Purchasing a riding lawn mower had never been high on my bucket list. Up to a certain point I had owned and lived on nothing but one-third acre lots during my adult life, making mowing easily accomplished with a push mower.
Yet, as we should all know, the only constants in life are death, taxes, and change. Having a work relocation force a change in domicile back in 2011, it also forced a change in my approach to yard care.
It all started in this old farm house, a place we rented while trying to sell our old house. Not wanting to dive into gory and irrelevant details, let’s just say the lawn care I had there evaporated when the bank foreclosed the property from the developer who owned it. Yes, we were ultimately renting directly from the bank. After my wife gave the bank officer an attitude adjustment in regard to his perception of rental dwellers, it went rather well.
But this left me with about 1.5 acres of open property to keep mowed. My push mower was mostly up to the task but after two tick bites I wasn’t. So I went mower shopping.
I ultimately decided to purchase a new Cub Cadet from a little shop in the town of Boonville. Boonville’s claim to fame is it having the world’s largest assemblage of Mitchell automobiles.
The owner of the shop was a delightfully stoic and blunt spoken older gentleman whose vocabulary had but one adjective – the word “damn”. When he and I visited, he was succinct and to the point. “If you are mowing that much, you are right in wanting a two-cylinder engine. Those singles are too damn loud. And this Kawasaki engine is a damn fine engine; yeah, you could get a Briggs & Stratton, but they aren’t worth a damn.”
Sold! He even delivered it.
While Cub Cadet was founded by International Harvester in 1960, it has been a subsidiary of the MTD conglomeration since 1981. Regardless, this Cub Cadet fit my criteria better than did many other mowers – I wanted a cut width in the 42″ range so I could load it on the pickup, I wanted a twin-cylinder, I did not want a Briggs & Stratton engine, and I wanted those exotic little things called grease zerks on the suspension. This had them all and for a price I could live with.
Even better, this two-cylinder is an 18 horsepower Kawasaki unit and it’s a real peach. In researching for this, my suspicion about the engine’s place of manufacture was confirmed.
This engine, along with many other Kawasaki general purpose engines, was built in Maryville, Missouri. I have driven by the plant countless times since 2001.
Kawasaki was, in their words, the first foreign vehicle manufacturer to build a plant in the United States, doing so in Lincoln, Nebraska. That factory was built in 1974 with the Maryville plant opening in 1989. The distance between these two plants is only about 120 miles.
My Cub Cadet was a fabulous partner in crime for all the mowing I did over the next year until we finally found a house to buy. It was after buying our house the abilities and idiosyncrasies of this Cub finally emerged from it’s former mowing-only cocoon.
Let me digress for a moment – be very careful if buying a foreclosure as we did. The place had a lot of deferred maintenance and perhaps some shame should fall on me for not being so diligent as to discover these little nuggets of fun.
As my lot size was initially just under 0.9 acres, I knew I’d still need my riding mower. The subsequent purchase of the undeveloped and adjacent 1.2 acres only reinforced the need.
My initial concerns about this mower having a hydrostatic transmission have mostly proven to be unfounded. Sure the Cub gripes a bit if I try going at too high a velocity if loaded down, but that’s no big deal. What has been a big deal was an incident about 18 months ago.
I’ve pulled a lot of stuff with this mower, particularly trees and the brush I’ve been continually clearing. This also means there’s a lot of sticks on the ground at times. One day in mid-2018 I was navigating a mild wash-out area when I started to smell something stinking and burning, accompanied by a weird noise. A stick had poked up and lacerated the hydrostatic drive belt, making a mess of things. This little incident necessitated replacement of the drive belt, a feat that required loosening the engine so mounting points could be manipulated. It took a long time.
Another annoyance has been its appetite for belts on the mower deck. However, that is due to collateral damage, not any manufacturing defect. The lot containing my house was covered with all manner of invasive vegetative species when we moved in and I’ve spent many hours crawling around with a chainsaw and Tordon eradicating these trees and plants. A minor goof by me can mean a tiny stump that will later catch on the mower deck. Enough instances of this, along with a few other occluded obstacles such as large tree roots, has rendered it to be tweaked numerous times. It’s got a tweak at this moment. A few minutes with my block-and-tackle should help remedy that again.
Mechanically the Cub has been flawless. It always starts quickly and its been up to every task thrown at it, often on terrain it wasn’t meant to be used on. I have not pampered it and, like a faithful dog, it’s always ready for more.
