I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 06:57:25 -0700, Greg S. Ragsdale wrote:

I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm thinking
about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great results w/
Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds. How reliable
over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers, or should I be
looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro that I hate because
it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So I'm donating it to a
friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the front
caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount wheels?

I did a google and this was the first page:
http://popularmechanics.com/home_imp...on/print.phtml

I use "Cub Cadet SR complaints" as the search term, but you could modify
it to your liking.

--

http://yard-works.netfirms.com
Bellingham, Washington
Georgia straits area
Zone 8a usda

Just one person's experience, but I've had a Cub Cadet mulching push mower
for 8 or 9 years now, and have never had a problem with it. It gets used
about 50 minutes, once or twice a week, March through October, more or less.
I take it in each year to be serviced (oil changed, blade sharpened, etc.)
and the mechanic always comments that it's in good shape and should last me
for years to come. I've got a teenager conscripted to do the mowing, so the
grass sometimes get a little longer than it should before being cut, but the
mower goes through it just fine.

Mine has regular wheels, so I can't comment on the others.

Cheers,
Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA

"Greg S. Ragsdale" wrote in message
om...
I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

I just bought a SR621 yesterday. I haven't even mowed with it yet, but
now that I've got it home and looked it over more closely, I can make
the following comments (comparing it with the 19 1/2 year old Snapper
self-propelled mower it's replacing):

The one thing I've found that I'm most dissatisfied with is the location
of the oil drain plug (I've always changed oil myself). I think I'm
going to have to look into some kind of pump to pull the old oil out
through the fill tube, the plug location is that bad. There's a space
in the casting on the side of the engine for a plug, but there's no plug
there (this happens to be right behind where the speed control cable
goes through the deck, so a plug wouldn't be accessible there anyway).
The plug is on the bottom of the engine, beneath the mower deck (as was
my Snapper), but unlike the old Snapper, the Cub Cadet has a baffle
plate and the bracket for the drive pulley both in the way of accessing
the drain plug. To remove the baffle plate you first have to remove the
blade, then the baffle plate can be pivoted back by removing three
screws (to remove the plate completely you have to remove 2 more screws
but getting at these would require removing the rear wheels). I'm not
sure just pivoting the plate would allow the mower to be turned right
side up for draining oil unless I put it up on sawhorses or something
high to allow the plate to hang down with the mower level. It would be
best I think to also remove the drive pulley bracket for better access
and to avoid getting drain oil all over the belt and pulley/bracket
assembly. The manual describes the process for removing the bracket
(for changing the belt), which includes unbolting the transmission from
the rear of the deck (I think just to get more slack in the belt). The
manual actually does say to remove the drain plug to change the oil (and
simply says to remove it, it doesn't say how to reach it), so I can't
believe they made access so difficult. Like I said, I think I'm going
to have to look for some kind of pump to pull the old oil out through
the fill tube.

Cut Cadet these days is made by MTD, the same maker who makes other
cheap mowers (the've also bought out several other makers like Troy Bilt
and Bolens - just look at http://www.mtdproducts.com/ to see how many
brands they make). It's not clear how much of the quality of the old
Cub Cadets has carried over, I'm sure they've cheapened things up at
least somewhat. My brother has an old Cub Cadet made when Cub Cadet was
owned by International Harvester, and that tractor is built like a tank.

The mower does have some nice features compared with my old mower (I
purposely avoided the SRC621 because I thought the caster wheel brackets
would snag on shrubs and things). BTW, the caster wheels can be allowed
to pivot or locked in place. Otherwise, this mower seems better than my
old Snapper about this, my old mower had parts like throttle and spark
plug cable in bad locations that would catch on passing shrubs and tree
limbs. The Cub Cadet has no throttle or choke control at all (my old
mower had both a primer bulb and a choke). This seems to be somewhat
common on newer mowers I guess. I could control the engine speed on my
old mower, but not this one.

My old mower was only 3.5 HP, and was underpowered for tall grass, so
I'm hoping that this mower will do better in that department.

My old mower had a heavier blade than this one (still had the original
blade after over 19 years, with only sharpening ever required). I
wonder if this new blade will hold up as well, including abuse from
things like roots I occcasinally clobber - the old one never bent.

When I got mine Snapper was known for its excellent disc drive system,
and from the looks of it the Cub Cadet's isn't the same quality. Maybe
OK, and maybe better than front wheel drive, and maybe it compares OK
with other mowers, but it's still not built as solid and the speed
control may not be as good as my old Snapper. Since I haven't even
mowed with the Cub Cadet yet I'm not sure what the range of speeds is
(my Snapper's highest speed wasn't quite as fast as I would have liked).
I really liked the rear wheel drive on my old mower, and I wanted rear
wheel drive in a new mower, so that had a lot to do with my choosing
this one.

What finally made me decide to replace the Snapper was a broken rear
wheel (plastic), that didn't appear to be easily replaced (I had
previously replaced both front wheels, probably they broke from having
been run into trees etc., but those were available off the shelf and
simply slipped onto the axle and were held in place by a nut, the driven
rear wheel is a special part I think). Besides, the Snapper was getting
so it burned too much oil, and I'd fixed a number of other problems with
it too, and several other plastic parts were cracked, so I decided maybe
it was time for a new one. Maybe I should have looked for a new
Snapper, I think their new mowers are still similar to mine, but the
dealer where I bought mine has gone out of business and I didn't try to
locate another.


Greg S. Ragsdale wrote:
I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

Now that I've useed this mower for the first time, a few more comments
(much too early to say anything about reliability, other than to note
that this mower has more plastic parts than my old mower, including a
baffle plate under the mower deck, and the entire top cover of the
engine including the starter recoil cover - these might be easier to
break by hitting objects than the metal parts on my old mower (I get
pine cones on my lawn that could be forced into the baffle plate, and
tree limbs or my rail fence could hit the starter recoil cover).

