You May replace a transmission Belt 3 times In 30 years. Where you may not have had to replace a shaft in the same amount of time if not Longer.

For a short Time MTD Cub had a Big advantage In at Least with Hydraulic systems of the 3000 series . The Only downside was Lack of a Rear 540RPM PTO(which Had Become the Industry standard In the early 1990's) and the Lack of a Limited Cat 1 when It Main competitors went to That . That the One thing MTD should Have done to the 3000 series was Update it In the early 2000's to be more In Line with the Deere X700's or Simplicity Legacy XL

Because You would Probably see a More capable Cub Cadet then the Cub Cadet XT3 series today on the Market. But the XT3 with aftermarket Bercomac attachments still make it a capable Garden tractor

You wouldn’t happen to have a video of you installing your Bercomac tiller by chance? Or know of a video.
Thanks