Your first cub cadet

[sacky07]

Anyone want to share their story of their first cub cadet and how you got into them. I grew up cutting grass with a 70 that had a k301 in it and 38" cast end deck. It took forever to cut our 1 acre yard. Back then i hated it, loud, rough, and took forever. 2008: I was in need a "good" lawn mower because the crappy murrey (my first one, a buddy still has it) I had wasnt gonna make it the long run. I went with the old man to the portland indiana swap meet. Brought back a 128 that day, now here we are in 2011 and i have 8 and enough parts to build 2 more, lol. Whats your story?

[56cub]

When me moved to our new house I wanted to get an old CC to cut the grass with but I was to young to get a job and never had enough money for one. About two years later I had to go to Walmart one night for my mom and to get there I go down back roads. Anyway on the way back I was looking around and saw an old CC in the weeds in someone's back yard. At the time I didn't have time to stop so I made a mental note to stop another time. Luck was on my side because the next day I had to go to walmart again and on my way back I decided to stop and ask. The guy that owned said that if we could get it on my truck then I could have it. So we pulled it ovr close to road with his big tractor then tried to get it on the truck. First try was with some old plywood being used as a ramp and that didn't work, then the three of use tried to pick up the front end and couldn't even get it 6 inches off the ground lol. Finally I backed up to bank and blocked the road for a few minutes lol. Thats the story of how I got Wally my CC 147.

[Dbaumanjr]

When I started working in our family owned auto repair shop at the tender age of 14(1975) the shop owned a 1972 149 with a 42" snow blade, wheel weights, chains & a 42" mower deck. It was used very hard by the guys in the shop to push/pull cars & trucks into the shop, plow snow & pile it as high as you could possibly put it. Ramming speed was whoa-ed by parking stops & uneven sidewalks..... Then it mowed an acre of grass every week in the summer. In 1986 the shop bought a 520HC Wheelpony & I took over ownership of the 149. That 149 ran almost flawlessly until 2008. At that point the frame was worn at the transaxle bolt holes, the shift linkage & steering was pretty sloppy, the original untouched engine was tired, the fender pan was cracked in a number of places, the mower deck was religous(holey) & noisey & the driveshaft wouldn't hold a solid steel pin at the engine drive cup anymore. I had placed a hose clamp over it to hold it in place....I wish that tractor would have been equipped with an hour meter!
At the end of 2008 I bought a 1971 149 on Ebay with a "broken rod"(exhaust valve was stuck open) & a 48" mower deck. This tractor got an engine rebuild, quicky repaint & new decals. It went into service the middle of 2009 & hasn't had a hiccup yet. I'm gonna rebuild the driveshaft & tighten up the shift linkage this winter just to kinda fine tune it. This tractor lives a pretty easy life compared to the last one, so it should last me until I'm not able to mow anymore. Or I find a bigger cub cadet with power steering....But I'm not really looking.

[Paul B]

My first one was actually a model 80 Cadet lawn tractor, not a Cub Cadet. Bought it just to ride the grand kids around in the yard. Then I found my first Cub Cadet, a model 100 (guess that why I like 100's). Didn't know if it ran or not when I bought it, but got it home, repaired some wiring, put a battery in and got it started and drove it around the back yard. It sounded like it had about a "5 lb hammer" in the engine, but it was running, and I was driving it. When I took the engine apart to rebuild it, I discovered that the "5 lb hammer" was actually half the piston laying in pieces in the oil pan, and it ran and drove like that. After it was rebuilt and repainted, it was kinda downhill from then on as others came to keep it company. I don't know how many CC's I have owned, over 30 "O's" and probably about that many 100's plus all the others. I don't have room to keep them all, so they stay awhile then move on and another takes it place. So regardless of what other models might be here at any given time, there is always a 100 here (working on one now), or if not then I'm looking for one. What is it Kirk, "there's just something about a 100........"

[Jeff in Pa]

When our offer on this house was accepted ( '03 ), it was time to get a real mower to mow the acre. ( earlier house wasa 1/4 acre, push mower worked fine). Since I was "brought up green", I was checking out them at the dealer my late grandfather dealt with.

I asked a guy at work what size tractor to get since I needed to run a snow blower too. He said Bot do I have a deal for you Turned out he mechanically restored a 125 for his Dad but his dad gave it back to him and used a lawn service. I ended up with a 1968 125, a cast iron end 42" mower deck, a Trac Vac system , a 42" dirt/snow blade, a QA-42 and a nice set of chains.




Since then, I' ve added headlights, a weight bracket, an IH spring assist, an A1 tiller, a couple plows and a friend gave me a 122

I would have more cubs but there is only so much space in 12 x 20 shed

[Amigatec]

I had a job mowing the trailer court here in town and my RER Snapper just wasn't going to handle that for very long. I started looking for a Gravely Model L, decided against that, looked at a Wheel Horse, decided against that, I finally found a piece of crap 129. Just about everything needed fixing. About a week after that I found a non running 149. After several hundreds of dollars the 129 is just about restored back to good condition, still need to look at the trunnion and paint it but it's a good running now. I still have the 149 to finish. I used the 149 for parts last year, and now I am replacing those parts as i find them.

[ksanders]

My first was my 73. My grandpa took it on trade years ago for water he had hauled and someone ran up a big bill on him. They didn't have the money so he accepted the 73. It sat below his house for years and he gave it to me when I was 10 years old as a bone-stock, rusted, non-runner. We got it running and a local guy helped me out a lot through my first years (no websites or forums then and if there was I didn't know what they were). After a couple years of helping my grandparents cut and keep it going I got a grass cutting job with it. Took 4.5 hours to cut (now 1 hour with the 782). I upgraded to a 102 and then a 124. After that more just started pouring in and I think I've owned 89 now if records are correct... and they are.
The 73 never went anywhere though, nor did the 102. The 73 is now repainted with every option and 12hp motor. It's seen more changes and parts than I can even count but I still have my first Cub in tip-top shape

[BigMike]

When I bought the house we live in in 1991 I needed something to mow the grass.I stopped at a L&G shop and found a raggedy old Cub Cadet 100.I had had a poor repaint,the throttle shaft was severely worn,it smoked like a chimney(out the breather),the frame had been torched for access to put a sheetmetal screw in the drive coupler(and then I had to wire it in place),the grill was broken and the starter generator would generate.The first motor spit the rings out one piece at a time until it did not have enough compression to start so I put a used motor in it.That one ran until the rod snapped.I installed a fresh motor and ran the old 100 until the wiring got caught in the drive shaft and tore it all out.By this time I had run the beast for over 10 years and I had amassed a small fleet of Cubs.It was time for the old 100 to give it's life so other Cubs could live on.
Before,

After,

[jpackard56]

I've had a QL 1000 since 1984 that helped raise 4 boys. 2 seasons ago the grass got long and the clutch was crumbling, the muffler was gone and the blue smoke was hard to drive through so, I bought a new GT2544. It's nice... but it is nowhere near the quality of the older Cubs. "Yellow Fever" has found me and I have picked up several older units that I plan to rebuild and use. And soon, just maybe a 782 I'm trying to close on...

[Klapatta]

A good topic indeed. I still have it today
After a ten year stint repairing and rebuilding tractors and attachments for my Father in law at his farm (all International products), I purchased my first Cub, a 100 on Thanksgiving week 1984. It was in rough shape but by the following Summer and much money spent I was mowing the lawn with it every week.
Some time later, I got it badly stuck out back at one particular bad spot in the lawn. The leach field My solution was to throttle it up, push in the clutch , and engage third gear to get out and push. Budweiser may have been partially involved with this decision making process however I can neither confirm or deny anything.
With the perfect amount of forward force applied at the rear that tractor lunged out of that hole with rigor. I think I lost a shoe in the goo trying to catch up.
The set target goal was the grape vines followed by the 7 or 8 foot drop off directly down into the stream. Time slows in matters as this I can attest. It landed on it's side in the water and was still running when I made it to the scene. The resulting total damage was one broken off grease fitting on a front wheel. I was hooked.
Henceforth, it earned the name Insensitive on that day.
These days, her assigned duties are rescuing Cubs of other misfortune and fetching cord wood.

The pics do nothing to really show just how steep that trail actually is

[vince_o]

My first was really 2. I bought my 106 and 147 from a guy at work that messed with lawn mowers. I had burned up one of the cylinders in my mower and need one CHEAP! Dale told me of 2 he had from the late 60's or 70's. I wasnt real intrested but went to look at them. I was sold on the 106 when he put the front end against a tree and dumped the clutch in 3rd and it just spun gravel out from under the wheels.

The 147 I bought for 50 bucks in the deal, had a broken roll pin. Seth and Dan really helped me on getting it running threw the chat room. The 147 had lights and better sheet metal, so I took it ad out it on the 106 and rattle canned it Cat yellow.

The 147 is now up the road doing mowing duty at Dons place, but the 106 is still here, and its my favorite! Always starts, always plows great, just never stops! I guess brakes would help!

[SWilliams]

The first one I used a lot belonged to my former church. Mowed a 3 acre lawn and the parsonage with that 154. Then a few years passed and I got married. Picked up a VERY used Craftsman and mowed with it for a couple years till I got really sick of changing out deck spindles on a yearly basis at 100.00+ each time. Decided on either JD or CC as a replacement. Went to the local dealer and looked at all the new toys then looked in my wallet... HMM so what have you got in a used machine. Looked at a few 1XX and some 82 stuff, then saw the swooping hood on the 1641 he had in stock, way in the back. He says you dig it out and it's yours for 1000.00 (it was almost 3 years old at that time so the price was real good) Then he says for 1500.00 you can have the tractor, a blower, that 48" deck (tractor had a 42" homeowner deck on it at the time)wheel weights and chains, and any parts needed to get it together, tuned up and ready.
It was delivered the next day with a bunch of "spare" parts. In going over it I discovered how well it was built and got hooked. Since then I have owned a few other and worked on many more.
Yes it's an MTD built rig, BUT it still has pretty much the same design and parts the IH used on the 82 series.

[aar]

Our first started my Craigslist addiction lol! I own a tractor repair shop specializing in older IH tractors. Well one day my 4 yr old said he wanted a tractor his size to work on. So I got to looking on Craigslist and found an ad for one in a nearby town. Went and found a pretty nice 125 not running, $40 later Brady had his tractor to work on and mom lost her garage for a few months We got it running and now have 6 more and some attachments as well.