Its no secret that I think the Cub GT2000 is by far, hands down the best value on the market for lawn/garden tractors and I thought the best way to illustrate this is by doing some research on the important stuff in any mower.
So to start I selected the transmission and as a basis of comparison I opted to compare the Cub to what some view as the gold standard in the lawn and garden tractor segment the mighty John Deere.
To be clear, JD produces a fine product, but until you get into, well into the select series line one is getting only exceptional value in the fit/finish dept.
Not until one gets into the X700 series with the Kansaki TuffTorque K92 does the a Deere owner get anywhere near the drive of the Cub GT2000, and the cost of membership in this club is about three times that of the Cub Club.
I am not making a direct comparison to the K92 and the BDU10 because the Tuff Torque, on paper, bests the Hydro Gear in weight on axle BUT until the 700 the hapless Deere owner gets a very sub standard drive compared to the Cub and only until the upper X500 series will one even get a 'serviceable' drive and even then the K66's filter is internal AND the unit has alot less fluid AND its cast aluminum rather than cast iron AND AND you will pay roughly twice the cost of the Cub 2000.
All the X300 series use an vastly inferior, compared to Cub, drive with no filter at all and about 1/3 the amount of juice and with a mere 600 or so lbs max axle weight rating-but hey at least you have the green machine.....
So as we can all agree that transmission/drive choice is one very important indicator of overall quality and longevity I believe that the win in this first category goes clearly to the Cub Cadet GT 2000 Crossover tractor.
Up next; engines and why Kawasaki certainly was once the best but sadly now, except in very specific pieces of equipment there are far better choices.
So to start I selected the transmission and as a basis of comparison I opted to compare the Cub to what some view as the gold standard in the lawn and garden tractor segment the mighty John Deere.
To be clear, JD produces a fine product, but until you get into, well into the select series line one is getting only exceptional value in the fit/finish dept.
Not until one gets into the X700 series with the Kansaki TuffTorque K92 does the a Deere owner get anywhere near the drive of the Cub GT2000, and the cost of membership in this club is about three times that of the Cub Club.
I am not making a direct comparison to the K92 and the BDU10 because the Tuff Torque, on paper, bests the Hydro Gear in weight on axle BUT until the 700 the hapless Deere owner gets a very sub standard drive compared to the Cub and only until the upper X500 series will one even get a 'serviceable' drive and even then the K66's filter is internal AND the unit has alot less fluid AND its cast aluminum rather than cast iron AND AND you will pay roughly twice the cost of the Cub 2000.
All the X300 series use an vastly inferior, compared to Cub, drive with no filter at all and about 1/3 the amount of juice and with a mere 600 or so lbs max axle weight rating-but hey at least you have the green machine.....
So as we can all agree that transmission/drive choice is one very important indicator of overall quality and longevity I believe that the win in this first category goes clearly to the Cub Cadet GT 2000 Crossover tractor.
Up next; engines and why Kawasaki certainly was once the best but sadly now, except in very specific pieces of equipment there are far better choices.