Cub Cadet 1046, 2042 or 2186 for hills

[jmak]

I built my house last year and plan on putting in my yard this spring. My property has a 150 foot side hill that is at about a 25 degrees slope with a ditch at the bottom. The incline of the hill is about 50 foot. The only way to mow the hill is by going across it instead of up and down. I really only need a tractor to mow the yard. I have a 4WD ATV that I will use to plow snow and haul a cart. I was looking at the Cub Cadet 1046 ($1800), 2042 ($2600) , and 2186 ($2800). The 1046 is belt driven and the others are shaft driven. The 1046 and 2042 have 20 in rear tires and should be less likely to tip over. The 2186 has 23 in rear tires. The 2042 is considered a lawn tractor by Cub and doesn't have the same attachments for it as the 2186. I was also thinking about putting ag tires with wiper fluid on to help with the traction. Also what is the best way to remove rocks after the top soil is spread with a dozer? Any suggestions or opinions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[viking65]

That is pretty steep to be cutting side to side. I think most lawn and garden tractor manufacturers recommend no more than 15 degrees. You might want to consider this for that part of your yard:

http://www.billygoat.com/website2005/site/intro.aspx?pid=17

Or this:

http://www.troybilt.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_14102_13303_18152_-1

You can use a lawn tractor for the rest of your yard.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

As a fan of Cub Cadets, an one who has some steep slopes, let me tell you that Cubs are not designed for what you are talking about. I had wheel weights on the rears wheels. All four wheels were foam filled for weight. I also had snow chains on the rears for added traction. I was scared to mow some of our areas and at 25 degrees I'd bet you will be rolling the tractor over.

A year or so ago I started looking to replace my Cub with something suitable that would last. I put price LAST and suitability FIRST. When I started I thought I knew what was good and what the prices were, and what I needed. I ended up buying a brand I had never heard of before and am very happy that I did. I know budgets are a reality that need to be addressed, but sometimes when we buy for price we end up with the wrong thing. What I bought may or may not work for you, but here is a link to an 11 page thread, there is a LOT of DIFFERENT information in there, some of it should be very useful to help you decide what you want to do.

Best Garden Tractor thread

 

[IowaAndy]

jmak - We are in a very similar situation. We bought a 1018, and have 15%-18% long hills in the back to mow. The Cub can't handle climbing the hill (belt chattering) and running downhill (or left side down) causes oil to spill into the B&S engine cylinder, causing heavy knocking and smoking...

Hills are hard on hydro transaxles. I've installed ag tires to help going downhill, and I'm looking at an ATV solution (trailmower behind ATV to run up and down the hills)

Good luck!

IowaAndy