Cub Cadet review: Mower will not mow grass! 53

I agree totally! I bought a Cub Cadet Z force zero turn 48" mower 2 months ago and its been in the shop for 2 weeks. I have commercial contracts to maintain and I cannot fulfill them without this mower. Ron Jones power equipment is the dealer I bought it from and they won't refund or upgrade to a newer model. Cub Cadet/ MTD will not stand by their product and it was like pulling teeth trying to talk to a real live person at Cub Cadet. I have the same advice for anyone thinking about purchasing a Cub Cadet - Don't do it! I spent $5400.00 on this mower and they took my money and ran with it.

No, my Cub Cadet lawn tractor is not broken.

BUT, I just came from a trip to my local servicing dealer to order a new set of mowing blades.

OK, they're out of stock- it happens. BUT, it's a "special order." Therefore,

1. I have to pay up front, and
2. Although the parts may not arrive for 30 days or more, there are NO REFUNDS, and
3. I have to pay a shipping charge to get the mowing blades from the manufacturer to the dealer.

As far as I am concerned, Cub Cadet should require that servicing dealer keep common parts for current models in stock. And, yes, this is a current model- this servicing dealer had several new ones in stock, available for immediate sale. And, surely there is no more common part on a mower than the mowing blade?

But if for some reason a dealer's common, current parts go out of stock, then Cub Cadet should require a servicing dealer to re-order these parts WITHOUT making the customer to go through a "special order" procedure.

If you "can't do any better" than this then you have no business selling what is supposed to be a premium product.

I purchased from Lowe's a Cub Cadet model LT1042 lawn tractor in April 2005. Garaged, washed and wiped down after every cut (I bag everytime) and meticulously maintained. However, I am experiencing severe rust up under any and all of the of the body that is painted yellow. On Cub Cadets and MTDs website, there is nowhere to complain or inquire about such a problem and the local dealer was of no help. I call CC on the phone and rudely and curt, "Karen" repeatedly states only that rust is not covered under warranty and she could not help me. I ask for a manager or someone else, she denies me. For starters, the residential warranty that I possess mentions nothing of "rust" or "corrosion". Secondly, she REFUSED to allow me to speak to someone else. Third, this is a two year old, $1600 mower that is garaged and has less than 12 hours on it (I push mow sometimes without ever breaking the tractor out). I am at a lost for words, but I will make this a quest to get on every website and create every blog that I can to ask for help. This should not be happening to a 2 year old mower with 12 hours on it that is stored garaged.
And for those who say "What are you doing hosing it down after every mow?" Well, it does have a power flush hook up that your hose attaches to to flush the deck with. Come on MTD, rust under paint in 2007 after 12 hours?

I totally agree. I went on the cub cadet web site to order blades and there web site is so non customer friendly. They have item #s that don't even exist in my book. Then you try to look the item number up that is in your book and it doesn't exist. All I want are 3- 50" blades and I am going through a whole lot of trouble to get some.

In March of 07 the temperture here in Tn. jumped to 85F. right off the bat. So I went shopping for a new mower and found a CC ZTR with 22 hp Kawasaki for $1500 plus tax.. All of the stickers says 06 model year. All in all I think 60% wasn't a bad deal. What do you think?

I bought the CC Zero Force 44 about 2 years ago and from day one it has not cut well at all. I had it adjusted several times and replaced the blades. I have had many cheap riding mowers with no problems at all and will never purchase another Cub Cadet product.

I purchased the 17HP 48-inch Zero turn mower in May, 2007. It ran good from the start except for a lot of vibration. In August the Throttle cabel broke and then the Clutch went out. This is the 3rd week it has been in the shop and the clutch is still on backorder. I contacted Cub Cadet and was told they are not responsible for backordered parts. So much for customer satisfaction. Do they know or even care how fast the grass grows in the South in summer? I have borrowed my neighbors JOHN DEERE to cut my yard which is about 2 Acres. Talk about shame. I won't make the same mistake twice.

