Strengths Grease Zerk's on spindles... easy deck detachment... Have 260 Hours on 2004 Model... Best Buy for $1999

Weaknesses Replacement of drive belt is not an easy task(once in 220 hours). Too low a cut... never have had the deck below high. If you shut it down from full throttle it will backfire. But if you run it a few moments at a lower throttle b4 shutting down its fine. Original blades and "mulcher" attachment not recommended.

Overall I've had very good luck with this lawn tractor. Its a 2004 Model, bought from a Local Farm Store. 26HP V-Twin Kohler (no oil use), performs very well for 2.4 acres of lawn, but you do have to "maintain" it (grease spindles twice a year). Replaced OE blades w/Gator blades... world of difference with deck cleaning. She's ready for another 70 hours this year.

Strengths none

Weaknesses it looks like a cub cuts like crap

Overall do not buy 26hp kohler smokes knocks with 91 hrs of use needs a new motor alwats serviced. cub cadet dealer said thats why i stopped selling them. do not buy!

Strengths

Weaknesses Don't like to taking deck off to sharpen blades and change the oil

Overall My mower was upside down in the shed after being flooded by salt water with from hurricane KATRINA!! Mower started right up after putting a new ignition switch on it. Been running great ever since.. I don't know what all the complaining is about. I even use it for my part time landscape service as my main rider (12 yards a week). Beautiful cut.!! It also holds climbs steep inclines with ease..Swear by it!!

Strengths Power, Turning Radius, 50" Cut

Weaknesses A little "Top Heavy"

Overall Bought my 2006 model new from HD last month. Don't understand all the bad reviews. Have only had this tractor for 30 days, mowed approx 2 acres 4 times with no problems at all. Even took it "out in the field" and mowed some waist high brush with no problems.

Strengths None

Weaknesses The entire Mower

Overall Buy anything but Crud Regret. It is Junk. Try to contact cutomer support on it. You Cant.. What a joke.

Strengths Strengths.....Hhhhmmm lets see now......Well I guess there isnt any. Unless maybe the Strength is the person is able to keep his cool after spending 2 grand that pile of JUNK !!!

Weaknesses Well, where to begin. I guess I was weak not to see the reaming I took from Crud Cadet comming. The paint is comming off the entire mower,trans slips,motor knocks and smokes,if grass is more than an inch high it wont cut with out clogging under the deck and throwing out huge clumps of grass,just to name a few.But I guess there is one thing working....the guy Im paying to mow my grass because my 2 year old mower wont run.Maybe we can get Toyota to make a mower...has to be better than the Crud Cadet.

Overall Stay Away from Crud Cadet. Its JUNK JUNK JUNK. Why is it that in the USA price keeps going up while quality goes down....Im going to practice what my dad told me....if it says USA stay away.

Strengths strong motor. easy on gas. easy to service.

Weaknesses belt drive to transmission

Overall i have had cub's since 1966. they all have been work horse's and one a 1978 model 1250 still works and runs great.the motor has never been apart. this one my first belt driven cadet. so far hasn't given me any problems at all. so yes the motor smokes a short time on cold start. but that is and always been a normal for a air cooled motor. every machine i have owned has done so. i see people complain about mtd being the owner of the company now. hay guys they have been since about 1982 give one or two years. when I.H. sold the line. yes you will see the parts that interchange between all the mtd models so what. the 1000 line is the entry level.want the good ones spend the cash for the 2500 or 3500 models with the old style drive shaft . this one dos me just fine with out a hick cup that is out of the normal operation.

Strengths 26 HP Kohler motor

Weaknesses on my 4th year with this junk. Bought at Lowe's and only one company willing to do service/warranty work of it, and will only work on after they repair mowers they sell, so had to do all repairs myself with no refund for parts I had to buy to repair. Have had to change 2 complete spindals (greased every other time mowing was done), drive belt was changed after I had to change electric PTO because bolt holding it sheared off breaking electric wire at PTO. Also had to change sleeve holding steering column straight. Mower does not cut grass evenly, have had to adjust several times. Seems like I spend more time working of it than cutting grass. I mow about 2 acres once a week, all level.

Overall The most expensive piece of Junk I've ever owned. Have spend well over $500.00 on it in 3 years on new parts.

Strengths Easy start, smooth cut. The reverse cut feature is nice.

Weaknesses Could be a little faster traveling. The reverse cut feature disengages on occasion. During the 2nd cutting season, the mower began smoking really bad at start up.

Overall I really liked the performance of the LT 1050. However, recently (this season, no. 4, bought 3 years ago) the motor began using oil. Two weeks ago I added oil to top it off (not ready for oil change at this time) and cut the yard. Next weekend I cut grass again. Yesterday I crank mower (26 hp Kohler) and it sounded as though it may need oil again, I felt as though after a few seconds the oil would dispense within the engine and quieten out (wrong). After approximately 150 feet of cutting something internally broke (connecting rod, piston?) Needless to say I am very distraught. Prior to this happening I was very satisfied with the mower.

Strengths Deck cuts very even on rolling 1 acre terrain. Strong Kohler Engine. Controls laid out very well. Manual steering good for a fairly heavy lawn tractor. Seat position is good. Transmission works well.

Weaknesses Moderate vibration from deck when blades start up. Vibration smooths out alot when blades get up to speed.

Overall This is a great tractor for under $2k. I know there are better lawn & garden tractors out there (Deere, Kubota, etc) in the $4k range but our short Alaska summers don't make those cost effective. I believe this is manufactured by the same company which builds Craftsman, MTD, and others. I looked at Craftsman in this price range and I liked the Cub Cadet design and layout better. Most of these large decks in this price range will have vibration due to the long belt runs with minimum number of dampening pulleys.