not like they used to be

[Bigdog]

From the looks of the picture one just might think the bottom end Cub Cadet and John Deere were made my the same manufacturer.

[Dennis]

Looks like JD is OEM'ing from MTD................

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

If I remeber correctly, the smaller JDs are beign made by MTD.

[Rudi]

Well thank God my JD don't look like that one... I do not like the front hinge system, and that is definitely an inferior hinge. Had one like it on my Craftsman and wish I could have changed it for the one on my JD...

Brand names mean diddley these days it seems... bottom line who can produce it cheapest and sell it for the mostest

[Scott]

there should be a picture of a 60's JD, cub cadet, and wheelhorse and see how much better they were back then.

[Paul B]

I think the Ad Agency took a little "the dumb public won't know the difference" license with their advertising, and used two Cub Cadets. The "JD" is the same as the Cub Cadet, including the emblem above the grill, and that sure ain't JD yellow on the deck. It is my understanding also that MTD builds the lowend JD's, but I don't know that as fact.

[Ritter107]

It's kind of sad really. I saw a guy setting on a "GT1541" or something like that at a TSC today and i felt like telling him that it's not a Cub Cadet... it's a POS. It's sad to see the good CC's tarnished by the cheaper ones... and the same way with John Deere. Great garden tractors and now crappy lawn tractors too. God know's that GT1541 wouldn't stand a chance against the 782, even if it had 21HP. It was belt drive too... and still called a garden tractor!

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

While it is not nearly as structuraly solid as the older Cadets, My White (MTD) rig has given me several years of good service. In approximately 8 years of use I have only had 2 problems.
1- I had to replace the friction pad on the hydrostat lever to keep the handle from creeping, and
2- It caught on fire while mulching and blowing leaves. the only damage was 2 belts and some scorched paint, but I don't guess I can really blame the fire on the lawn mower.
Just remember, these units are riding lawn mowers, not "garden" tractors which the older CCs truly were.
Also as side note, the CC and JD in the picture are very similar to my 8 year old White, including the low mounted front muffler, which is what caused mine to catch fire. I was blowing leaves at night and they piled up in front of it unbeknowst to me.

[Thomas]

..and now our local Home Depot offers all three models.

[Rudi]

Here is the link to the New John Deere Lawn Tractors available on-line: Residential, and this is the where you can find my JD 100 Series. It appears JD no longer offers these as they are only dealer stock items now.

It looks like the newer JD's are farmed out to MTD. The front mower mount is entirely different from the one that I have.. One of the reasons I liked my JD was the type fo deck it came with and the fact that this deck reduced scalping and is easily leveled.. For me that was important, as I had endured over a dozen years of constant scalping and there was nothing I could do to correct it. It was the Roper mounting system that was causing the problems and the MTD uses the same front hinge principle.

I am going to have to have a closer look next time I go to Home Depot.. or my JD Dealer.... yeah I know.. them thar is dirty words... but hey, it is just a lawn mower....

[Paul B]

One thing to keep in mind, Cub Cadet, and I suppose JD and others(I don't know anything about them), still build models that are quality built, tuff and rugged, Garden Tractors, but you are not going to find those models at the big box stores, only at a Cub Cadet/JD dealer. The 3000 series Cub Cadet is built about as solid and rugged as the older IH built models, but are in the 5 grand and up range. In todays dollar's, that price is comparable to, or even cheaper than, what one of the IH built models cost in the dollar's of the day. As someone said on another forum, people will pay $3-$4-$500,000 for a house, but then want the cheapest "lawn mower" they can buy. The average person in todays throw away society is not looking for something built to last for years, they want something to cut grass with and when it is no longer functional a couple of years down the road, so what, go buy another one just like it. That's the market MTD is building for, and the market HD and others are selling to. Someone said, it is sad to see the Cub Cadet named used on the lower end mowers, and I agree. IH built, and sold, the Cub Cadet as a Garden Tractor, and then came out with the lower price, smaller size, Cadet line of Lawn Tractors and rear engine riding mowers as lawn mowers to compete with the other riding mowers of the day. The lowend models HD and others are selling are are the "Cadet" lawn mowers of today, and are basically being sold to the same type customers the Cadet was sold to. IH had the sense to market the two under different names, something MTD has not fully caught on to yet. Hopefully they will before it't too late.

[Ritter107]

I fully agree with you Paul, and i was thinking the same thing after i'd walked out of that TSC the other night.

[Chad NC]

It's funny, I maintain our church's JD lawn tractor and when you are laying on your back struggling to change the drive belt it is amazing how much they all look alike - there doesn't seem to be much difference between the CC's, JD's and other MTD products. This JD is so light that I am seriously considering loading the rear tires to give some of the men a better chance of keeping it on all four wheels this year

Working on these makes splitting narrow frame hydros fun (something else that definitely helps you expand your vocabulary) I prefer the shaft driven garden tractors any day.
Chad

[Ritter107]

Splitting a narrow frame's hydro.... *shudders*....

[Chad NC]

Splitting a narrow frame's hydro.... *shudders*....

Yeah and since I managed to get the valve plate misaligned, I get to split the tractor once again and open up the hydro for the third time. If I am lucky I didn't damage anything - but hey at least the trunion shaft seal isn't dripping any more! Chad