Cub Cadet ZT-2 54" blade question.

[N80]

Here are some pics of the blade tips. Some of them have actual tears in them. In the hand they feel light and thin. Much less substantial than the blade on my 12 year $100 push mower. Utter garbage. At first I thought I might work on them with the grinder and a file but they are toast.

The bad part is that I'm not sure if I can find replacements. The standard Cub Cadet blades are going to be the same junk. I don't want or need the mulching blades. I may buy the sand blades if I can find them. The 'S' shaped spindle shaft is integral to the spindle so no option to change that out without changing the spindle.

The odd thing is that the fabricated deck (verses stamped) is in perfect condition after 50 hours. No rust. No dents or dings. No significant debris accumulation. Strange that they'd make a deck so beefy and durable and then put sorry blades on it.

 

[tomplum]

I agree with you 100% . Me? I would look back at like decks with the old style star blades, replace the spindles and be done with this.

 

[LD1]

I know it doesn't help you....but I own just about every kind of metalworking tool known man.

I'd either be modifying the spindle to accept standard blades.....or I'd buy whatever blades I wanted and be modifying them to fit the s-shape

 

[RjCorazza]

I had the blade mount bushing modified on my zd1211 to fit the older size zd mower blades. Aftermarket blades were not, and likely still not available in the new size for my application.
I would much rather go to the trouble of changing the blade mount than dealing with a poor selection of blade types.

Someone here on TBN posted the machining dimensions for the bushing, which was a HUGE help. Wish I could remember who it was, but thanks again!

 

[N80]

Update: I bought a set of Cub Cadet sand blades. I got a set of their “extreme” blades which look like a mild version of a gator blade. Both sets of blades feel pretty light and pretty cheap. But they are not cheap to buy.

I put the sand blades on yesterday and mowed yesterday afternoon and this morning. They are supposed to be more durable. That seems doubtful. But they are also low lift and in fact the ‘flaps’ are angled downward.

They seem to cut as well as the standard blades but they put significantly less dirt and dust in the air. For me that was a real problem with the standard high lift blades. Of course as a result they don’t throw the cuttings as far and tend to wind row in deeper grass. I can live with that trade-off.

I doubt I’ll mount the extreme blades until the sand blades wear out. I bet they won’t last any longer than the OE standard blades so I will probably be replacing blades every 50 hours at $100 a pop. Not happy about that at all.

I will replace these spindles at the earliest sign of trouble and replace them with ones with a star shaped shaft so I can get cheaper and probably better aftermarket blades.

I have expressed my disappointment with Cub Cadet and included this problem in my reviews for what that is worth. Not much.

 

[tomplum]

Your mower is an otherwise nice mower. Lots of thought went into it. I don't see lots in the L&G business that gets my goat, but these CUB blades do. So you know what their "thought" on the blades was when they thought they would rope people into buying them. Many years ago, MTD patented their star hubs and aftermarket companies had to change them until the patent wore off. One ended up giving you a spindle when you bought a blade for a while. Never saw anyone else really do that. Deere had a few.
I forget, was your mower the quick change blades? I know they put these on standard nutted ones too.

 

[N80]

Cub Cadet calls them ‘s’ shaped hubs and I think they are different from the quick attach type but I’m not sure.

When I replace spindles I might even opt for basic round hubs. Probably a lot more options although at Oregon they seem to have lots of blades for the star shaped.

I am quite happy with this mower for the price. Other than the blades everything else seems good even though for what I do a higher spec machine would probably be more appropriate.

 

[tomplum]

Cub has round hole spindles, usually that's their HD spindle with Timken bearings. Aftermarket and OEM both are available as well as star blades. S blades went on their awful quick attach hubs as well. A lot of their 50/54 " decks offered both round and star and you have to look and see what you had as the IPL didn't know. Spindle #s are likely listed on your model tag. AT some point 10 years? they went to a low profile pan and spindle set up. You may just find an earlier production year of what you have or simply compare spindles by part number.

 

[scaredychicken]

Following this post.
I bought a CC Zero Turn RZT S50 recently. Some modifications are being fabricated for me, and I hope that it will be delivered in the next week or so.
- hand controls
- brake - dual controls (hand and foot)
- grab bar at the front, so that it is easier for me to get on/ off unit

 

[tomplum]

Following this post.
I bought a CC Zero Turn RZT S50 recently. Some modifications are being fabricated for me, and I hope that it will be delivered in the next week or so.
- hand controls
- brake - dual controls (hand and foot)
- grab bar at the front, so that it is easier for me to get on/ off unit

Be sure and either start a thread or post pics anyways. They could be helpful for anyone considering similar mods.