[watts-up]

Earlier this year my father in law gave my wife and I his old Cub Cadet that had been sitting up for 3+ years. We purchased a new home with a larger yard and the push mower wasn't going to cut it. So far I replaced the deck, deck belt, and blades, changed the oil and filter, replaced the battery and rectifier, and did a leak down test to make sure the valves an rings were still holding.

Here it is after getting the new deck:

And after a quick bath:

Next items on the list is to change the trans oil, new drive belt, and new tires, and later on a new seat (the pan under it is rusting out).

 

[rcbe]

nice ride, but lose that "bath" business. L&G powered eqpt in general are not designed/built to withstand such vs. say cars. Best to use compressed air or a leaf blower to clear all crud from machine after each cutting; mebbe a light sponge wipedown once per season followed by a good wax job. If you know the machine has been sitting out in the weather, pay particular attention to the electrical system/wiring - every connection will be a potential corrosion problem spot.
If no owners manual, lift up tilting seat, look in cavity under for plate/decal with FULL model # and serial #; go to website PDF Manual Web Archive enter data, d/l free pdf copies.

 

[watts-up]

Thanks for the link to the owners manual. I know about the effects water can have on equipment. At the same time, my grandfather had a Lowes brand rear engine rider that he hosed off every time he used it for 15yrs. I used a rag and no nozzle on the water hose to clean the heavy build up on this one. I downloaded and printed a service manual to help troubleshoot the rectifier. Come to find out my father in law parked because it kept killing batteries and was running bad. The "mechanic" he would bring it to could never fix it. It was running bad because the carb was dirty and it wasn't charging because the rectifier was bad.