When I purchased my mower, my hope was to have a machine good for no less than twenty years. I suspect it’ll be good for much longer than that, particularly since it’s always parked inside. If we had a category for “Tool Of A Lifetime” this Cub Cadet would definitely qualify. It’s been a great purchase and a great mower.
Very nice! I finally made the jump to a rider this past year after my grass guy got out of the business. My needs were different, as I just had 1/3 of an acre of grass (some on hills). The combination of a busted walk-behind and the laziness that comes from advancing age (or perhaps it is impatience) I bought a Snapper rear engine rider.
I keep hearing people who are not so happy with their Briggs & Stratton engines, so I guess I will have to stay on top of the maintenance.
I suspect B&S has rebounded from their issues, but one would be wise to pay attention. My father-in-law had one on a rider that swallowed a valve, or some other major engine calamity, within six months or so. It was an ordeal to get a new engine for it.
Interesting timing. Just a couple of months ago, I decided to junk my well-worn 1997 MTD riding mower, which I bought at the end of the season that year for $599. It was the cheapest version: 38″ deck, 13 hp Tecumseh OHV engne.
I used it to mow my rentals, and a 2 acre lot I owned for a couple of years, and an empty 1/4 acre lot I owned until a year ago (selling that was the impetus to junk the mower). I used to drive the mower with a trailer and the push mower and trimmer over to the rentals 8 blocks away, in the alley and along the side of the streets. I was a neighborhood fixture!
I am surprised how well it held up for over 20 years, as I knew this was the cheapest of its kind. I can’t tell you how many rocks and stumps and roots I hit on the empty lots. I beat the shit out of it, for all those years.
The Tecumseh was ok except for a terrible tendency to plug up a needle valve in the carb. It had a cheap plastic lower half of the carb, the fuel bowl and such.I just bought several of them for dirt cheap on Amazon, and could swap them out in 30 seconds. I finally figure out just where it was plugging up and learned to fix that quickly.
The mower was still running ok, but the original drive belt was starting to slip, and the original mower belt (or maybe I replaced that once) was getting bad. And it had a dead battery, and the whole thing was starting to get very loosey-goosey. So off it went.
Frankly, I’m glad to be rid of it. I’m getting pretty sick of maintaining small gas machinery. As my others die, I plan to go all-electric. Not cheap, for good ones, but I’m kind of over noisy small stinky oily engines…
Earlier this morning I reread the article where you talked about your MTD and was wondering if it was still going.
A while back I noticed where several brands were offering electric mowers including Cub Cadet with an electric rider. It only makes sense and I don’t blame you – if I were needing to replace one, I’d be all over it. The link below shows an electric rider otherwise comparable to mine for $4,000.
Both my chainsaw and weed-eater are electric and are so much better for my purposes than their finicky two-stroke predecessors.
https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/riding-lawn-mowers/electric-riding-mowers
Let me clarify: I got rid of it because I really didn’t need it anymore, after selling that empty lot. If I still had needed it, I would have fixed it. My ancient ’60s B&S 3hp push mower does just fine on the areas I still mow. Better exercise too. 🙂
The current generation of electric riding mowers is too expensive and still uses mostly lead-acid batteries. That will change. I was referring to electric walk-behind mowers and such.
Never been on a riding mower, but growing up we had an electric motor push mower that did a pretty darn good job on our roughly 400sqft patch of grass. Plus it started every time, even after a long winter.
Not gonna lie, a few times when I didn’t want to mow the lawn I “accidentally” ran over the power cable. And since I was the only one in the house who knew how to patch it back together…
I, too, will never buy another Briggs & Stratton engine. A few years ago I had a Husqvarna rider with B&S motor and it quit after two years. The repair shop said that these engines had a defective air cleaner that let all the dirt & grit from mowing into the motor and it could not be repaired. i talked to B&S and they acknowledged the defect but, and I’m paraphrasing, I was shit out of luck. Now I am mowing with a John Deere X360 with a Kawasaki engine which hasn’t given me a single problem in 3 years.
A very nice review, I’ve eyed riders over the years but never had a lot that really needed it and now would rather not have a big lot to maintain, especially just grass to mow.
It’s nice to see that people (you and other commenters) are doing just fine with the sort of “outliers” in the market, or at least the ones that don’t seem to get all the marketing and hype.
