drive failure on Cub Cadet 1018

[uracus]

I have a Cub Cadet LT1018 with about 60 hours on it. I mow about an acre and a half. After mowing my lawn, I shut down the pto, put on the parking brake, idled down and got off to clean off the deck. About a minute later I heard a grinding sound from under the engine-- the engine sputtered, and then smoke. On inspection, the belt was off the crankshaft pulley and was torn and shredded. Also the pulley flange was bent.
Question? What would have caused this? Would like to determine the cause so it doesn't happen again. The pto clutch works fine and I was able to take it off to get to the drive pulley above it. The drive pulley is frozen on the crankshaft and I've been unable to take it off. My puller has completly bent the bottom flange (unable to grasp the top flange--no space). Don't know how I'm going to get it off. Appreciate any answers.

 

[wojnaroski]

Sorry for your troubles. With only 60 hours, is your unit still under warranty?

Alan

 

[uracus]

Still under warranty, but I was refered to a service center by Lowes (where I bought it) and they gave me the run around because I didn't buy it from them. It's going to cost me and the warranty is meaningless at this point.

 

[Fordlords]

Regardless if you bought the Cub at Lowes or not, the referred dealer should be obligated to honor the warranty, just the same as a factory warranty on a new car must be honored at any of the brand dealerships.

The dealer might not want to do the repairs because you did not buy the machine there, but I do beleive they might be legally obligated to perform the repairs if they are a Cub franchise or might be obligated under their franchise contract- perhaps this can be clarified. I am not sure how things work with lawn tractors, but with cars the cost of the warranty repairs are charged back from the dealer to the manufacturer, and if the case is the same with Cub Cadet the dealer is not losing money on the repairs and if they were smart would do the work for you to gain you as a lifelong customer- after all out of warranty repairs, parts, and accessories can make for a good dealer customer, and I don't think the profit margin on those 1000 series tractors is all that much anyways.

-Fordlords-

 

[wojnaroski]

Please call Cub. They really do stand behind their warranty.

Alan

 

[4sarge]

Good Luck on getting your tractor repaired under warranty, I agree it should be repaired under the warranty, regardless of where you purchased it. I looked at Cub for a garden tractor but didn't buy because the dealer insisted that I spend 900 more for the drive shaft model (less HP) because the 2999.00 model even though it had a larger motor wasn't worth the money because of potential transmission (drive line) failure. I thought that if the authorized dealer/service center didn't have enough faith in the product, then I was not going to risk buying it. I'd contact Cub direct and ask to speak to someone in customer service and or the area Cub rep.

Good Luck

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Regardless if you bought the Cub at Lowes or not, the referred dealer should be obligated to honor the warranty, just the same as a factory warranty on a new car must be honored at any of the brand dealerships. )</font>

Warrenty is a very touchy thing in this business because more often than not we loose money doing warrenty work. You can bet the dealer would be ticked, not only did you not buy it from them (rather from a place with no support system) but now they are going to have to cover the balance of the warrenty that cub does not cover. I'd assume that they will probably work on it for you if you give them the option to take care of their customers first and set it on the back burner until someone has nothing else to do.

 

[wojnaroski]

I had a few warranty issues with my 5254 that another dealer cheerfully took care of. The mechanic at my selling dealer was definately out to lunch. Called a dealer 40 miles away, they cherrfully picked up my tractor performed several service advisories and returned it to me fixed right. By the way, Cub paid for the transportation. And yes they did work on tractors they sold first, took about 5 days to get mine back.

Please call Cub or check with other dealers in your area.

Good luck, Alan