Cub Cadet GT2554 rebuild project

[Rock Crawler]

I just went and picked up this Cub Cadet from an older gentleman in Ohio who had an engine fire on the top of the engine due to oil leak. He put the fire out before the fire destroyed the entire machine, but the air filter housing on top and the throttle and choke cables are destroyed. The engine only has 380 hours on the Kohler Command 23 horse V-Twin engine, it also has the hydro torque BDU - 10 transmission. So I believe you would call this a near commercial grade lawn tractor / garden tractor. So the goal here, is that I'm going to strip the top of the engine and see if I can get the parts that were lost with the fire cheap enough and easy enough that I decide to rebuild it and buy a new hood for around $300 and use it, or just try to part the thing out or sell it whole for parts.

I will attach the text below from the ad as well as the picture from the ad. The picture is deceiving because the hold looks deformed but usable, this was not the case after my 3 hour drive out to his house to look at the tractor. I hate when people take a picture from 2 years ago of something there selling today!

"Club Cadet model GT2554 garden tractor not running but engine will turn over. Needs new hood...repair or part out has good 54" heavy duty deck with mulching kit...good seat ..good rear tires ..good transmission. Tractor was used about 10 hours this spring before engine problem."

I would guess the guys age to be mid-70s, so maybe he's just not the best at using technology to post pictures so what do you all think, if I'm $300 into the non-running tractor with fire damage on the top of the engine, how much money would you be willing to invest to turn this back into a runner for use on my 3 acres? Or would you turn and run from this and just try to part it out or sell it as parts?

 

[mddorange]

If the only parts that burned are what you listed, then it should be easy to fix.

I would take ALL the ruined parts off FIRST to ensure I knew exactly what was needed to fix it before I started or bought anything.

 

[Rock Crawler]

If the only parts that burned are what you listed, then it should be easy to fix.

I would take ALL the ruined parts off FIRST to ensure I knew exactly what was needed to fix it before I started or bought anything.

That is exactly my plan, stripped the intake with the air filter and whatnot off of the top of the engine so that I could see the cables that run through there that currently will not move then determine if there is a plastic intake manifold on the engine that may be damaged as well or not. I'm hoping that the actual intake manifold below the air filter housing is All Steel and survived. If it's just the air filter housing and cables then I'm golden, I'll buy new or find used on eBay by the new hood for $300 and should be able to get this thing running and cutting again for a total cost of around 7 to $800.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Well, that didn't last long. One of my buddies saw the tractor and slapped $550 down and said to not unload it at my house, go unload it at his house. I hesitated, so he started counting down from 10....9....8... At 2 I grabbed the $550. So now I'm hunting again. I want a JD upper X500 series or the high line CC like this with the commercial engine and transmission. So now I'll scan Craigslist and FB market and watch for the next rebuild able unit.

I'm a little bit sad, but he does have an immediate need while I have a running Craftsman Excellerator GT5000 with a G730 transmission and good running Kohler Courage with just under 600 hours. I have time, I'll find another one.

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

Hi rock crawler I was on another post with you and I wanted to say that you should have kept the 2554. The older transmissions were stronger because they were hydro gear bdu 10l 228 transmissions made by sauer sundstrand for hydro gear. (I think they are actually the same company). So they were basically the same as the old 82 series cub transmissions from the 80s and 90s. The first bunch of cub cadet xt3s had a real transmission problem. A lot of them were weak so I think in 2018 they still used the bdu 10 but they used the bigger 10l like the old 2554. Then they had lots more power. Also I think that the kohler command is a great engine what did you think of them vs the Kawasaki. I have had lots of problems with the fd fs fh and the bigger Kawasaki’s but never a kohler and I think Briggs sucks.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I'm not a Briggs fan. I've got a Kohler Courage 26hp right now at almost 1000 hours, so far only needed 1 starter. I do run Amsoil, so maybe that helps.

I'm happy so far with my Kawasaki, but truth be told it's only at 90 hours.

The Husqvarna so far is meeting my needs perfectly and if the old Courage/ G730 should die, I'd go buy a second Husqvarna/ Kawasaki/ K66. We do run 2 tractors every time we mow and I don't plan on dropping back to one.

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

Amsoil is the best!

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

I don’t blame you that is a nice Husqvarna. That courage will die at about 2000 hours. It’s to bad it doesn’t have the command cause then I would say 3000-4000 hours with amsoil

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

I watched your video on it it was very good!

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

Rock crawler does your friend still have this tractor?