The 6.5 HP engine is a big help, it mows through heavy grass much more
easily than my old mower (of course the new, sharp blade helps).

The speed control of the drive system has a higher top speed than my old
mower, which I like, but the speed control doesn't hold speeds as well
on hills, the mower will slow down a bit on uphills, and speed way up on
downhills, with the drive engaged. My old Snapper would maintain a
steady speed up and down hills, and I could use the drive to hold the
mower back to a safe speed going downhill, but this doesn't work with
the Cub Cadet's drive system. Also, the differential on my Snapper
seemed to handle turns a bit better than the ratchets in the wheels of
the Cub Cadet.

Gary wrote:
I just bought a SR621 yesterday. I haven't even mowed with it yet, but
now that I've got it home and looked it over more closely, I can make
the following comments (comparing it with the 19 1/2 year old Snapper
self-propelled mower it's replacing):

The one thing I've found that I'm most dissatisfied with is the location
of the oil drain plug (I've always changed oil myself). I think I'm
going to have to look into some kind of pump to pull the old oil out
through the fill tube, the plug location is that bad. There's a space
in the casting on the side of the engine for a plug, but there's no plug
there (this happens to be right behind where the speed control cable
goes through the deck, so a plug wouldn't be accessible there anyway).
The plug is on the bottom of the engine, beneath the mower deck (as was
my Snapper), but unlike the old Snapper, the Cub Cadet has a baffle
plate and the bracket for the drive pulley both in the way of accessing
the drain plug. To remove the baffle plate you first have to remove the
blade, then the baffle plate can be pivoted back by removing three
screws (to remove the plate completely you have to remove 2 more screws
but getting at these would require removing the rear wheels). I'm not
sure just pivoting the plate would allow the mower to be turned right
side up for draining oil unless I put it up on sawhorses or something
high to allow the plate to hang down with the mower level. It would be
best I think to also remove the drive pulley bracket for better access
and to avoid getting drain oil all over the belt and pulley/bracket
assembly. The manual describes the process for removing the bracket
(for changing the belt), which includes unbolting the transmission from
the rear of the deck (I think just to get more slack in the belt). The
manual actually does say to remove the drain plug to change the oil (and
simply says to remove it, it doesn't say how to reach it), so I can't
believe they made access so difficult. Like I said, I think I'm going
to have to look for some kind of pump to pull the old oil out through
the fill tube.

Cut Cadet these days is made by MTD, the same maker who makes other
cheap mowers (the've also bought out several other makers like Troy Bilt
and Bolens - just look at http://www.mtdproducts.com/ to see how many
brands they make). It's not clear how much of the quality of the old
Cub Cadets has carried over, I'm sure they've cheapened things up at
least somewhat. My brother has an old Cub Cadet made when Cub Cadet was
owned by International Harvester, and that tractor is built like a tank.

The mower does have some nice features compared with my old mower (I
purposely avoided the SRC621 because I thought the caster wheel brackets
would snag on shrubs and things). BTW, the caster wheels can be allowed
to pivot or locked in place. Otherwise, this mower seems better than my
old Snapper about this, my old mower had parts like throttle and spark
plug cable in bad locations that would catch on passing shrubs and tree
limbs. The Cub Cadet has no throttle or choke control at all (my old
mower had both a primer bulb and a choke). This seems to be somewhat
common on newer mowers I guess. I could control the engine speed on my
old mower, but not this one.

My old mower was only 3.5 HP, and was underpowered for tall grass, so
I'm hoping that this mower will do better in that department.

My old mower had a heavier blade than this one (still had the original
blade after over 19 years, with only sharpening ever required). I
wonder if this new blade will hold up as well, including abuse from
things like roots I occcasinally clobber - the old one never bent.

When I got mine Snapper was known for its excellent disc drive system,
and from the looks of it the Cub Cadet's isn't the same quality. Maybe
OK, and maybe better than front wheel drive, and maybe it compares OK
with other mowers, but it's still not built as solid and the speed
control may not be as good as my old Snapper. Since I haven't even
mowed with the Cub Cadet yet I'm not sure what the range of speeds is
(my Snapper's highest speed wasn't quite as fast as I would have liked).
I really liked the rear wheel drive on my old mower, and I wanted rear
wheel drive in a new mower, so that had a lot to do with my choosing
this one.

What finally made me decide to replace the Snapper was a broken rear
wheel (plastic), that didn't appear to be easily replaced (I had
previously replaced both front wheels, probably they broke from having
been run into trees etc., but those were available off the shelf and
simply slipped onto the axle and were held in place by a nut, the driven
rear wheel is a special part I think). Besides, the Snapper was getting
so it burned too much oil, and I'd fixed a number of other problems with
it too, and several other plastic parts were cracked, so I decided maybe
it was time for a new one. Maybe I should have looked for a new
Snapper, I think their new mowers are still similar to mine, but the
dealer where I bought mine has gone out of business and I didn't try to
locate another.


Greg S. Ragsdale wrote:

I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

I think my doubts about the plastic baffle plate under the mower deck
are well founded: after mowing my lawn twice with this mower, I peeked
under the deck and there are already a couple of gashes in that plastic
baffle plate that penetrate completely through it. The look like they
may be caused by the plastic being bent against the tip of the blade,
possibly by contact with some of the roots that I mow over. I have my
doubts about the long term reliability of this mower due to these cheap
plastic components. I don't think it's going to last as long as the 19
years I got out of my Snapper.

