First off Welcome to the site. :Welcome1: I am sorry I don't know Cubs very well but I do know the Deere's so For your property I would say there are a couple John Deere's that I would reccommend in the size you want.

First off I think that a John Deere G110 at a price of $3699.00. The price on this one is fixed because the dealer and Home Depot sell it. See the link below.


http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/HO/servlet/com.deere.u90785.cce.productcatalog.view.servlets.ProdCatProduct?pNbr=SKU20266&cNbr=HO_LGT&sCName=G100%20Series&tM=HO

This is in series that John Deere calls the 100 series. These tractors are available at John Deere Dealers and Home Depot.

Second off is the LX280 with a 54C deck at a price of $4859.00, On this tractor you should be able to talk to the dealer and negotiate the price.

See the link below.
http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/HO/servlet/com.deere.u90785.cce.productcatalog.view.servlets.ProdCatProduct?pNbr=SKU21310&tM=HO&cNbr=HO_LT&sCName=LX+Series

Good luck on your pruchase of a future tractor but I am going to recommend one other item that doesn't have the 54 inch deck but a 48 inch deck and I own one and it works great for me on my 2 acres that I mow.

That is the L120 at $2299.00 and it also is available at HOme Depot and the John Deere dealer. See the link below.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/HO/servlet/com.deere.u90785.cce.productcatalog.view.servlets.ProdCatProduct?pNbr=SKU20346&cNbr=HO_LT&sCName=100%20Series&tM=HO

I have a lot of good luck with mine and they sell snow throwers with this model and are really great tractors for the price. I had mine for 2 and half years and it has work great. The mowing time on it to mow the 2 acres I have is about 2 and half to 3 hours of mowing time.

 

:Welcome1: bschaffe I don't know whats up with these JD guys coming into the Cub Cadet forum pushing JD tractors :00000060: Anyway i would suggest The Cub GT 2554 it is a very good and heavy built GT that should do anything that you would want with it.

GT2554

 

My local cub dealer won't even sell blades for cubs because he said the buyers come back for snow blowers after a while. I am in the Buffalo area. The problem is the snow piles up along the edges of the drive and your plowing gets boxed in, UNLESS you shove it way over ( carefully) to make room for the next snow. I did a plow at the end of the season last year and I liked it. It will go on my old cub this year. I am thinking of putting studs (hardened screws) in the AGs rather than chains.
Do you have a walkbehind blower for back up use.

Mike

 

Thanks for the replies!! Does anyone own or have experience with the GT2554? Let me know what your thoughts are on the Gt2554.

Mike, I don't have a walk behind snow blower for backup. Thanks for the suggestion.

Does anyone know the current prices for blades and snow throughers that fit the Cub GT2554?

 

The 2554 series is a great fit for that price range and a lot of people have them with good results (search this forum under Cub)

If you get the chance you should at least look at the 3100 series, it most likely will be a little bit more more $$ (but close enough to consider) you will see where it is applied in the machine.

Let us know what you think and decide....either way stick with a Cub

Duc

 

Thanks for the tip ducati996! Do you know is there anywhere on the web other than the cub site to go and look at photos and comparisions between Cubs?

 

Welcome bschaffe!

I'm not just a JD guy - I like Cubs!

 

:Welcome1: to the forum! Glad you found your way here. As to what Cub Cadet tractor to recommend, I'd like to know what kind of snow you will be dealing with. I'm thinking that if you are dealing with a typical storm of less than 10" of snow (say like Virginia, or Tennessee) that you could probably save some money by checking out the Cub SLT1554 and GT1554, which both come with a 54" mower deck, and with a snowblower AND front plow could be had under your $4500 budget. If you are dealing with lake effect snow (typical storm well over a foot deep) someplace like Chicago, or Buffalo, NY, then the above mentioned GT2554 starts looking better as does the GT3000 series. As mentioned above, if it snows 2 days after you plowed the drive, you will have less room to push the snow.... and if it snows 2 days later again, you have even less room, unless it melts inbetween. This becomes a factor in selecting a tractor and snow plow vs. snowblower in the New England states and maritime provinces of Canada, and even as far south as NJ and PA.

 

I live in North East Ohio (Akron area). We get lake effect snows off of Lake Erie anywhere from an 1" every week or two too an 1" an hour for two days straight. In other words, around here in the winter you never really know what you will be dealing with. I know that I will want to get a cart to pull around for various yard chores and hauling fire wood and doing some gardening activities next year in the spring. What is the price of a snowblower attachemnt for the gt2554 as compared to a blade?

 

Yep, the GT2500 series will be a better choice for northeast Ohio. Very rough ballpark figures for the snow plow will be in the $450 +/- range vs. the blower being over $1000. Your local dealer can get you the actual figures.