I purchased a Cub Cadet 1554. As soon as the two year warranty ended, the mower had all kinds of trouble. It costed me $425.00 to fix. Cub Cadet will not stand by its product. Cub Cadet's stance is that it is a Kohler issue, not Cub Cadet. They refused to help. I would not recommend buying a Cub Cadet.

got sucked in too! ihave the m 48 the tank. right just started some side jobs w it this year and has broke down 3 times in 4 weeks it only has 245 hrs on it so far the dealer was coopertive and took care of the first t 2 things but mon 5-5-08 took the cake i'm mowing a small vacant lot in well established neighborhood when all of a sudden the left front wheel yoke snapped that 30 min job cost me 31/2 hrs and 75bucks and the really didnt want to help at all looked to me like a crappy weld job so warning take those wheel yokes apart, inspect and have them reinforced . the tank . shure it is.

I bought a new cub cadet 1040 in may 06 it now has 60 hours on it and in the shop again.this is the thrid time in two years its been in the shop.it has been through two sets of belts new bearing for the deck a new set of blades at the end of last summer.the blades i bought for it were an upgrade and only have two cuttings on them on one and half acre.and still will not cut grass over 6 in. deep.i took it to the dealer for not cutting grass 6in. deep and the rearend making noise over too weeks ago .when i stoped in to check on it he told me the mower was going to need a new trans. so iwill mostlikely be without it for 3 or 4 more weeks. last summer it spent 6 weeks in the shop this mower is a lemmon!cub cadet will not stand by there product.this is a number that you can talk to a human [protected] good luck.

I purchased the small self propelled cub cadet to do my lawn on a friday night...my thirteen year old son came to me crying about the injury he received from the recoil from attempting to start the mower, now I am like most parents and assumed he was making an effort to get out of work. NOT!..I started and restarted the mower several times due to it's inability to hold more than two passes of clippings from our small front yard. I was absouletely disgusted when I was finishhed. Not only did the mower have a dangerous recoil, I actually moved the mower backward toward me several times before it would even start. I believe this product should be tested by consumers reports very closely. I am here writing with a sore wrist from the repeated jerking from the recoil on this mower. I returned the product to Home Depot on Monday with no problem...I was ready to defend my position but found that the employee that helped fully understood my explaination. He said he had not had this complaint before, he promptly refunded my money, but neglected to take me up on the demonstration of how unsafe this product is. I was glad to get my money back, but feel this is something that should be logged before someone suffers a more serious injury. I also advise feedback to Cub Cadet for anyone who has had similar issues, and hope they will check into the matter further.

I bought a 1042 in July 2006 and have replaced the belts three times. I had the thing serviced and it is still mowing uneven. Two of the tires on the deck touch the ground the other two don't. Can anyone tell me how to adjust the deck? I also had the blades sharpened and the cut is not good at all. If you would like to respond directly to me that would be appreciated, catprincess99@aol.com

I am sick and tired of paying lots of money and getting nothing in return. I am doing to take this job on myself with the help of my two teenagers!

Here is my coerespondence with Cub Cadet:
The local dealer I am doing business with I do not feel is completely honest. First, I had a cracked head on my mower, my fault. I asked for an estimate and was told the repair would be roughly $180.00. Since your website listed a similar mower around $399.00+ I agreed. It took roughly a month to do the repair. When I picked up the mower they told me that it ran quite rough and that they thought it was the carburetor and that cleaning only works 25% of the time and that I should buy a new one (another $200.00). I refused and will run it as is. Once I got home and started the mower, it was extremely rough; nothing like it did prior to the repair. I had to stop the mower, when I restarted the mower, the recoil on the starter failed too, (another $68.00) I purchased the recoil and another blade I needed. After the new starter was installed, the mower won't start at all. Then I cleaned the carburetor (not done when installing a new head) and noticed that I had a gas leak. The leak was coming from the surface of the Carburetor/head interface. I loosened the bolts and notice no GASKET was placed there after they replaced the head. This would cause an erratic mower idle while running. I will not deal with this Cub Cadet Representative again. I purchased this mower based on the reputation of Cub Cadet and the great success I have experienced in the past. This year, I have spent $280.00 on a mower that still will not run. A very similar Cub Cadet is at the Home Depot for $259.00. This representative of yours should have advised me of my options prior to the original repair. Please contact me.

What are the torque specs on the head bolts? Last night I was checking the torque and three out of the four were loose in comparison to the fourth. According to the print provided by Kawasaki on the carburetor, the repair shop removed the insulator plate and both gaskets (one on each side) and did NOT replace them. I currently went to another repair shop for Kawasaki motors and purchased these components. Total cost for the three was $2.41. The carburetor visually looked at an angle; it was obvious that something was not right. I did stop the gas leak and feel safer about leaving the mower in the garage.
Mower still will not run.