Gary wrote:
Now that I've useed this mower for the first time, a few more comments
(much too early to say anything about reliability, other than to note
that this mower has more plastic parts than my old mower, including a
baffle plate under the mower deck, and the entire top cover of the
engine including the starter recoil cover - these might be easier to
break by hitting objects than the metal parts on my old mower (I get
pine cones on my lawn that could be forced into the baffle plate, and
tree limbs or my rail fence could hit the starter recoil cover).

The 6.5 HP engine is a big help, it mows through heavy grass much more
easily than my old mower (of course the new, sharp blade helps).

The speed control of the drive system has a higher top speed than my old
mower, which I like, but the speed control doesn't hold speeds as well
on hills, the mower will slow down a bit on uphills, and speed way up on
downhills, with the drive engaged. My old Snapper would maintain a
steady speed up and down hills, and I could use the drive to hold the
mower back to a safe speed going downhill, but this doesn't work with
the Cub Cadet's drive system. Also, the differential on my Snapper
seemed to handle turns a bit better than the ratchets in the wheels of
the Cub Cadet.

Gary wrote:

I just bought a SR621 yesterday. I haven't even mowed with it yet,
but now that I've got it home and looked it over more closely, I can
make the following comments (comparing it with the 19 1/2 year old
Snapper self-propelled mower it's replacing):

The one thing I've found that I'm most dissatisfied with is the
location of the oil drain plug (I've always changed oil myself). I
think I'm going to have to look into some kind of pump to pull the old
oil out through the fill tube, the plug location is that bad. There's
a space in the casting on the side of the engine for a plug, but
there's no plug there (this happens to be right behind where the speed
control cable goes through the deck, so a plug wouldn't be accessible
there anyway). The plug is on the bottom of the engine, beneath the
mower deck (as was my Snapper), but unlike the old Snapper, the Cub
Cadet has a baffle plate and the bracket for the drive pulley both in
the way of accessing the drain plug. To remove the baffle plate you
first have to remove the blade, then the baffle plate can be pivoted
back by removing three screws (to remove the plate completely you have
to remove 2 more screws but getting at these would require removing
the rear wheels). I'm not sure just pivoting the plate would allow
the mower to be turned right side up for draining oil unless I put it
up on sawhorses or something high to allow the plate to hang down with
the mower level. It would be best I think to also remove the drive
pulley bracket for better access and to avoid getting drain oil all
over the belt and pulley/bracket assembly. The manual describes the
process for removing the bracket (for changing the belt), which
includes unbolting the transmission from the rear of the deck (I think
just to get more slack in the belt). The manual actually does say to
remove the drain plug to change the oil (and simply says to remove it,
it doesn't say how to reach it), so I can't believe they made access
so difficult. Like I said, I think I'm going to have to look for some
kind of pump to pull the old oil out through the fill tube.

Cut Cadet these days is made by MTD, the same maker who makes other
cheap mowers (the've also bought out several other makers like Troy
Bilt and Bolens - just look at http://www.mtdproducts.com/ to see how
many brands they make). It's not clear how much of the quality of the
old Cub Cadets has carried over, I'm sure they've cheapened things up
at least somewhat. My brother has an old Cub Cadet made when Cub
Cadet was owned by International Harvester, and that tractor is built
like a tank.

The mower does have some nice features compared with my old mower (I
purposely avoided the SRC621 because I thought the caster wheel
brackets would snag on shrubs and things). BTW, the caster wheels can
be allowed to pivot or locked in place. Otherwise, this mower seems
better than my old Snapper about this, my old mower had parts like
throttle and spark plug cable in bad locations that would catch on
passing shrubs and tree limbs. The Cub Cadet has no throttle or choke
control at all (my old mower had both a primer bulb and a choke).
This seems to be somewhat common on newer mowers I guess. I could
control the engine speed on my old mower, but not this one.

My old mower was only 3.5 HP, and was underpowered for tall grass, so
I'm hoping that this mower will do better in that department.

My old mower had a heavier blade than this one (still had the original
blade after over 19 years, with only sharpening ever required). I
wonder if this new blade will hold up as well, including abuse from
things like roots I occcasinally clobber - the old one never bent.

When I got mine Snapper was known for its excellent disc drive system,
and from the looks of it the Cub Cadet's isn't the same quality.
Maybe OK, and maybe better than front wheel drive, and maybe it
compares OK with other mowers, but it's still not built as solid and
the speed control may not be as good as my old Snapper. Since I
haven't even mowed with the Cub Cadet yet I'm not sure what the range
of speeds is (my Snapper's highest speed wasn't quite as fast as I
would have liked). I really liked the rear wheel drive on my old
mower, and I wanted rear wheel drive in a new mower, so that had a lot
to do with my choosing this one.

What finally made me decide to replace the Snapper was a broken rear
wheel (plastic), that didn't appear to be easily replaced (I had
previously replaced both front wheels, probably they broke from having
been run into trees etc., but those were available off the shelf and
simply slipped onto the axle and were held in place by a nut, the
driven rear wheel is a special part I think). Besides, the Snapper
was getting so it burned too much oil, and I'd fixed a number of other
problems with it too, and several other plastic parts were cracked, so
I decided maybe it was time for a new one. Maybe I should have looked
for a new Snapper, I think their new mowers are still similar to mine,
but the dealer where I bought mine has gone out of business and I
didn't try to locate another.


Greg S. Ragsdale wrote:

I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

Gary...

If you're going to subject your mower to falling limbs, fence rails,
and mowing over roots that will get hit by as blade 3½" off the
ground, I don't know you should've bought any homeowner mower that
I've seen. I've looked at Hondas, Deere, Cub Cadet, and quite a few
others this week, and generally speaking, if you're spending under
$600 the build quality seems to be pretty much the same, and there's
plenty of plastic parts being used on all brands.

You might want to sell that Cub Cadet and spring for a $1200
commercial mower with an aluminum or magnesium deck and a direct-drive
system. If you need it to be self-propelled, other than a Skag-Sulky
type, I don't know if there's a good self-propelled commercial 21" cut
mower.