Maybe we need to start a Mowers Of A Lifetime series, most people have or had one, there’s a big shift to electrics (and even robots/autonomous) in the industry and if you think people avoid regular maintenance on their cars, then hoo-boy will mowers be even more neglected in that regard…
A Cub Cadet is truly an outlier these days. The unobservant might easily conclude a John Deere or a Husqvarna, both with a B&S from Lowe’s is the only mower available these days.
My Honda powered push-mower is a decade older than the rider but I would have to move a lot of stuff in the tool shed to get it out. Perhaps another day…
One I learned about maintenance is on the tiller I acquired from my grandfather. The oil was from the factory, as was the air filter, drive belt, and spark plug. The carb has an issue but I just haven’t gotten that far yet. I’d like to have a garden but there are too many deer in my yard.
Hmmm, MOAL? I have provided a home for wayward lawnmowers over the years. Or is a wayward home for lawnmowers? It could be either. 🙂
Kawasaki was not the first foreign vehicle manufacturer to build a plant in the USA in 1974. Rolls Royce built one in Springfield, Mass in 1921. My step son has the same mower as yours and he’s been quite happy with it and he’s had it for 10 or 12 years now.
I remembered the RR being here in the 1920s; that’s why I had qualified my statement as it being the words of Kawasaki!
It’s good to hear your soon has an identical mower and encouraging he’s had good experiences with it. For grins, I checked out a new and comparable Cub Cadet last summer. It appears car companies aren’t the only ones de-contenting their products. My seat is a durable cloth; the new one has a low-grade looking vinyl that seems ready to crack.
Don’t forget American phantom
American Bantam?
My old JD with a single B+S never gave me any problems during the 17+ years I owned it. Of course it was garaged and kept up pretty much by the book. OTOH the cheap plastic pulleys (some variation of nylon 66?) with pressed in powdered aluminum bearing housings JD used…………$$$ for repair$. 🙁
My current JD does have the Kaw V twin and so far (3+ years) seems fine, too. DFO
I’m still in the 1/3-acre lot stage, so I have little use for a riding mower… but that doesn’t stop me from daydreaming about owning one. I occasionally use my in-laws’ well-used John Deere for mowing their acreage, and since I’ve always enjoyed outdoor work, it’s something that I look forward to. Like you mentioned, the uses for these things are limitless, from mowing to all other kinds of hauling. When I’ve hunted on my in-law’s property, the John Deere was great for hauling my deer out of the woods.
And I figure this is a good opportunity to share an early Cub Cadet ad, below:
I found this one online. It is kind of cool that I was able to buy a brand new one of the same design in the last 6 months, only updated with required safety features. It is sort of like being able to buy a brand new 72 Dodge Dart that has been updated to modern standards.
And mine
You just need some stick-on letters to recreate the “Comet” portion. 🙂
One of the mowers my parents purchased during my growing up years was a twin-cylinder Snapper. However, it is the only one I’ve ever seen that was front engine. No doubt there were others but the design like yours seems to be the definitive Snapper.
That’s my mower too. They are a good machine. I bought one that was 7 years old 12 years ago for $400. It burns some oil and I put a new coil in it plus some maintainence items a few years ago. Cheap money. Make sure to grease where the frame pivots under the seat. If that wears out you pretty much have a good mower with a broken back.
The rear engine Snapper is made with a stand on the back so that it can be stored or serviced vertically. It’s the official mower of Forest Gump.
I too have heard a lot of negative feedback on the B&S twin engines. I purchased a Husqvarna with a 22 horsepower Kohler twin and a 42 inch cutting deck. Dealer delivered it to my 1/2 acre home. Dealer advised to only run premium fuel in it.. Has the zerk fittings to grease. Four years old and runs like a top!
Thank you for mentioning premium fuel.
I’ve been running premium fuel in it but that is due it being the only fuel (and from only one local gas station) I can find locally that does not have 10% ethanol. It is/was highly recommended to not use ethanol in this engine.
For many professionals here, Aspen is the preferred choice of fuel. Aspen 2 for two-stroke, Aspen 4 for four-stroke.
Not only for professionals. Even though Aspen is double the petrol price it’s worth every eurocent not having to inhale the fumes and toxic waste of the regular unleaded stuff. Gomez Addams can keep that!