 

:Welcome1: bschaffe I don't know whats up with these JD guys coming into the Cub Cadet forum pushing JD tractors
GT2554

No kiddin' Jody.........and good advice. Even at that price........the infamous Deere HAS NO DRIVE SHAFT...or timken bearings in the mower deck spindles. :eck13:

I usually don't rag JDs...bit comeon boys.stay in your area .....LOL.

 

UPDATE! I bought the GT2554 over the weekend along with a 42" snow blade for it. It is getting delievered Tuesday. I will put some pictures up by the end of this week. Thanks too everyone for offering your opions and suggestions.

 

Congrats :congrats: I know you will enjoy it :bannana:

 

UPDATE! I bought the GT2554 over the weekend along with a 42" snow blade for it. It is getting delievered Tuesday. I will put some pictures up by the end of this week. Thanks too everyone for offering your opions and suggestions.

Nice :fing32: ! I got my 2544 this spring. You will like it. I've been very happy with mine. It's a good amount of GT for $2999. Hopefully you got a bunch of weights and a set of tire chains to go along with that push blade! You will need'em.

G/luck
Joel

 

Here are a couple pictures I took last night after my new GT2554 arrived and I jumped on and mowed for 2 hours. And of course the kids had to go for rides! I love it so far. I will post some more about it as I use it. I will post pictures of the snow plow in action but hopefully that won't be for another month and a half or so.

 

Looks great and Congrats :fing32:

 

Congrats! Looks like a very nice tractor. You will have alot of fun on it! More features, and it doesnt come with that highly overpriced green paint. Oh, and I see you are in Ohio. Not to wish you any bad luck, but I hope you dont see the first snowflake all season long. LOL Im not looking forward to it.

Greg

 

bschaffe,
Good looking ride. Sorry about stepping out of the orange forum and into the yellow. I looked hard at the CC's and it was a tough not getting one. The 2554 was the one I was looking at. I really liked them alot. I still have second thoughts. The only problem I had with them was the leg room.
I'm 6'4" and around 280 and felt cramped on it. Now I hear their going to make the 2006 models with more leg room. mmm Maybe if I could of just held out for one more year. That is a nice setup you got there, treat it right and it'll last a loooong time.

 

YaleVaHere... The only problem I had with them was the leg room.
I'm 6'4" and around 280 and felt cramped on it...

Yep. That is one sacrifice you make owning a 2000 series. Not a lot of leg room & that's with a slight leg-room 'improvement' on the (2005) 2544+ :bonk: . You have to bump up to the 3K series for more room. That will be HUGE improvement if they add a re-designed fender tub & seating position to the current tough chassis/powertrain for the 2006's. IMO- a better hood design is welcome change as well.

G/luck
Joel

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I am 6ft 190lbs and leg room is not a problem for me, but I think I do have the seat all the way back so anyone taller, I could see it being a little uncomfortable maybe..

Does anyone know....do the head lights have to stay on while the tractor is running? I have looked through the manual and can't find anything about it. And there isn't any obvious light switch or key posistion to turn them off. I don't think I need running lights on in the middle of a bright sunny day to cut my grass.

Second question... what is up with it back firing once when I shut it off? Anyone else have this problem?

Other than that...I love this tractor...it rides nice and has lots of power. I haven't had to rake any leaves...it chews them up and spits them out in tiny little pieces and sprays them out so far they pretty much disappear.

 

No way to turn off the headlamps on the 2005 2K series aside from unplugging the harness or pulling the lamps. As far as the backfiring goes, you have to do what the ops manual says and kill the ignition with the engine throttled up. It takes some getting used to, but it works.
G/luck
Joel

 

OK, thanks... I will try that. Any idea why the manufacture thought it was a good idea to have full time running head lights on a tractor? Just curious...

 

I think the reason they now have the lights on full time is because.They now have the reverse backup switch option override?So they no longer had the postion on the switch for the lights.So they wired them direct?

I have a CC 2166 with a Kohler and also have to open the throttle to prevent backfire.But I did not like the noise of it running at high RPM.s in the shed.So I found that turning the key to the off position and then pushing the throttle up is just as affective at triggering the selonoid to prevent a back fire.

I see you have the blade and deck on at the same time.I did not realise that was possible?Congradulations on a fine tractor.The best deal out there in my opinion.

 

OK, thanks... I will try that. Any idea why the manufacture thought it was a good idea to have full time running head lights on a tractor? Just curious...

Probably because it's cheap to build'em that way & make it also look like a 'safety' improvment. JD- good idea on the throttled-up s/d! Idle her down, then just pop the throttle up after you kill the ignition. I gotta try that on my 20hp kohler command. Thanks!

G/luck
Joel

 

Thanks for the anti back fire tip...I will give that a try!

I don't actually have the blade mounted on the tractor, I just sat it there for the picture. I am still about a month away before I will have to prepare for snow plowing action I hope!