The first thing you might want to do though is walk around your
property with a double-action pruner and cut out any roots sticking
above the ground. If they are too big to cut without damaging the
tree/shrub (?) than why not do a little grading? Having roots popping
up that high in your lawn would not only look pretty ugly, but it
sounds like someone could trip and break a leg!

I was over a friend's house yesterday morning and watched him mow his
lawn with his John Deere. He has the JS63C (I believe) which is a
3-speed self-propelled with caster wheels on the front. He bought it
at the BORG for around $400 because it was the last one and they
decided not to carry Deere walk-behinds any longer. It's pretty
similar to the caster-wheeled Honda and Cub Cadet models I saw at HD
and Lowes. After wheeling the thing around myself, I found the
casters to be pretty neat around shrub beds. You do have a little
learning curve with the turns though as you really have to push the
handle sideways to use those casters to their fullest. I like a
caster mower, even though it takes up another 10" of length it seems.

FWIW, ePinions has some pretty positive reviews on the SRC621 Cub
Cadet. Didn't see one complaint about the oil drain issue though I'm
sure you're right. I guess a lot of people are just dropping them off
at the lawn shop and having them serviced, although I wondered if you
could simply cut a hole in the plastic right where the drain plug is
and make it that much easier to get at it?

Mike

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 17:12:22 GMT, Gary wrote:

I think my doubts about the plastic baffle plate under the mower deck
are well founded: after mowing my lawn twice with this mower, I peeked
under the deck and there are already a couple of gashes in that plastic
baffle plate that penetrate completely through it. The look like they
may be caused by the plastic being bent against the tip of the blade,
possibly by contact with some of the roots that I mow over. I have my
doubts about the long term reliability of this mower due to these cheap
plastic components. I don't think it's going to last as long as the 19
years I got out of my Snapper.

Gary wrote:
Now that I've useed this mower for the first time, a few more comments
(much too early to say anything about reliability, other than to note
that this mower has more plastic parts than my old mower, including a
baffle plate under the mower deck, and the entire top cover of the
engine including the starter recoil cover - these might be easier to
break by hitting objects than the metal parts on my old mower (I get
pine cones on my lawn that could be forced into the baffle plate, and
tree limbs or my rail fence could hit the starter recoil cover).

The 6.5 HP engine is a big help, it mows through heavy grass much more
easily than my old mower (of course the new, sharp blade helps).

The speed control of the drive system has a higher top speed than my old
mower, which I like, but the speed control doesn't hold speeds as well
on hills, the mower will slow down a bit on uphills, and speed way up on
downhills, with the drive engaged. My old Snapper would maintain a
steady speed up and down hills, and I could use the drive to hold the
mower back to a safe speed going downhill, but this doesn't work with
the Cub Cadet's drive system. Also, the differential on my Snapper
seemed to handle turns a bit better than the ratchets in the wheels of
the Cub Cadet.

Gary wrote:

I just bought a SR621 yesterday. I haven't even mowed with it yet,
but now that I've got it home and looked it over more closely, I can
make the following comments (comparing it with the 19 1/2 year old
Snapper self-propelled mower it's replacing):

The one thing I've found that I'm most dissatisfied with is the
location of the oil drain plug (I've always changed oil myself). I
think I'm going to have to look into some kind of pump to pull the old
oil out through the fill tube, the plug location is that bad. There's
a space in the casting on the side of the engine for a plug, but
there's no plug there (this happens to be right behind where the speed
control cable goes through the deck, so a plug wouldn't be accessible
there anyway). The plug is on the bottom of the engine, beneath the
mower deck (as was my Snapper), but unlike the old Snapper, the Cub
Cadet has a baffle plate and the bracket for the drive pulley both in
the way of accessing the drain plug. To remove the baffle plate you
first have to remove the blade, then the baffle plate can be pivoted
back by removing three screws (to remove the plate completely you have
to remove 2 more screws but getting at these would require removing
the rear wheels). I'm not sure just pivoting the plate would allow
the mower to be turned right side up for draining oil unless I put it
up on sawhorses or something high to allow the plate to hang down with
the mower level. It would be best I think to also remove the drive
pulley bracket for better access and to avoid getting drain oil all
over the belt and pulley/bracket assembly. The manual describes the
process for removing the bracket (for changing the belt), which
includes unbolting the transmission from the rear of the deck (I think
just to get more slack in the belt). The manual actually does say to
remove the drain plug to change the oil (and simply says to remove it,
it doesn't say how to reach it), so I can't believe they made access
so difficult. Like I said, I think I'm going to have to look for some
kind of pump to pull the old oil out through the fill tube.

Cut Cadet these days is made by MTD, the same maker who makes other
cheap mowers (the've also bought out several other makers like Troy
Bilt and Bolens - just look at http://www.mtdproducts.com/ to see how
many brands they make). It's not clear how much of the quality of the
old Cub Cadets has carried over, I'm sure they've cheapened things up
at least somewhat. My brother has an old Cub Cadet made when Cub
Cadet was owned by International Harvester, and that tractor is built
like a tank.

The mower does have some nice features compared with my old mower (I
purposely avoided the SRC621 because I thought the caster wheel
brackets would snag on shrubs and things). BTW, the caster wheels can
be allowed to pivot or locked in place. Otherwise, this mower seems
better than my old Snapper about this, my old mower had parts like
throttle and spark plug cable in bad locations that would catch on
passing shrubs and tree limbs. The Cub Cadet has no throttle or choke
control at all (my old mower had both a primer bulb and a choke).
This seems to be somewhat common on newer mowers I guess. I could
control the engine speed on my old mower, but not this one.

