Cub Cadet ZT-2 54" blade question.

[N80]

I have had this Z turn a little over a year. I think it has about 50 hours on it, not sure. It has been great but I looked at the blades this weekend and they are beat to heck. The cutting edges are intact but very dull. The tips are frayed and bent on all three blades. The blades feel cheap. They feel less hefty than the ones on my cheap-o push mowers. Maybe they're supposed to be on a Z turn? I have no idea.

I do not recall ever hitting anything hard like rocks or stumps with the mower. (My sister-in-law borrowed it a while back but her yard is smooth and nice. I have hit plenty of small sticks and lots of pine cones. I hit fire ant hills from time to time. I mow on rough terrain but do not remember hitting anything that would have bent and frayed the blades.

So I am gong to replace them and looking for advice. I don't mulch or bag so don't need blades specific to that. The soil is not sandy but when dry there is a lot of sandy dust. My question has more to do with brand selection. Are other brands, like Oregon, likely to be better? Also, should I consider sand blades? What would be the downsides to those?

Any help appreciated.

 

[Richard001]

Could you post a photo of the blades to give us an idea of the severity of the damage?

Richard

 

[N80]

Could you post a photo of the blades to give us an idea of the severity of the damage?

Richard

I will do that when I am down at my place next weekend and I'll post them here.

However, the question might be moot. It looks like the blades on the ZT-2 have an "S" type hole and it doesn't look like Oregon or anyone else makes replacement blades that have and "S" center hole. So the options are the standard high lift blade, their "Extreme 2 in 1 blade" that is a mulching blade and then their sand blade. The sand blade is low lift and I don't think that would be good but don't really know.

 

[5030]

ASC will have replacement blades and all blades wear over time, especially when running over fire ant hills. The sand 'scours' them away.

We have 2 CC zero turns and I replace the blades on both every spring.

You don't want a blade edge to be super sharp anyway. a nice 1/16" flat on the edge works just fine.

 

[tomplum]

If it is the new S type blades, there aren't aftermarkets for them at this point. Availability of the OEMs isn't the greatest either. I hear what you are saying though. Pre S type Cub blades may not be very robust, but these are extra thin and disappointing for really in other respects are nice machines. I thought originally that they only used them on the "quick change" spindles, but they used them on nutted spindles as well.

 

[5030]

Both of ours are older machines.

 

[LD1]

Still awaiting pics.....but in 50hrs for blades to be as bad as I am imagining you are describing, they are either junk or the mowing conditions are terrible.

 

[N80]

Still awaiting pics.....but in 50hrs for blades to be as bad as I am imagining you are describing, they are either junk or the mowing conditions are terrible.

I won't be down on my property where the mower is until this weekend. As mentioned, the cutting edges look fine. It is the tips that are buggered up. I'm suspecting the blades are junk. I don't baby the mower but at the same time I am way more careful with it than I am with my cheap-o push mower and the push mower blades look way better and are probably 10-12 years old.

 

[N80]

Looking around on the web these blades with the ‘s’ shaped hole are in short supply and I don’t need the ‘extreme’ mulching blades or the sand blades. If the standard high lift blades are as bad as the ones on there now then I don’t want them.

I wonder if the shaft end of the spindles can be changed out for a basic round or star shaped hole? It’s all MTD stuff. But if the shaft including the blade attachment end are all one piece it would require replacing the whole spindle.

 

[tomplum]

Snap a pic of the actual model tag. Along side the tag there may be a listing of common part numbers which may help. Spindles may very well be interchangeable, shafts I'm not sure. Does yours have the quick attach spindles? The thing with MTD spindle bodies is that at glance one they seem the same. But they have different offsets and shaft lengths. Some IPLs list the spindle parts in a separate spot than with the deck.

 

[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.