There respose:
The head bolt torque spec is 16 lb/ft.

My reply:
Thanks, that answers the torque question, but what about the initial question on support?
Who do I contact for answers (complaints) when my local Cub Cadet authorized repair shop is doing me (and Cub Cadet) an in-service?

There respose:
While our dealer network is authorized to sell and service our products, they are none the less independent businesses and we have no control over their day to day operations. If you have a dispute with a dealer, you need to address it directly with them. We do not arbitrate dealer/consumer issues since we do not have first hand knowledge of the issue.

My final response:
In other words,
let them tarnish your name as long as you can keep seperated from the deal. In all industries that I am involved with, you are as resposible as they are if your name is on their sign. The only reason they got my business is that they are a CUB CADET authorized repair shop. If your logo was not on their business, I would NOT of gone there. You too are as responsible and you may need to pay attention to their business operations if they are to represent you.

I purchased a Z force 60" cut mower with 23 hp Kaw. engine, in June of 06. After one year I have four holes in the deck. The mower had a two year warranty. MTD Cub said, not their problem "normal wear", will not replace the deck. What can you expect from a $5, 000.00 mower? That maybe you can get more than one year of mowing out of it before the deck looks like swiss cheese. Nice outfit this MDT. Just keep on welding patches.

CHECK YOUR CLUTCH AN SEE IF IT IS PULLING IN.IF NOT CHECK YOUR WIREING TO THE CLUTCH AND ALSO YOUR PULL UP SWITCH.

I bought a Cub Cadet from LOWES and purchased the extended warranty which they stated would, if service were needed on the mower, pay for mowing my grass. I found out that they will pay $25.00 only... Now who would want to purchase a Lawn tractor if they could get their grass mowed for 25 bucks. That will hardly buy the gas to mow my lawn. I mow 3 acres. The mower throws belts off right and left both when you put it in gear and also when just riding along and mowing. It has been in the shop twice for this. It works when they bring it back but in a while it starts doing the same thing again. I am a senior citizen/female and I'd bet I can put a belt on faster than most technicians now.. It threw the belt off 7 times today while I was trying to mow my front lawn.. I finally gave up. I phoned for service only to find out that my extended service warranty ran out in April and neither Lowes nor the Manufacturer had any interest in helping me even though the mower had been in the shop for this problem before. Neither Lowes nor Cub Cadet Mfg. backs up their product. And it does leave blades of grass standing and I have to go over it several times and sometimes even then it doesn't cut them. I am really sorry I purchased this product... Cub CAdet LT1046. It has abt 2.5 seasons of grass mowing and I wish I had never seen it. Lowes said they couldn't help me since my extended warranty had expired and suggested I call the Manufacturer. The mfg. rep informed me that the Mfg. warranty had expired after the first year and that they had no legal obligations.

After evaluating several zero turns I bought a 60" cub cadet zero force a month ago, currently has 10.9 hours on it and this weekend the electric clutch assembly simply fell off servering a couple of wires in its fall off the mower--of course the mower wont start so I had to winch it onto a trailer to get it to the dealer.

Bottom line I expected much better than this from a cub cadet

I bought a 2005 Tank 50 inApril 06. It was my first (commercial) mower and I put 540 hours on it in that time. I did all the normal maintenance according to manual. The only big problem was an ongoing leak in transmission that Ihad in twice while under warranty. The last time was at end of year last year. I forgot to mention I purchased from a local hardware store and not a dealer (big mistake). After acouple weeks at the beginning of season this year it was again beginning to leak but I continued to use u.ntil early June. I finished mowing for the week and took to local Cub dealer who wasn't thrilled to look at it but said they would reseal for me. They called the next day and said after they put back together trans unit wouldn't work so tried it on other side and that one was in bad shape too. Of course it was 2 months out of warranty so price to fix was $980 per assembly plus labor. So far the most I have got them to do is give me the parts at $500 a piece. Any help would be appreciated. Buy the way when I got on my Gravely for the first time I found out what Iwas missing.