My old mower was only 3.5 HP, and was underpowered for tall grass, so
I'm hoping that this mower will do better in that department.

My old mower had a heavier blade than this one (still had the original
blade after over 19 years, with only sharpening ever required). I
wonder if this new blade will hold up as well, including abuse from
things like roots I occcasinally clobber - the old one never bent.

When I got mine Snapper was known for its excellent disc drive system,
and from the looks of it the Cub Cadet's isn't the same quality.
Maybe OK, and maybe better than front wheel drive, and maybe it
compares OK with other mowers, but it's still not built as solid and
the speed control may not be as good as my old Snapper. Since I
haven't even mowed with the Cub Cadet yet I'm not sure what the range
of speeds is (my Snapper's highest speed wasn't quite as fast as I
would have liked). I really liked the rear wheel drive on my old
mower, and I wanted rear wheel drive in a new mower, so that had a lot
to do with my choosing this one.

What finally made me decide to replace the Snapper was a broken rear
wheel (plastic), that didn't appear to be easily replaced (I had
previously replaced both front wheels, probably they broke from having
been run into trees etc., but those were available off the shelf and
simply slipped onto the axle and were held in place by a nut, the
driven rear wheel is a special part I think). Besides, the Snapper
was getting so it burned too much oil, and I'd fixed a number of other
problems with it too, and several other plastic parts were cracked, so
I decided maybe it was time for a new one. Maybe I should have looked
for a new Snapper, I think their new mowers are still similar to mine,
but the dealer where I bought mine has gone out of business and I
didn't try to locate another.


Greg S. Ragsdale wrote:

I'm looking to purchase a new push (walk-behind) mower and I'm
thinking about the Cub Cadet SR or SRC 621. I have always had great
results w/ Cub Cadet tractors, but I've never used the walk-behinds.
How reliable over time is the kawasaki engine? Are these good mowers,
or should I be looking at something else. Currently I have a Toro
that I hate because it's not powerful enough for my thick lawn. So
I'm donating it to a friend who just bought her first house.

Any comments on the Cub Cadets? Does anyone have the model w/ the
front caster wheels? Are those better/worse than normal fixed-mount
wheels?

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,

Greg

wrote:
Gary...

If you're going to subject your mower to falling limbs, fence rails,
and mowing over roots that will get hit by as blade 3½" off the
ground, I don't know you should've bought any homeowner mower that
I've seen. I've looked at Hondas, Deere, Cub Cadet, and quite a few
others this week, and generally speaking, if you're spending under
$600 the build quality seems to be pretty much the same, and there's
plenty of plastic parts being used on all brands.

You might want to sell that Cub Cadet and spring for a $1200
commercial mower with an aluminum or magnesium deck and a direct-drive
system. If you need it to be self-propelled, other than a Skag-Sulky
type, I don't know if there's a good self-propelled commercial 21" cut
mower.

The first thing you might want to do though is walk around your
property with a double-action pruner and cut out any roots sticking
above the ground. If they are too big to cut without damaging the
tree/shrub (?) than why not do a little grading? Having roots popping
up that high in your lawn would not only look pretty ugly, but it
sounds like someone could trip and break a leg!

The roots aren't generally out in the open where people would usually
walk, they're under trees with low limbs that you have to duck under, or
don't even go under at all (for some, I push the mower under, but don't
walk there). Some of them could be cut away with a pruner (I suppose
I've been lazy by not doing that), but many are just the upper part of
larger diameter roots. These could be buried by adding a few inches of
fill, or cut away with a chain saw (difficult to do without running the
saw into the dirt) or maybe cut with an axe (also not good for the axe),
or ground out by a stump grinder (not sure if this would harm the tree).
The fence I spoke about is a rail fence that's just a bit too low for
the mower to fit under. And some of my shrubs overhang the lawn where
they hit the mower if I try to mow too close to them. I think the
better answer may be to do more of those areas with a string trimmer and
just use the mower out in the open. My old Snapper, though, never
suffered damage from the roots etc. (which I don't hit that often, most
of them are lower than the blade), but I did have the side-mounted spark
plug wire on my old mower pulled loose on occasion by the shrubs.


I was over a friend's house yesterday morning and watched him mow his
lawn with his John Deere. He has the JS63C (I believe) which is a
3-speed self-propelled with caster wheels on the front. He bought it
at the BORG for around $400 because it was the last one and they
decided not to carry Deere walk-behinds any longer. It's pretty
similar to the caster-wheeled Honda and Cub Cadet models I saw at HD
and Lowes. After wheeling the thing around myself, I found the
casters to be pretty neat around shrub beds. You do have a little
learning curve with the turns though as you really have to push the
handle sideways to use those casters to their fullest. I like a
caster mower, even though it takes up another 10" of length it seems.


I'm sure the casters have their benefits, but I was afraid they'd snag
on those overhanging shrubs I mow next to, and I also thought they'd
make the mower more difficult to keep on a straight line on a sidehill
(which I have).

FWIW, ePinions has some pretty positive reviews on the SRC621 Cub
Cadet. Didn't see one complaint about the oil drain issue though I'm
sure you're right. I guess a lot of people are just dropping them off
at the lawn shop and having them serviced, although I wondered if you
could simply cut a hole in the plastic right where the drain plug is
and make it that much easier to get at it?


Just cutting a hole in the plastic baffle plate won't help the oil drain
situation, because both the plasic baffle plate and the metal bracket
for the wheel drive belt above it are in the way. I think a pump like
this may be the best solution:
http://www.jackssmallengines.com/oil-pump.cfm
Dropping it off just for an oil change isn't convenient, the mower
doesn't fit well in my car. It's easier to just change it myself.

Mike



Gary

Gary...

