having re red the thread, if you are only going to use it as a tractor & not as a mower and you have lots of steep hills then an older unit with a horizontal crankshaft would serve you better.
Now Cub stopped support for their 2000 series a couple of years back, so deck parts are by & large NLA .
These are very strong commercial grade lawn tractors with a drive shaft and Kohler Command ( professional grade ) engines.
As a tug for a trailer they should outlive both of you & your kids .
Should be lots of them around with buggered decks so be relatively cheap .
Vertical shaft engine do not handle hills very well because the sump is large & shallow so it is very easy to get them in a place where the oil pump is out of the oil and in that situation you get 2 to 3 minutes then BANG and your wallet gets really painful.
I pick them up down here for $ 500 to $ 1000 ( Aus ) then fabricate a new deck top to weld the skirt to and use them for loaners till some one buys them .\
The 2000 series have engines ranging from 14 Hp to 22 Hp
The 3000 series was the next step up with hydraulics & power steering and were real micro tractors
You will find most of the information needed to compare mowers at
Tractor data and this is the Cub Cadet page .
Happy shopping.