I purchased a new L 1040 last year and cut grass for 10 hours before I had problems. First is kept breaking belts and then got stuck like a break was on rear wheels would not turn at all...five trips to dealer later (45 miles away) I finally traded it in on a new one this year out of desparation and spent more money . I am so upset because now after twenty five hours on the new one It too is in the shop for the same thing...the place where I bought it are treating me like it is my fault. Gee...I have had lawn mowers all my life and mostly bought from Wal-mart cheapy ones...never any any trouble. Cub cadets suck! Never will I buy another. I have $3200 in mine and am so upset. Buyers beware...go to wal-mart and buy cheap...they last!

I bought a 42 in zero force on 2007. Last night the engine blew apart it had 188 hours and was well maintained. Had nothing but trouble with it from day one.Single cylinder Briggs traded for a Koehler twin. The only reason was friend works at dealer otherwise I would have bought something else.

I purchased a Model 18M Self Propelled Mower less then 2 months ago. Have used it appox. 6 times. Now it starts a runs for about 1 min. then dies. I've cleaned out the fuel lines and add new gas. Didn't help. Any ideas?

Same song different verse we purchase a zero turn lawn mower from Race Brothers in Springfield Mo. What a piece of crap. That is saying it lightly. 3 of the 4 tires has went flat put tubes in 2 that is minor mower was less than 3 month old battary will not hold charge minor mowing deck a piece of crap. Blades has bent on mower 3 times deck came apart in front made new part for front better than first. Now this is the kicker on hour meter we have put (13) hours on mower and have worked on mower 5 our mores hours or hauled to someone to fix. place that sold it to me wants me to haul up to the 1 hour driver there to check what is wrong with mower when we already know what is wrong it is an overpriced mtd cub cadet zero turn piece of ### lawn mower. As said in prior comments no live person at MTD cub cadet so here is what we are doing painting a lemon sign a going to set the piece of ### mower sit along a busy high and mow my yard with and old rider we still have. Last comment BUYER BEWARE WHEN BUING A PEICE OF ### CUB CADET LAWN MOWER SAME YOUR MONEY

I bough a 1040 ridding mower. the first one i got starter locked up the very next day. they replaced it with a nother one pto switch tore up on this one fixed this problem .them the clutch under the deck come un screwed fell off while mowing. The metal that holes deck on pulled loose and tole pieces off the deck. It never mowed right, Left places like the blades pushed the grass down while mowing after a few passes the grass is sticking up like i had never mowed the grass. the paint fell off deck looks like it is hundred years old it has 152 hours on it now. I always washed it top and bottom after mowing. It is always been kept in a building. I thank it is the worst mower that i have every owned . It is a piece of junk. bought at lowes.

i bought a 1040 2 weeks bc its hard to get parts for my murry but my murry runs 100 times much better first off the transmission sucks in mine it slips going up slep hills it makes werid noise when i go slow it dont cut for any the deck dont go up high enough when your done cutting it is very load mower and the steering is terriable it smokes a little and when you shut it off it smeles like it burns oil or something it runs hot and i only had this mower 2 weeks and all this is wrong with it only 5 HOURS! ON IT i called home depot and ask can i take the mower back and get my money back the said noo soo now im gonna fight with the warrnty people or club cadet there has to be some kinda of a lemon law on the mowers in this state o well i think ill just have them fix the problems and see the mower and just use the murry its a 1992 modle never had a bite of trouble out of it had to make breaks for it it mower runs great it must of over 3000 hours on it but i guess ill keep it too it dont turn over no more STAY AWAY FROM CLUB CADET

I have a GT1554 mower with less than 200 hours on it. The machine has always been well maintained and in spite of the TLC it's constantly in need of something. So far I have replaced two mower spindle assemblies, a deck drive belt and just this past week the rear deck roller assembly fell apart. This is the third Cub I have owned... and each one has been less reliable and worse engineered than the prior machine. The first Cub I owned I had for 13 years... it was one of the old steel hood models before MTD.
The second machine was a shaft drive hydro model and while
it wasn't a great machine it was worlds better than this latest buy. The bottom line is ... if you really want a mower look to one of the companies that build their own product... Kubota
would be an excellent company to purchase from... and definitely where my next mower will come from. NO MORE MTD's !