I can relate to the problem of the roots because not two weeks ago, I
decided that if I was going to start mowing (myself) again, I wanted a
clean and clear path for me and the mower. I have one section of my
lawn that runs thru two shrub beds and ay the narrowest point it's
about 6 feet. Roots from trees and shrubs had been bulging out in
this area for some time, and for whatever reason, the grass didn't
seem to grow well there either.

So I practiced what I preached... went in and dug around the roots
from edge to edge, and cut them back maybe 6" from either side, then
added a few wheelbarrows of topsoil mixed with seed, and yup... I
already have grass thick enough to mow!

We generally prune everything back above the ground so we can see the
edge of the shrub beds, and dress them every other year with chips and
mulch. So the casters wouldn't snag in my case.

Right now it's a toss up between a Honda at HD or the Cadet at Lowes.
The cadet is a bit cheaper, and I might be able to get a discount at
Lowes on a floor model. Have to see about that today or tomorrow.
BTW, are you mulching or catching clippings? Just wondered if you
liked the mulching as much as the people in ePinions.

Mike

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 03:47:41 GMT, Gary wrote:

wrote:
Gary...

If you're going to subject your mower to falling limbs, fence rails,
and mowing over roots that will get hit by as blade 3½" off the
ground, I don't know you should've bought any homeowner mower that
I've seen. I've looked at Hondas, Deere, Cub Cadet, and quite a few
others this week, and generally speaking, if you're spending under
$600 the build quality seems to be pretty much the same, and there's
plenty of plastic parts being used on all brands.

You might want to sell that Cub Cadet and spring for a $1200
commercial mower with an aluminum or magnesium deck and a direct-drive
system. If you need it to be self-propelled, other than a Skag-Sulky
type, I don't know if there's a good self-propelled commercial 21" cut
mower.

The first thing you might want to do though is walk around your
property with a double-action pruner and cut out any roots sticking
above the ground. If they are too big to cut without damaging the
tree/shrub (?) than why not do a little grading? Having roots popping
up that high in your lawn would not only look pretty ugly, but it
sounds like someone could trip and break a leg!

The roots aren't generally out in the open where people would usually
walk, they're under trees with low limbs that you have to duck under, or
don't even go under at all (for some, I push the mower under, but don't
walk there). Some of them could be cut away with a pruner (I suppose
I've been lazy by not doing that), but many are just the upper part of
larger diameter roots. These could be buried by adding a few inches of
fill, or cut away with a chain saw (difficult to do without running the
saw into the dirt) or maybe cut with an axe (also not good for the axe),
or ground out by a stump grinder (not sure if this would harm the tree).
The fence I spoke about is a rail fence that's just a bit too low for
the mower to fit under. And some of my shrubs overhang the lawn where
they hit the mower if I try to mow too close to them. I think the
better answer may be to do more of those areas with a string trimmer and
just use the mower out in the open. My old Snapper, though, never
suffered damage from the roots etc. (which I don't hit that often, most
of them are lower than the blade), but I did have the side-mounted spark
plug wire on my old mower pulled loose on occasion by the shrubs.


I was over a friend's house yesterday morning and watched him mow his
lawn with his John Deere. He has the JS63C (I believe) which is a
3-speed self-propelled with caster wheels on the front. He bought it
at the BORG for around $400 because it was the last one and they
decided not to carry Deere walk-behinds any longer. It's pretty
similar to the caster-wheeled Honda and Cub Cadet models I saw at HD
and Lowes. After wheeling the thing around myself, I found the
casters to be pretty neat around shrub beds. You do have a little
learning curve with the turns though as you really have to push the
handle sideways to use those casters to their fullest. I like a
caster mower, even though it takes up another 10" of length it seems.


I'm sure the casters have their benefits, but I was afraid they'd snag
on those overhanging shrubs I mow next to, and I also thought they'd
make the mower more difficult to keep on a straight line on a sidehill
(which I have).

FWIW, ePinions has some pretty positive reviews on the SRC621 Cub
Cadet. Didn't see one complaint about the oil drain issue though I'm
sure you're right. I guess a lot of people are just dropping them off
at the lawn shop and having them serviced, although I wondered if you
could simply cut a hole in the plastic right where the drain plug is
and make it that much easier to get at it?


Just cutting a hole in the plastic baffle plate won't help the oil drain
situation, because both the plasic baffle plate and the metal bracket
for the wheel drive belt above it are in the way. I think a pump like
this may be the best solution:
http://www.jackssmallengines.com/oil-pump.cfm
Dropping it off just for an oil change isn't convenient, the mower
doesn't fit well in my car. It's easier to just change it myself.

Mike



Gary

Gary wrote in message ...
I think my doubts about the plastic baffle plate under the mower deck
are well founded: after mowing my lawn twice with this mower, I peeked
under the deck and there are already a couple of gashes in that plastic
baffle plate that penetrate completely through it. The look like they
may be caused by the plastic being bent against the tip of the blade,
possibly by contact with some of the roots that I mow over. I have my
doubts about the long term reliability of this mower due to these cheap
plastic components. I don't think it's going to last as long as the 19
years I got out of my Snapper.

Gary wrote:
Now that I've useed this mower for the first time, a few more comments
(much too early to say anything about reliability, other than to note
that this mower has more plastic parts than my old mower, including a
baffle plate under the mower deck, and the entire top cover of the
engine including the starter recoil cover - these might be easier to
break by hitting objects than the metal parts on my old mower (I get
pine cones on my lawn that could be forced into the baffle plate, and
tree limbs or my rail fence could hit the starter recoil cover).

The 6.5 HP engine is a big help, it mows through heavy grass much more
easily than my old mower (of course the new, sharp blade helps).

