Buying Advice JD vs Cub Cadet

[psunut95]

I am looking to replace my 13 year old toro 16 hp 38" lawn tractor. I have 1.1 acres with a lot of hills trees and leaves. The lot is terraced with 3 levels and pretty steep hills between levels. The toro had its original hydro tranny replaced under warranty after only 1 year and now 11 years later it is ready to go.

The first question I have is JD vs Cub. I am thinking 46-50" Deck is good but I need a bagging system.

Is the cub cadet direct shaft all what it is built up to be?

I am most concerned with the tranny as I cheaped out the first time but don't want to spend the money for the 500 series that the JD dealer wants to sell me.

Am I better off with an older JD as I hear the newer ones are not as good. I am not looking at the lowes or HD JDs as I know they are lesser in quality. I am ok with spending the $5k to get the right matching but it needs to be the right machine.

Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks and happy new year!

 

[jenkinsph]

My thought is that everything I need to buy from a jar of mayonaise to a tractor keeps going up in price. It isn't that the new mowers are not as good they simply seem to cost a heck of alot. I currenntly have an x749 with 48" deck and the MC 519 cart and blower, sounds like it would be perfect for what you want long term. I looked for over a year in my locale trying to find a good used setup that would meet my needs and couldn't find anything close to this. Don't know what is available where you live but if you can find a good used setup that fits your needs I would give this a good deal of consideration.

I would suggest an x500 series and up if you buy new so that you get a good transmission. I can also say that the MC519 collection cart works great and can pick up alot of material and dumps easily. You can pick up alot of leaves with one load on the cart and it does a good job with little missed on the ground.

 

[BuilderML]

Don't know if you purchased one by now. I am not sure what the problem is. If you are ok with spending 5k you should be able to get the jd x500 not sure what you dealer is quoting you but that should be about what the price is. I still for the life of me have not figured why someone would spend that kind of money for a lawn tractor. I would get a zero turn if i was willing to spend that much for one. By the way my father in law paid 5k for his x500 and yes i asked him that the h.e.l.l. did you do. Good Luck !

 

[94BULLITT]

I had a Cub Cadet 2206. It was shaft drive which I think is a very nice feature. You don't have to worry about a drive belt. I also liked that the Cub Cadet had a horizontal crankshaft engine. It was stable going up and across steep ground. It was a very reliable machine. I had wheel weights on it, which I would never do again on a mower, I would have fluid put in them. When you would come down off a very steep hill it would slide or if it was damp it made it worse. The newer 2000 series have a cast iron differential which will add weight and may help this problem. The bad thing about Cub Cadet is they don't seem to have the resale like a John Deere does. A lot of people think you can go to Home Depot and get the same machine as you get at the dealer. I had over 500hrs on the Cub without any hydro problems. Outside of regular maintenance I put front tires on it and a fuel pump.

I mowed grass for a guy for a few years that had a JD X540. It was a nice machine. It had a liquid cooled engine which Cub Cadet does not offer but it was a vertical crankshaft engine. It was not as stable as my Cub Cadet but it was bigger machine.

Since you said you have steep hills I think something with 4WD would be best for you.

 

[arlen4720]

Don't know if you purchased one by now. I am not sure what the problem is. If you are ok with spending 5k you should be able to get the jd x500 not sure what you dealer is quoting you but that should be about what the price is. I still for the life of me have not figured why someone would spend that kind of money for a lawn tractor. I would get a zero turn if i was willing to spend that much for one. By the way my father in law paid 5k for his x500 and yes i asked him that the h.e.l.l. did you do. Good Luck !

I'm kind of in the same boat as jenkinsph. I have an x748SE... I would probably have an X749, but they were not invented yet when I bought my X748. They are very pricey machines, I think mine was around 12K, maybe a little more... I tried to block it out:laughing:. Price aside, they are fantastic machines. As far a a Zero turn, they are not interchangable with a lawn tractor...period. Rough terrain, running a tiller, snow blowing, etc, are among the things out of reach for the zero turn. It has been said here 10,000 times....Just depends on what you need to do.

 

[WilliamBos]

The box store JD's are the same tractor you JD dealer sells.
As for you decision, pay now, or pay later.

I am looking to replace my 13 year old toro 16 hp 38" lawn tractor. I have 1.1 acres with a lot of hills trees and leaves. The lot is terraced with 3 levels and pretty steep hills between levels. The toro had its original hydro tranny replaced under warranty after only 1 year and now 11 years later it is ready to go.

The first question I have is JD vs Cub. I am thinking 46-50" Deck is good but I need a bagging system.

Is the cub cadet direct shaft all what it is built up to be?

I am most concerned with the tranny as I cheaped out the first time but don't want to spend the money for the 500 series that the JD dealer wants to sell me.

Am I better off with an older JD as I hear the newer ones are not as good. I am not looking at the lowes or HD JDs as I know they are lesser in quality. I am ok with spending the $5k to get the right matching but it needs to be the right machine.

Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks and happy new year!

 

[94BULLITT]

The box store JD's are the same tractor you JD dealer sells.
As for you decision, pay now, or pay later.

The dealers do sell the cheaper box store models but they also sell better models.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I sell cub cadet, and I am not a huge fan of many of their models... however the Z-force mowers with the steering wheel are the future of this segment. Deere would be doing this, but Cub has the patents really wrapped up.

 

[eagle107]

I sell cub cadet, and I am not a huge fan of many of their models... however the Z-force mowers with the steering wheel are the future of this segment. Deere would be doing this, but Cub has the patents really wrapped up.

How are the Tank SZ (commercial steering wheel) series zero turn mowers (the bigger brother of the Z-force)? From just a mowing perspective, is the Tank's mowing deck, frame and etc. as good as a X700 tractor's 7-iron deck? Could the Tank take the same abuse as a X700 or X500 series tractor and would the Tank's ride be as good as the JD's?

 

[94BULLITT]

I sell cub cadet, and I am not a huge fan of many of their models... however the Z-force mowers with the steering wheel are the future of this segment. Deere would be doing this, but Cub has the patents really wrapped up.

The mowers or the tractors they used to sell?