I have a 2166 that has been in the shop for most of the last 2 years. The most I have mowed my 2.5 acres without a problem is 3 times over that 2 year period. It has been with a Cub Cadet dealer for the last week and a half. I brought it home and it still bogs down after 30 minutes. I don't understand how the Cub Cadet people are allowed to sell their products. I think the company should be shut down for selling defective equipment. I'm going to put a sign in my front yard that reads, "Not mowed . . .by Cub Cadet". I will never buy another MTD product.

I bought a Cub Cadet LT1045 riding mower from HomeDepot in Brandon, Fl., in September of 2006, wih 15 hours on it, I had to put it in the shop as the blade deck had a bad vibration, the blade drive belt kept coming off, and the parking brake no longer worked, and the transmission pedal had broken from its support. I got it back after a month in the shop, the blade deck vibration was still there, they did replace the blade drive belt. with 25 hours on the mower, it had to go back into thea repair shop for bad vibrations in the blade deck, the blade drive belt kept coming off, and, according to the repair shop it was not the right belt. After being in the shop twice, the blade deck vibration is gone, but, the parking brake still does not work, the blade deck drive belt still flies off, which is inconsequential as the PTO will not engage, it now has 40 hours on the meter, and it has to go back in the shop yet again. The under hood decal which specifies what part numbers the mower needs are incorrect, the local Cub Cadet dealer does not carry the replacement parts for this mower, and, the mower seems to have about the same level of dependability as a Yugo. If you want to purchase a mower that is, at best, undependable and problematic, then a Cub Cadet is the mower for you, by buying this you will be able to get to see the the dealerships of the mowers, and have a lot of fun towing the mower back and forth. If, however, you want or need a dependable mower, youm should really look elsewhere, as a Cub Cadet just isnt.

I purchased a cub cadet weed trimmer from TSC about two years ago and I love the thing, I had my first problem with it- the drive cable snapped in two. I got online and ordered a part from their online parts and after almost two weeks I received the part. I went to install the part and realized it was the wrong part, totally my fault, I looked at the wrong model online, so I called and asked if they would take it back and exchange it for the correct one and they said that I would have to re-order and send this one back for credit. I also asked the women in customer service if I could get my shipping expedited because now I am two weeks without weed trimming and I need this part, her response was we do not offer any other shipping than ground and it takes 7 days to process the orders. When I told her that I was the customer and I am asking you to expedite shipping and willing to pay for it, you're not going to do that? She said that cub cadet get thousands of orders per day and they are not able to customize orders, not the response you want to hear from a company is big as MTD. So I got my exact model number and went to the cub cadet parts website and found the correct one. This part is exactly like the part I ordered incorrectly but half as long and it cost 3 dollars more and costs 4 dollars more to ship, so now I'm really unimpressed. It is now almost 3 weeks later and still not part, I just called and asked about shipping and was told unless I have the order number she can't help me, well...I didn't have my order number so I started to throw a fit about them not being able to look it up any other way and got hung up on. I called back immediately and got the same lady and asked her for her manager and she would not give it to me then asked for the name of the president and still she would not give it to me then got hung up on again. Called back a third time and talked to a women named Dina and she was able to look up the part to find it was on back order. I asked if they had any plans to contact me and let me know that my part was on backorder? She said they didn't do that. She, by the way would also not give me the presidents name but I found a guy by the name of Roy Keating supposed to be the VP of sales, I will try him tomorrow. I told Dina that MTD has the absolute worst CS I have ever dealt with and that I am going to cancel my order and buy a new weed trimmer from Stihl, and her response was...sorry. I will never purchase another MTD product as long as I live and it is a damn shame because I love this weed trimmer but if they don't treat their customers any better that this maybe Stihl will. If anybody is interested in contacting me about my experience you can email me at stihl_029@yahoo.com