The speed control of the drive system has a higher top speed than my old
mower, which I like, but the speed control doesn't hold speeds as well
on hills, the mower will slow down a bit on uphills, and speed way up on
downhills, with the drive engaged. My old Snapper would maintain a
steady speed up and down hills, and I could use the drive to hold the
mower back to a safe speed going downhill, but this doesn't work with
the Cub Cadet's drive system. Also, the differential on my Snapper
seemed to handle turns a bit better than the ratchets in the wheels of
the Cub Cadet.


Snip

Now that I've had this mower for a few weeks, I have to say that I
love it. I was a little disappointed with some of the plastic parts,
such as the plastic wing nuts that allow you to interchange the
bag/side discharge, but that was easily remedied by a quick trip to
the hardware store. Otherwise, it's much better than my old Toro,
though I do have to admit the caster wheels took a little getting used
to. I don't have the tree root problem, or much of that nature, as my
land is fairly new...the only thing I hit on occassion is a sod staple
left over from last year's grass installation. That just dings up the
blade.

Time will tell on the reliability of it overall, but it seems pretty
solid, other than the cheaped out plastic parts in places that I
wouldn't put them. But then again, I'm used to a 1979 Cub Cadet 149
rider that still runs like brand new, so I'm a bit spoiled.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. It helped alot.

Greg

wrote:
Gary...

I can relate to the problem of the roots because not two weeks ago, I
decided that if I was going to start mowing (myself) again, I wanted a
clean and clear path for me and the mower. I have one section of my
lawn that runs thru two shrub beds and ay the narrowest point it's
about 6 feet. Roots from trees and shrubs had been bulging out in
this area for some time, and for whatever reason, the grass didn't
seem to grow well there either.

I have put some fill over the roots, but they eventually come back (some
trees like my maples like to grow roots on the surface. Also, another
concern of mine besides the roots is pine cones, which I pick up but
sometimes I miss some. With my old Snapper, these have wedged between
the blade tip and the deck, going round and round until usually the
engine stalled from the drag. The Cub Cadet has a similar 360 degree
close clearance from the blade tip to the deck, but the rear part of
this on the Cub Cadet is the plastic baffle which is only a fraction of
an inch from the blade. I'm afraid if a pine cone gets jammed between
the blade and that baffle the baffle isn't going to fare so well.


So I practiced what I preached... went in and dug around the roots
from edge to edge, and cut them back maybe 6" from either side, then
added a few wheelbarrows of topsoil mixed with seed, and yup... I
already have grass thick enough to mow!

We generally prune everything back above the ground so we can see the
edge of the shrub beds, and dress them every other year with chips and
mulch. So the casters wouldn't snag in my case.

I trim my shrubs every year but still they've overgrown my edging,
trimming too much at this point would leave no foliage on the sides. I
suppose I could move the edging. Without the overhanging shrubs and
sidehills I might have chosen the casters.


Right now it's a toss up between a Honda at HD or the Cadet at Lowes.
The cadet is a bit cheaper, and I might be able to get a discount at
Lowes on a floor model. Have to see about that today or tomorrow.
BTW, are you mulching or catching clippings? Just wondered if you
liked the mulching as much as the people in ePinions.


I'm mulching, and it does a very good job at that, even in taller grass
the clippings just disappear. The 6.5 HP engine has plenty of power for
mulching (which I think requires additional power to chop the clippings
more finely). I haven't tried side discharge or bagging yet (I usually
bag only in the fall to vacuum up what leaves I miss while raking).

If you don't mind taking the mower in for oil changes or getting a pump
to change from above (probably easier that way anyway, actually) then
it's otherwise a pretty good mower. Not too loud, the only other minor
wish is that it held its speed a bit better on hills. Time will tell
whether the plastic parts (and even my 19 old Snapper had plastic parts
- rear guard and side dischare chute - that had cracked) hold up well.
The one I'm most concerned about is plastic under the mower deck, this
seems like it could be easily damaged if I ever run over any hard objects.

One of my main reasons for choosing it is that it I wanted rear wheel
drive and there aren't that many models with this. I also wanted plenty
of power after my underpowered previous mower.

If you get a floor model be sure it's not damaged, for example drive
speed is supposed to be adjusted only with the engine running but most
likely people have yanked on the levers on the display model anyway.

Gary

wrote:
Gary...

I can relate to the problem of the roots because not two weeks ago, I
decided that if I was going to start mowing (myself) again, I wanted a
clean and clear path for me and the mower. I have one section of my
lawn that runs thru two shrub beds and ay the narrowest point it's
about 6 feet. Roots from trees and shrubs had been bulging out in
this area for some time, and for whatever reason, the grass didn't
seem to grow well there either.

I have put some fill over the roots, but they eventually come back (some
trees like my maples like to grow roots on the surf


So I practiced what I preached... went in and dug around the roots
from edge to edge, and cut them back maybe 6" from either side, then
added a few wheelbarrows of topsoil mixed with seed, and yup... I
already have grass thick enough to mow!

We generally prune everything back above the ground so we can see the
edge of the shrub beds, and dress them every other year with chips and
mulch. So the casters wouldn't snag in my case.

I trim my shrubs every year but still they've overgrown my edging,
trimming too much at this point would leave no foliage on the sides. I
suppose I could move the edging. Without the overhanging shrubs and
sidehills I might have chosen the casters.


Right now it's a toss up between a Honda at HD or the Cadet at Lowes.
The cadet is a bit cheaper, and I might be able to get a discount at
Lowes on a floor model. Have to see about that today or tomorrow.
BTW, are you mulching or catching clippings? Just wondered if you
liked the mulching as much as the people in ePinions.


I'm mulching, and it does a very good job at that, even in taller grass
the clippings just disappear. The 6.5 HP engine has plenty of power for
mulching (which I think requires additional power to chop the clippings
more finely). I haven't tried side discharge or bagging yet (I usually
bag only in the fall to vacuum up what leaves I miss while raking).

