UPDATE:
7. Without exception, I believe I am safe in saying, every place I order from on the internet (and in a county of 20,000 population, I order a lot of stuff by internet) sends me: a) an immediate email to confirm the order; 2) an email when the order has shipped, usually including a tracking number. I did have a screen print of the order, but Cub Cadet sent no emails of any kind. After three days, I naturally began to wonder if the order took or not.
8. Went to Cub Cadet website > parts > order tracking. Entered the order number from the screen print I was foresightful enough to have made. No record found of any such order.
9. I tried again the only phone number published in the Operator's Manual, 877-282-8684. Confirmed (as it had been on 20 Jan when I tried, none of the punchy-button options will lead to a real human voice or contact. Looked again for email address in Operators' Manual and on website. No joy.
10. Went to Messick's website to put in the order there. First part number came up, about 10% higher than Cub Cadet's price. Second part number did not come up at all. Went for the parts diagram of mower deck. Slow loading (been stalled showing a portion of mower deck and spinning "loading" logo for over 30 minutes now).
11. The screen print I did get from Cub Cadet is deficient in that the "Item/Description" column shows item number, but not description. Went back to Cub Cadet website to use their parts diagrams (which at least load, albeit slowly). Found phone number (877-428-2349, if anyone cares) for parts ordering.
12. Called Cub Cadet at above number. Surprisingly, after minimum of trouble was talking to a human being. Gave order number from screen print to nice lady, which was no help in finding order. However nice lady was able to pull up order by last 4 digits of credit card number. She said (if she can be believed) that the order shipped.
Well, at least I still have the Kubota
L3400 to shred some of the places with. May have to do some of the smaller yards with the tractor too, if the parts don' show up. Shame on you, Cub Cadet! Shame!