After two years of frustration and nearly $500 in repair expenses, we have finally determined the cause of vibration, belt problems, wear on the center hole of the drive pulleys, and grooves worn in the center bolts of the 54-inch mower of our Cub Cadet GT1554. What we learned was quite astonishing. It turns out that some of these mowers were assembled with center bolts that were too long; consequently, there is not enough threading on the bolt to allow for sufficient clamping force of the pulley/blade assembly. Although it is possible to achieve adequate torque of the nut on the bolt, in reality, the nut is “bottoming out” on the threaded portion of the bolt. And, while it seems that the blade is fairly tight, whenever the mower is required to cut somewhat heavy grass, both the pulley and the blade can actually spin on the bolt. This situation is easily evidenced by the wear pattern on the bolt at both the top (where the pulley spins), and at the bottom (where the blade spins).
As expected, customer service technicians at Cub Cadet were quick to refute and discredit this theory, claiming that we probably were using the wrong bolt for the specific mower. However, after checking and rechecking all part numbers, and by simply taking the entire pulley/bearing housing/blade assembly to the dealer, and showing how the threading is insufficient once the nut is properly tightened, their only comment was, “Yep, you’re absolutely right!” (Incidentally, when asking the dealer for an opinion and for some guidance throughout this entire problem-solving struggle, their only answer was in the form of an accusation of operator abuse.) Once the dealer admitted to Cub Cadet that our theory was correct, the discussion with the service technicians at Cub Cadet was ended, and the problem was remedied by adding two washers. We added one washer at the top, just underneath the spacer next to the pulley; and, one washer at the bottom, just below the blade. Needless to say, the mower is running smoother and cutting better than it ever has throughout the two and half years of use.
Now, the proper thing for Cub Cadet to do is to send out a recall notification to all owners who registered their GT1554 tractor—that were assembled with a ¾ by 7.18-inch center bolt—and to have them take it back to the dealer for inspection and repair, including the proper washer installation.

I got one to wont mower without being all the way up and low grear the it looks bad I have to make 2 pass's to get it right.Take 4 hours to mower 2 acre's.

I bought my first and last Cub Cadet. Z-force 60. Broke an axle and was told by a dealer I would have to replace the HydraGear transmission. Don't believe that crap. HydraGear dealers (not cub dealers) can get any parts you need. Cub Cadet blades are expensive and I have one on it now that is splitting. Now the battery won't charge. I put a new one on it and it won't charge either. When the battery dies so does the electric PTO. So you can't mow off of a boost. I have taken great care of this mower and have spent more hours working on it than it has mowed. I will NEVER...NEVER ever buy another Cub Cadet product. I am also telling everyone I know they should stay away from them. I broke a belt and spent over a day locating one because these "so-called" dealers didn't stock it. I paid $54.00 for a belt and drove an hour to get it when I finally located one.

In regards to the bogging down after 30 minutes comment, by John Amstutz. Try to replace the fuel filter. This can get sand in it, especially if it's dry and dusty. It's good to replace it every 2 years. We experienced that at Gorilla Haven, and it was amazing the shop, or dealer didn't find it, but we found it ourselves. And it worked perfectly after that, no more bogging.

I bought a commercial 2008 Cub Cadet Recon 60 brand new. It has been in the shop 5 times for the drive belt burning up. I can't wait to trade it in for a REAL commercial mower, when I get it back from the shop. Cub Cadet is useless!

Yea how about the LT1046 added a $400.00 rear bagger to it, Then they give you rubberbands to hold it to the deck and it never works correctly the shute gets clog or doesn't align up right and never works. Its just a big pain in the [censor]. and also The rubber band broke when a small rock or somthing rub up on the bottom of it. Now What ? I can't get the rubberbands anywheres. ? What and who designt this peice of crap! lawn shute to the rear baggs. Horriable...

O well. If anybody knows of a better fix email me at sjyukon@comcast.net thanks. owner!

My story tops yours. I am retiring from the US Navy after 21 years of service and talked my wife into this $4, 000 lawn mower to take to our 4 acre retirement home. The first time I cut the grass, with only 3.2 hours on the mower, the gas pedal breaks off and I can no longer drive it. The weld holding the pedal to the control bar is, and I am not exaggerating, no bigger than the lead showing on a well sharpened pencil...in all respects!
This had to happen when I was at the furthest point at the back of the yard down a mild slope. The walk of shame up to the house to ask my wife to help me push it up to the garage so I could put it on the trailer was almost too much to bear. I drove it up to the local Cub Cadet dealer, but not the one I purchased it from, and wouldn't you know it he had closed at noon and it was now 1220 Saturday morning. Driving back home, I keep looking in the mirrors to make sure that the mower is towing ok and I'll be dam@ed if I don't see the arm rest falling off the seat. I pull over just in time for it to completely fall off and drop onto my trailer with the 3 allen bolts that were supposed to hold it tipped at the very end with ONE DROP of locktite. I so wish I would have listened to my wife right now. I already can see that this mower, piece of crap, is going to be more headache than I though and I have to be honest and say, I am embarassed I bought it.

