slt1554 broke axle

sargee · Jul 29, 2009

Anyone else had this or heard of this problem?? Slt 1554 only thing I pulled was occasionally a swisher 44 or 60 inch pull behind mower on flat ground no hills at all.
Couple days ago while moving lawn tractor stopped moving..I thought drive belt broke looked under neath belt ok..got back on tractor and left side rear drive tire and about 6 inchs of the axle rolled ahead of me and the tractor fell to the ground (deck hit first).
Presently in the shop no idea what its going to cost...ironically I think I have serial number 1 of the stl1554's...looks like the axle crystalized and just broke..no tear just broke..

OldMachinist · Jul 29, 2009

Make sure they give you the old axle when you pick it up and then call Cub Cadet customer service and see if they will pick up part of the repair cost. If they won't and you want to pursue it have the break analyzed by a metallurgist.

LBrown59 · Jul 29, 2009

How old is it?

sargee said:
Anyone else had this or heard of this problem?? Slt 1554 only thing I pulled was occasionally a swisher 44 or 60 inch pull behind mower on flat ground no hills at all.
Couple days ago while moving lawn tractor stopped moving..I thought drive belt broke looked under neath belt ok..got back on tractor and left side rear drive tire and about 6 inchs of the axle rolled ahead of me and the tractor fell to the ground (deck hit first).
Presently in the shop no idea what its going to cost...ironically I think I have serial number 1 of the stl1554's...looks like the axle crystalized and just broke..no tear just broke..

sargee · Jul 30, 2009

it is approx 3 years 3 months old since date of purchase with 440 hours on it.
It gave me absolutely no warning at all It has been a wonderful machine up to that moment
I did get the recall upgrade done on the drive belt tensioner besides that routine maintenance and mow period been money very well spent not abused just used

JTKub · Jul 31, 2009

That is a scary thing and potentially life threatening at that. The entire rear on that 1554 is a Hydrogear product: Hydro-Gear ? LT Series I am sure they would want to hear about this as well.

Joel

EuropaChris · Aug 1, 2009

WAY too many years ago (like 30) I used to help out mowing yards for my retired elementary school principal. He had a early 70's Sears 12 hp garden tractor that he retired in favor of a new 16hp Crapsman lawn tractor with Briggs flat twin. This new tractor was a never ending saga of service trips by Sears for vapor locking issues and all sorts of other things until finally one day it snapped off a rear axle while he was mowing a shallow ditch by the road.

He was NOT a large man, 170lbs. soaking wet, and all that tractor did was cut grass on 3 or 4 acres of flat, quite smooth, southern Indiana yard. There is NO excuse to snap off a axle like that, and he's lucky that it didn't flip over on top of him or something.

Ironically, that old Sears tractor just kept chugging along with that big iron Tecumseh engine. I thought it was cool because it had a two range transmission just like a "big" tractor!

Chris

sargee · Sep 23, 2009

I need to follow up on this - I purchased mower from a smaller local chain store Campbell Supply in midwest. They had mower for 3 weeks from time of broken axle. Got it back and was very suprised at final cost - was extremely fair. Mower works better then new.
so a big thank you to Campbell Supply of Sioux Falls South Dakota. They back what they sell and treat customers honestly and fairly.