Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?

   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#11  
Got the XT3 GSX home yesterday, and did another garage reorganization today. I fit it in!

The transmission in this thing is not exactly what I expected. If I stop on a steep incline and attempt to move forward again, you hear the pressure relief valve releasing and it will not move. If you back up a foot and get it rolling, even just a bit, it will climb a steep incline. My Craftsman/Husqvarna with the G730 on the other hand can stop on my most steep of inclines and start moving again with authority. I'm starting to wonder, is this transmission a lesser part than a G730? It sure feels that way.

The deck mows extremely nice and flat, very few missed blades, even at fill HST speed. The Craftsman does cut smooth and flat as well, but leaves noticably more missed blades.

The Kohler Command engine with 42 hours on it will occasionally smoke upon being started. My 600 hour Kohler Courage has never even hinted at expelling smoke. I'm not liking that.

I'm honestly not sure that I'm in love with this. I may sell it back off and go get that Husqvarna TS354XD after all.

I've got more crap packed into this garage than I ever thought possible. I'm thinking about going 3 dimensional and start hanging things like the spreader and sprayer from the I-beams above.

Let's give this Cub Cadet a few weeks and determine if it's a keeper, or if it gets booted on down the road. IMG_20180606_190121751.jpegIMG_20180606_190716302_LL.jpegIMG_20180606_190736910_LL.jpegIMG_20180606_190801384.jpegIMG_20180606_190832319.jpegIMG_20180606_190840837_LL.jpegIMG_20180606_190904692_LL.jpeg
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#12  
Reviving this thread... I sold the Cab Cadet XT3 GSX and found a leftover 2018 Husqvarna TS354DX with Kawasaki engine and Tuff Torq K66 with electric locking differential. I called the dealer and told him to put the 50 lb weights and the chains on it.

I'm glad to be done with that Cub Cadet, that was a sad letdown. The transmission was just horrible and I couldn't live with it.

Note that the Husqvarna dealer told me that if I waited a year, there is rumor that Husqvarna is going to release a new line of the garden tractor with a Yamaha sourced engine rather than the Kawasaki engines in spring 2020.

That will be interesting, no doubt. It would be even better if they tossed a K72 transmission with a locking differential behind it and kicked it out the door for around $4700 give or take a couple hundred. I would be first in line!
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#13  
It's a done deal. Cub Cadet gone, Husqvarna in it's place. $3992 out the door with tax. Let's hope that I just bought myself happiness that I never found in that miserable experience with the Cub Cadet XT3 GSX.

Please, please dear Lord.... Let the Tuff Torq K66 and Kawasaki engine be my huckleberry.....20190311_171432.jpeg20190311_171510.jpeg20190311_175832.jpeg20190311_181546.jpeg20190311_181557.jpeg20190311_181605.jpeg20190311_181616.jpeg20190311_181645.jpeg20190311_181734.jpeg20190311_181658.jpeg20190311_181712.jpeg20190311_181742.jpeg
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD? #14  
I have never heard anyone say ,"I wish I had my Cub Cadet back".
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#15  
I have never heard anyone say ,"I wish I had my Cub Cadet back".
I have one of those old Craftsman steel/tin yard carts that I loaded (not over full at all) with split wood to simply drive around my house to restock the front porch. I hooked it to the Cub Cadet in the lower driveway and went across the back of the house and turned up hill along the side of the house to head towards the front. The transmission started whining and the HST pedal starting bucking and jerking and motion ceased. I backed down, unhooked, attached the old Craftsman/Husqvarna with the Hydro Gear G730 and pulled the trailer around front with no issues.

That was the nail in the coffin. I will never buy a Cub Cadet again in my life. It had to go and I didn't overly care if I lost my butt to make it gone.

Cub may have once built really nice machines, and I may have had a factory dud... But I did change HST fluid and filter at 48 hours and this lack of transmission performance was seen both prior to and after performing that maintenance. I'm going to go ahead and assume that Cub is all MTD trash today, built as trashy as possible and selling nothing but a name and a history.

I'm hopeful that my Husqvarna TS354XD, not being an MTD misfit, will be a much better machine. The only gripe I have at this juncture is that the Tuff Torq K66 sourced for this build has no filter and must be removed at 200 hours and then every 400 hours to clean, flush and refill the fluid. My dealer says that they do recommend doing that, and they charge $250 to do it.

I'll consider paying them to do it.... But I very well may do it myself.
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD? #16  
Just curious, why did you decide to go with a lawn tractor instead of a ZT?

I have been looking at the Cub Cadet Ultima ZT but if they are making junk, I will get something else.
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#17  
Just curious, why did you decide to go with a lawn tractor instead of a ZT?

I have been looking at the Cub Cadet Ultima ZT but if they are making junk, I will get something else.
A zero turn can't run on my property, maybe the steering wheel version could, but I also don't see that hauling a 25 gallon sprayer and 250 lb broadcast spreader... Or a 500 lb roller.... Or a plug aerator with 6 12" blocks on it.

A standard zero turn can't run across my steep yard because the mower deck weight drags it down hill no matter what you do. You also can't drive down the slope because you just skid out of control until you hit the trees. So you would have to drive forwards up, and back all the way back down and do it again and again.

A garden tractor with wheel weights can side slope mow it, yes you are turning up hill with the front tires a bit and slightly pulling at the turf, but your good to go.

Some folks live on zero turn property, some don't. The guy I sold that Cub Cadet to... When we talked I told him about my hill and I called him a flat lander... He said "oh no, I have steep slopes also, we aren't flat landers."

When he showed up, the first thing he said when he got out of the truck was that now he understands what I'm talking about.... He is a flatlander compared to me.

Tractors just work better on some properties. I live there... In garden tractor land

Yard tractors also do not work here, been there and tried that. The transmissions literally fail within 2 to 3 seasons tops. They aren't built for the strain of weights, chains, and pushing up slopes that have the front wheels bouncing off the ground. A garden tractor built right will take that for 10 years or more.
 
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD?
  • Thread Starter
#18  
   / Cub Cadet XT3 GSX or Husqvarna TS354XD? #19  
I made a little video on the merits of the Husqvarna TS354DX, to explain why I chose this. Yes, I considered the Simplicity.... But at twice the retail price I chose this path, at least for now.

The dirty truth and lies about garden tractors today. - YouTube
if you want something that will last,
get a garden tractor with a manual transmission, the cheap HST transmissions just don't last.. btw, IH Cub cadet made a high quality HST tractor that can still be found in good condition after all these decades..
 
 
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