We bought a Yard Man when we first moved to our farm – it’s a lower-quality tier MTD product with a B&S engine. The B&S threw a rod after two seasons, and I put a replacement engine on it that’s still running some 15 years later. But I quit cutting grass with it years ago after buying a used Toro zero turn commercial at an auction. The Toro finally wore out a couple years ago and I replaced it with a 72″ commercial zero turn Kubota, which is a real beast and has taken quite the beating mowing about 4 acres on the farm every 4-5 days.
I regularly pass by the Lincoln Kawasaki Plant on US 34 West on the way to eastern Nebraska’s better jet ski lakes.
Friends from central Nebraska tell us the plant was originally to be in the Loop City area, but the locals stupidly objected to it. From what I know, they have been a respected employer in the Lincoln area. The plant was built in 1974, one of the earliest transplant Japanese manufacturing facilities.
We believe our Kawasaki STX 15F jet ski to be a product of the plant. The last time I did some general review to determine what comes from there, Kawasaki’s website wasn’t very forthcoming (Edit; it is clearer now). Gassing our jet ski near my home, about 45 minutes away from the plant, a guy told us he was in charge of jet ski distribution, and that our unit came from the plant.
I’m sure they build bikes there as well, I’ve seen a few times what seems to be some type of small bike rally with an obstacle course on the plant’s vast parking area.
I’m a bit surprised that there aren’t any product billboards on the plant grounds, they should really own the jet ski market in the Midwest, but I’d say at best they just compete well.
Our jet ski engine does come from Japan. It is a very good naturally aspirated model, and offers nearly supercharged jet ski performance without the expensive supercharger rebuilds.
Last year I replaced our B&S equipped MTD push mower with a real mutt, a Craftsman branded Honda equipped model from Lowe’s. I chose the Honda in part because of the B&S reputation of late. I’m sure having a new mower for the first time in a dozen years is part of it, but damn, that Honda is damn smooth and damn easy starting. Most refined damn push mower engine I’ve ever had.
I looked hard at electric, I’ve never fiddled with small gas on things like weed trimmers, light chain saws and leaf blowers. I’ve started transitioning my electric corded equipment to battery, to great relief, and hoped a mower could join the charging area in my garage.
Range anxiety crept into the picture, I have almost exactly the proverbial quarter acre of crabgrass, and most reviews stated I have too much land for a single charge, and I’d have to look into a second expensive battery to change out. So, no electric on this mower purchase cycle.
For small engine, I always like to use Honda engine, both my push lawnmower and snow blower are Honda, no major problems for over 15 years. I got a Craftsman rider with B&S single engine used from a neighbor, it has a lot of problems on ignition and carburetor, I changed three in last 4 years. Too bad Honda is no longer offering rider in US. The used one is very hard to get too.
I notice most of the professional lawn care guys use Kawasaki engine for th thier heavy duty machine, but I think those are not two-cylinder models.
I don’t miss lawn mowing one bit but I do miss my 2-stroke Lawn Boy. That self-propelled mower was awesome save for maybe its first five minutes of warming up when it did the mosquito-fogging impression. Always started though…
I remember being with my dad when he bought a Lawn Boy with the solid state D-600 engine in the spring of 1974. That mower remained in our family for almost 40 years. Amazingly rugged and reliable.
It was a clone to this pic, with the handle in green as well.
Nice Lawn Mower Jason. I am sure getting 20 years or more out of this shouldn’t be a problem if you look after it. I too have a lot size about the same as you, although the very irregular shape requires the push mower for some sections. My John Deere LX178 is a 1992 and it’s still running and cutting grass well. It too has a Kawasaki V-twin engine, although mine is liquid cooled. My lawn tractor has not had a pampered life. It’s first owners used if in a commercial setting for lawn and snow removal. I bought it used about 15 years ago, and while I do maintain it well, I am not easy on it. It seems for the last 5 years or so, there is always something breaking every season, but it is pushing 30 years old now. The repairs have been easy, and I haven’t had a major component failure. The one thing I like about John Deere is you can pretty much get any part with ease. The Kawasaki engine though has never given me any issues ever. It does smoke a bit on startup now, but still runs fine. I plan to run it into the ground.
When this machine does die, I would be very interested in an electric mower. Hopefully by then the prices have come down and the battery technology has improved. I’d also consider a automated mower, since I don’t particularly like cutting the lawn. I am just not sure they make one robust enough to handle my yard.
