Fwiw I have a 2005 Cub Cadet SLT1554 I bought new. It now has over 550hrs on it. The head gasket blew on the engine recently. Other than that I have only had to repair some wiring to the fuse holder for the electric PTO that melted, plus a drive belt replacement.
It has had a hard life and it shows.
However I really wish I would have considered different options back then. I spent 2700 and I would have been better off buying a lightly used higher end tractor or spent a little more and got a nicer john deere.
The Cub has always felt cheap, It never instilled confidence in me, The hood latch broke at a very early point in the units life, the mounting for the hood latch seems to fail on all these. The steering never really felt "tight". It just feels like it can break at any moment.
My dad has an LA175 and it feels better than the cub. My mom has an x320 and it feels very well built compared to the LA series and the cub.
I cannot speak for never cub cadets but the older MTD ones are junky.
It has had a hard life and it shows.
However I really wish I would have considered different options back then. I spent 2700 and I would have been better off buying a lightly used higher end tractor or spent a little more and got a nicer john deere.
The Cub has always felt cheap, It never instilled confidence in me, The hood latch broke at a very early point in the units life, the mounting for the hood latch seems to fail on all these. The steering never really felt "tight". It just feels like it can break at any moment.
My dad has an LA175 and it feels better than the cub. My mom has an x320 and it feels very well built compared to the LA series and the cub.
I cannot speak for never cub cadets but the older MTD ones are junky.