I BOUGHT A 1040 CUB CADET IN MAY OF 2010 FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY AND FROM THE FIRST TIME I MOWED WITH IT IT WAS APPARENT THAT SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT WITH THE FRONT END. WHEN TURNING THE OUTSIDE STEERING TIRE DIGS IN TO THE TURF NO MATTER HOW SLOW I GO. I TOOK IT TO THE AUTHORIZED DEALER IN ZANESVILLE AND THE SERVICE MANAGER TOOK IT OUT IN THE GRASS AND TRIED IT OUT AND CAME BACK AND STATED THAT SOMETHING DEFINITELY WAS NOT RIGHT IN THE FRONT END. HE CALLED MTD AND WAS TOLD THEY HEAR THAT COMPLAINT ALL THE TIME AND IT`S NOT THEIR PROBLEM. DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND YOU`LL FIND THAT MTD MAKES MOWERS UNDER ABOUT 10 NAMES. YOUR WARRANTY IS WORTH NOTHING. MTD AND TRACTOR SUPPLY TAKES YOUR MONEY AND THAT`S ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.

I was jus' mowing the lawn today on my nice '06 cub cadet 22hp riding lawnmower and the deck belt shot out from under the damn thing and caught the front tire, yanking the steering wheel into my thumb! I immediately stopped the engine so i could jump off and rewind the belt. this has after all, happened before but never with such violence. when i went to grab the belt though, it burnt my hand! nursing my beaten and battered hand, i went back to the house to grab the handiest temperature sensing device, a meat thermometer.
i walked the short distance back to the stranded mower and placed the thermometer on the belt. after about a minute it rose to 127 degrees fahrenheit. perplexed, i also checked the the engine pulley, same story. moving up, i checked the PTO clutch and found it to be 152 degrees. this wasnt ever the case when mowing in 100 degree weather, in my two acres of pasture. but today was only 80 degrees and i had just started to mow my lawn of a quarter acre, and of grass a measly 4 inches in height. i put the belt on anyway and started off again on the lawn. a couple of minutes later the noise from the deck (a gentle whine) quit! fearing another slip, i looked down to find well nothing amiss, then i noticed that the blade pulley was only doing about 2 RPM and when i let off the gas, bringing the mower to a stop the pulley slowly resumed normal speed, this happened another three times before i called it quits after only ten minutes of mowing!

I assume with my limited knowledge that it might be the clutch giving out. the mower only has 110 hours on it and its not the fanciest thing but it always got the job done. does anybody know if this is normal?

forgot to mention, the belt slipping has happened about seven times before during all manner of uses even to the extent that we got a new belt after the fifth time snapped it.

i bought a cub cadet mover 2 years ago i have 170 hours on it and i think i went through 9 spindle assembles. Garbage absoloute junk i did not know that it was an mtd product silly me. I dont recomend this piece to anybody in fact i tell as many people as i can about this waste. Of course the spindle assembles are 80 to 110 dallars because cub cadet will not give the mtd part number up.
This is the last time i ever buy any thing cub cadet i was trying to be american and buy an american product, you no quality boy id like to have a chat with those engineers. Extremely upset !

I have read the comments, wow I must have a blessed mower. I have a Z force
44 Zero turn Cub cadet mower heavy residential. I use it commercial over
one thousand hours. Any problems I just take it to the dealer they get right on it
and fix it right then. The kohler engine runs like a top, its a kohler command 20
hp. I have beat up this mower mowing Three foot tall grass, weeds and other
tough stuff. People look at the lawn after I have mowed and are wowed at the even cut. I do keep the blades sharp. I do all my own maintenance.
Ken Hartl. I would only by a mower from a Dealer.

I have a 1042 zero turn tractor. I just dropped it off at the shop again this morning. The power equipment dealer I bought it from said he thinks the transmission is "shot." Its 1 1/2 years old and has 31 hours on it. I mow less than 3/4 of an acre once a week. I didnt know Cub was manufactured by MTD. My fault. I am not going to bring it back from the shop. Will trade it in.