On the fuel issue, I have run E10 in most of my equipment for years, against the recommendations of many experts. I keep stabilizer in my fuel containers, and always drain the carburetors at the end of each season. I have never had any issues.
This is my 1998 Craftsman lawn tractor. I had a 1/2 acre lot with a lot of mature trees, and autumn was a fricking nightmare until I got this thing (with the bagging attachment) — I just drove around the yard and sucked up the leaves.
I can’t say I beat on it, but I sure didn’t treat it like a china teacup, either. In my 19 years of ownership I had to replace the steering gear (pot metal, the first one snapped in half), the starter, and the drive belt. Otherwise, I changed the oil and filters every other year, and the blade every year, and it just kept on trucking.
I sold it when I moved in with my wife in the suburbs — no need for a tractor on a postage-stamp sized lawn. No place to store one either. I sold it to a guy at the nearby cemetery. I know someone who works over there and he tells me the guy still uses the thing.
While I owned this tractor, it was my favorite possession. I wish my cars could be this reliable.
Bonus pic: my brother and me (with an eyepatch) on my grandfather’s Cub Cadet, 1971.
Nice Cub, Jason. I have 3 classic John Deeres that are holding up well, but have engine issues (two have Tecumsehs and one has a Kohler), and 3 other riders (Toro, Husqvarna and White) that have great running B&S motors but chassis issues (rusting decks, worn steering, etc).
The biggest things I see around here (MI) that shorten mower lifespans are either neglect (no oil changes, sitting outside uncovered, leaving ethanol gas in the carbs for long periods without stabilizers) or wet grass rusting out the decks.
I’m patiently waiting for the snowblowers of a lifetime article, so that I can tell you about my 22 year old Craftsman snowblower with the 8 1/2 Tecumseh Snow King engine.
Also a great topic. From what I have heard, the Tecumseh Snow King is the engine to have for snowblowers, whereas their mower engines are mediocre at best (depending on the application anyway – I have a Tecumseh push mower engine with a hole in the block where the con rod made its exit that I cleaned up and now use as an anchor for my row boat). I have two snow blowers with 5hp Snow Kings, one that’s about 20 years old and one that’s 33 years old, and both still run reasonably well.
Nothing wrong with Briggs and Stratton engines they will run forever with little or no care. On the other hand, Tecumseh/Craftsmen are pure garbage.
I am a faithful Simplicity lawn tractor fan, I have two, a 1981, a 7210, (I think), and a 1991 Landlord with a 50″ deck and a 18 hp B&S Vanguard motor, bought it used in 2001, and still going strong. These were made when Simplicity was part of Allis Chalmers, they have since been bought by Briggs, so maybe quality has taken a hit, I can’t say. The nice thing about the old Simplicitys is that they sold a ton of them and good used parts are still very available on Ebay and such. Another nice thing is that the arbors on these are fully rebuildable, with 3/4 ” steel splined shafts and easily replaceable bearings.
I’m a couple days late here, but an interesting article Jason (as always!), and timely as I’m researching ride-on mowers at the moment. Our current ‘ride’ is a 2014ish Gutbrod GLX 105 RHL-SK. Although it’s got German Gutbrod branding, it’s an MTD, with the 42″ deck and 22hp Kawasaki engine, likely built in Maryville. We bought it with our home – we’ve got over 3.5 acres of landscaped grounds, so there’s a lot of lawn to mow… It’s easy to use, the hydrostatic trans is nice, and it produces a good result – I get lovely stripes in the lawn.
It’s a good mower, but has a terrible grass-catcher. The method for connecting it to the mower relies on everything to be in perfect alignment to function. But over time as things wear, the multiple catches and rods no longer quite line up, which results in the bottom of the catcher regularly popping open which drives me spare. The local dealer says the mower was designed for mowing smooth lawns, and neither it nor the catcher system are robust enough for my needs, which is fair enough. So I’m now looking for a more robust ride-on mower with a catcher that can handle uneven terrain and the knocks and bumps of everyday life. Some nice ones out there, but the prices are astronomical, so i might have to struggle on with the Gutbrod for a while – thank goodness that, catcher aside, it’s a good mower!
Although not ours, it looks like this:
We had a 2003 Neuton EM 4.1, we loved it, we kept it for 10 years, we got it as a year old Reconditioned mower
Ours: