Strengths Reliable, easy to use, great cut after adjustments are made to level deck

Weaknesses Heat issue again, "special type of screws to hold hood on" (good ole JB Weld and special what you got screws took care of that)

Overall Original owner purchased from a dealer, after 1 year of use he sold it to me and bought a zero turn. I got the mower, grass catcher, extra blades, and cover for $2,500. I've used it for 5 years and the hood screws are the only flaw I've experienced. The original dealer was 200 miles away but called me to offer any help that I may need. I told the original owner that the local dealer was a first class A_ _ Hole, so he told his dealer, thus the call. That is first class customer care!

Strengths Heavy, powerful

Weaknesses Engine overheating due to poor hood design. Headlight wiring melted, engine is now failing at 425 hours probably due to heat related issues. I had to remove the front headlight bezel to allow the engine to exhaust hot air out the front or other wires would have been toast also. This is an early model GT2550 purchased in April 2005. At first they had a metal "streamlined" hood design. This was changed fairly soon. The metal hood has no real air ventilation for the main engine heat output. A baffle on the exhaust blocks most of the engine hood grille area. The engine heat exhaust is aimed right at the back of the headlight bezel. Mine partially melted as did some of the underhood wiring and the plastic covers on some control cables. What a poor design for an air cooled motor enclosure. It does not take an engineering degree to see the problem. When I first got mine the mower deck was not aligned properly and the deck drive belts kept burning up. Dealer had it in the shop for about 4 weeks on and off trying to figure out why it kept burning up belts before he realigned the deck with company tech support help. I said I wanted my money back and the reply was " the owner never goes back on a deal" Essentially saying, you bought it...TOUGH! I should have sued in small claims court for selling me a defective machine! Parts are expensive. $120 for a set of 3 blades.

Overall Will never buy this brand again!!!

Strengths

Weaknesses

Overall Wow, just came from looking at a 2544 today. Glad I read these reviews. Guess now I know why the web site is discounting the 2010 models

Strengths Plenty of power, starts good, and has a good turning radius and that's about it.

Weaknesses There are many weaknesses: (1)The engine really gets hot with such limited space under the hood. I purchased a 12 volt fan and instlled up front and under the bumper that pulls the heat from under the hood and thru the engine.(2)The grease zerks pulled out of their sockets while I was lubing the deck spindles. I had to drill and tap for new screw in zerks.(3)The maintenance on this tractor is for the birds. You have to grease the spindles on the deck every 10hrs & that is no easy task. No real seals on these spindles.The manual states to pump in grease until the new pushes out the old and believe me it takes 15 or 16 pumps of grease to each spindle to accomplish this. (4)My tractor has no reference of any kind to show what height the deck is set.(5)When my tractor accumulated 50 hrs. on the engine, my engine oil warning light came on and stayed on. I checked the oil and it was OK. I read the manual and it said to call your dealer. I did and they did not know what the problem could be. I took it back to them and they installed a new oil press. switch, but that did not help. They kept it for 3 weeks and finally after several calls to the factory,they told the dealer it was normal for that and the light would stay on for 1 hour and then go out. The manual does not tell you that, and therefore you do not know if the oil pump is bad or what. No way to reset the thing. Now after each 50 hrs. rolls around it still comes on and stays on 1 hour. (5)This machine really uses the fuel and it has only a 2 gallon fuel tank. How redicilous for a 900#, 22 H.P. mower.(6) Grass and debris makes its way to the fan screen on the engine really easy & if you don't block it with screening it will cover the screen quickly. I have installed screen under the engine and on each side of the hood to keep out the grass. The front wheels throw the grass up when you turn the wheels and then it is pulled in by the intake of the enging fan. This is just a few of the really bad engineering flaws on this machine. It was a sad day when I decideded to buy a Cub Cadet Garden Tractor.

Overall I would not recommend a Cub Cadet to anyone. This is basically a $4000.00 lawn mower with so many flaws. I sure would like to have my money back out of this thing. I sure hope you post this so others can stay away from buying one of these.

Strengths

Weaknesses As far as I am concerned my Cub Cadet GT2550 was a bundle of engineering mistakes which should have been recalled! Engine cannot exhaust heat from cramped hood area, insufficient cooling vents. Dealer ignores comments. Underhood wiring melted and engine is failing from overheating.

Overall This mower is nothing but trouble. It has serious design flaws!

Strengths Shaft drive, kohler pro engine, great cut. 42" snow plow makes short work of snow.

Weaknesses dust in headlamps.

Overall excellent tractor, alot of negative press regarding reliability. simple preventive maintenance will make for very reliable tractor.

Strengths It cuts grass really well,but if I don't get your help the lawn tractor I buy will not be a Cub Cadet.

Weaknesses LT1050 Drive belt flew off and destroyed my wires and the clutch.

Overall And I think Cub Cadet should pay for the wires and clutch.Under their so great warranty.The belt I don't mind paying for, but what happened when it flew off should not have done that kind of damage to my tractor.And I would like to talk to a Warranty manager of Cub Cadet.E-Mail me at swmikeydo@gmail.com or call me on my cell at 336-404-0487 Please I'm asking for your help.I payed a lot of money for this Cub Cadet.

Strengths None

Weaknesses Mower deck

Overall Not the dealer if mower does not work six months after purchase!!!!!!!!!!!! Same problem here! Wait for service and warranty runs out! If its a re-accurring problem and flaw in engineering, retailer and warranty will run out on a very poorly made/manufactured product!

Strengths Good cut.

Weaknesses Cub Cadet RZT 50. Very difficult to change oil without making a huge mess or getting burned if engine is warm. Deck washer did not work. Grease zurts came out. I sent it for repair and requested that they install screw in zurts. They reported that they simply pushed them back into place. They still come out when greasing the unit. The battery would not stay charged long enough to mowe my lawn. I took it to another Cadet repair center and they said that the alternator was bad. They claimed to replace it, but there was no improvement. I purchased a battery charger and must always charge it, but it will only mowe part of my lawn before the battery is too low to engage the PTO so the blades rotate. If the motor shuts off it will not start and must be jump started. When I contacted the repair shop again I learned that they closed their business soon after they claimed to make the repair. I contacted another former Cub approved repair center and they told me that Cub was so diffult to deal with that they will no longer repair them and there is not another place in our city of 60,000 people who will work on the machine. I called the 877-282-8684 number to talk in person to a technician and only get a two option recording that runs you in a circle giving repair centers that have closed their doors or who will no longer work on Cub Cadet. I originally made the purchase based on the reputation of the old International Cub Cadet product which was very good. I was not aware that they had sold out to MTD. I have not been able to get ANY good service

Overall Over all I have such a bad taste for Cub Cadet and their no caring for the customer that I would never consider another Cub Cadet.

Strengths Heavy duty tractor with decent transmission gives smooth ride.

Weaknesses COOLING!!! Poor ergonomics (130 lb. woman can't keep seat switch from shutting off engine). Headlights quickly fill with dust. Gas tank too small. Noisy (always had to wear earplugs). Doesn't cut very evenly.

Overall The Kohler engine runs hot and Cub has done very little to keep it cool. In fact, the 2500 is the only Cub Cadet series that does nothing to filter grass out of the cooling air. The 1000's pull air in through baffles in the hood and the 3000's have a large screen inlet below the steering wheel. The early 2500s had major problems with hoods melting and breaking. Cub came up with a heat shield which only diverts the heat to other areas under the hood. First, my cables melted. Then at 10 hours, the engine overheated to the point where the oil was burned. The dealer said the engine cooling passages had gotten clogged with grass. The internet is full of reports relating to this issue: Cables melting, Hoods melting, grass scorching, engines burning up, premature PTO failure. Fortunately, I had a great dealer who cleaned out the engine under warranty (not a simple chore ... over $300 of work). I tried mounting a homemade screen on the inlet, but it continually got clogged with debris. Cub tried putting a baffle on the 50" mower deck to direct the grass away from the engine, but this didn't help much. Plus I was concerned that overheating may have caused engine damage that would come back to haunt me later. Unlike many who have had to deal with Cub Cadet directly, my dealer was great and offered a full refund. Because my dealer gave such good support, I waited until this spring to see how Cub would fix the problem. When I saw that nothing was changed on the new models, I decided Cub Cadet wasn't for me. Ended up with a Deere X540.