If you don't mind taking the mower in for oil changes or getting a pump
to change from above (probably easier that way anyway, actually) then
it's otherwise a pretty good mower. Not too loud, the only other minor
wish is that it held its speed a bit better on hills. Time will tell
whether the plastic parts (and even my 19 old Snapper had plastic parts
- rear guard and side dischare chute - that had cracked) hold up well.
The one I'm most concerned about is plastic under the mower deck, this
seems like it could be easily damaged if I ever run over any hard objects.

One of my main reasons for choosing it is that it I wanted rear wheel
drive and there aren't that many models with this. I also wanted plenty
of power after my underpowered previous mower.

If you get a floor model be sure it's not damaged, for example drive
speed is supposed to be adjusted only with the engine running but most
likely people have yanked on the levers on the display model anyway.

wrote:
Gary...

If you're going to subject your mower to falling limbs, fence rails,
and mowing over roots that will get hit by as blade 3½" off the
ground, I don't know you should've bought any homeowner mower that
I've seen. I've looked at Hondas, Deere, Cub Cadet, and quite a few
others this week, and generally speaking, if you're spending under
$600 the build quality seems to be pretty much the same, and there's
plenty of plastic parts being used on all brands.

You might want to sell that Cub Cadet and spring for a $1200
commercial mower with an aluminum or magnesium deck and a direct-drive
system. If you need it to be self-propelled, other than a Skag-Sulky
type, I don't know if there's a good self-propelled commercial 21" cut
mower.

The first thing you might want to do though is walk around your
property with a double-action pruner and cut out any roots sticking
above the ground. If they are too big to cut without damaging the
tree/shrub (?) than why not do a little grading? Having roots popping
up that high in your lawn would not only look pretty ugly, but it
sounds like someone could trip and break a leg!

The roots aren't generally out in the open where people would usually
walk, they're under trees with low limbs that you have to duck under, or
don't even go under at all (for some, I push the mower under, but don't
walk there). Some of them could be cut away with a pruner (I suppose
I've been lazy by not doing that), but many are just the upper part of
larger diameter roots. These could be buried by adding a few inches of
fill, or cut away with a chain saw (difficult to do without running the
saw into the dirt) or maybe cut with an axe (also not good for the axe),
or ground out by a stump grinder (not sure if this would harm the tree).
The fence I spoke about is a rail fence that's just a bit too low for
the mower to fit under. And some of my shrubs overhang the lawn where
they hit the mower if I try to mow too close to them. I think the
better answer may be to do more of those areas with a string trimmer and
just use the mower out in the open. My old Snapper, though, never
suffered damage from the roots etc. (which I don't hit that often, most
of them are lower than the blade), but I did have the side-mounted spark
plug wire on my old mower pulled loose on occasion by the shrubs.


I was over a friend's house yesterday morning and watched him mow his
lawn with his John Deere. He has the JS63C (I believe) which is a
3-speed self-propelled with caster wheels on the front. He bought it
at the BORG for around $400 because it was the last one and they
decided not to carry Deere walk-behinds any longer. It's pretty
similar to the caster-wheeled Honda and Cub Cadet models I saw at HD
and Lowes. After wheeling the thing around myself, I found the
casters to be pretty neat around shrub beds. You do have a little
learning curve with the turns though as you really have to push the
handle sideways to use those casters to their fullest. I like a
caster mower, even though it takes up another 10" of length it seems.


I'm sure the casters have their benefits, but I was afraid they'd snag
on those overhanging shrubs I mow next to, and I also thought they'd
make the mower more difficult to keep on a straight line on a sidehill
(which I have).

FWIW, ePinions has some pretty positive reviews on the SRC621 Cub
Cadet. Didn't see one complaint about the oil drain issue though I'm
sure you're right. I guess a lot of people are just dropping them off
at the lawn shop and having them serviced, although I wondered if you
could simply cut a hole in the plastic right where the drain plug is
and make it that much easier to get at it?


Just cutting a hole in the plastic baffle plate won't help the oil drain
situation, because both the plasic baffle plate and the metal bracket
for the wheel drive belt above it are in the way. I think a pump like
this may be the best solution:
http://www.jackssmallengines.com/oil-pump.cfm
Dropping it off just for an oil change isn't convenient, the mower
doesn't fit well in my car. It's easier to just change it myself.

Mike



Gary

Just wanted to followup on this thread, since this was the only discussion I could find on the net about this mower and changing the oil on it.
The plug is underneath as indicated in this thread. The easiest way to change the oil is first prop up the mower so you can get at the blade area. Follow all the info in the manual, like disconnect the spark plug, etc. There are three screws that need to be removed to loosen (not remove) the baffle (plastic protective device that is black). Remove those screws. To completely remove the baffle, you'd have to remove the two rear wheels, something I couldn't figure out how to do. No matter, you can still make do. Remove the bolt that holds the blades in place, and pull the blades, and the other attached parts and set them to the side. I think there are about 6 parts that come loose, including the bolt. At this point, you can depress the baffle far enough to get at the oil plug. But when you get the plug out, it is clear that oil is going to get on the belt and a few other parts unless you are careful. So what I did was I put the left rear wheel up on a block, so that the wheel was about 3 or 4 inches off the ground; this way the oil falls away from the belt rather than right on it. I also took a cheapie flexible aluminum food storage container (the throwaway kind) and jammed it between the baffle and the engine. Took the plug out, caught the oil as best I could and them removed the pan of oil and replaced the plug. Secure the baffle, put the blade assembly back together, and add some more oil.
This is a terrible design. It takes a long time to change the oil, but you can do it.
One final note, I have the src621, which I think is identical to the sr621 except for the castor wheels; I am in the US, not the UK, but I think my model sounds the same based on the previous post by Gary.
Hope this helps.
chris