AVOID This PROBLEMATIC Mower That Keeps Coming Back to the Shop! 

N.O.P.E. tees and more here! Http://www.TARYLFIXESALL.com

That customer sounds like everyone would be better off if he'd hire someone to mow his lawn.

You can’t fix stupid, but you can make a living off it. 😉🔧👍

In 1963 Cub Cadet made what was called the Original, it was a 38” I think deck and it had a timed belt, I was a kid then and I mowed a million acres with it and it never got out of time, but that’s when they made real equipment.

I had the same problem my fix was I cut the blades and they miss each other by a

Another great example of why I will forever and always continue to maintain my 80's Simplicity rider.

Wish other repair shops were as good to their customers as you are Taryl...

I was laughing my butt off Taryl when you started mowing and ran over something right away. I was praying you weren’t going to throw that thing out of timing again lol.

I was impressed. Not only can you fix mowers, you can even use them!

I started working for International Harvester at the Research & Development Center in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1966. I was a technical writer and was responsible for parts manuals.The 1966 Cub Cadet with timed blades was the product offering. Not only would the Gilmer toothed belt jump a tooth if you hit something, sometimes it would tear one or more of the belt teeth off. Then the customer would have to buy a new belt, but sometimes a new blade or two. Our Department produced the Instruction Manuals and Parts List. We saw things that we would shake our heads at, but we didn’t dare say a thing to the Engineering Dept. because they were untouchable. My father started there in 1946 and retired before the company was sold off in 1980. It was a sad day for thousands of workers. IH was the world’s largest manufacturer of farm tractors and implements.

Hi Taryl ! I enjoy your videos very much. I always learn something about these small power equipment machines for you. The idea of timed blades does make some sense for a quality cut. The untimed decks have the blades offset, one behind the other which works fine except when you make a turn while cutting. When turning, the swath of grass that is being cut comes straight into the blades and then that gap between them is not getting cut. I do see your point though the untimed blade system being more tolerant of abuse. One thought would be to put a shear pin on the driven pulley on the mower deck. At least then when the knuckheads crash the deck, the shear pin will let go (aka like snow blowers) and not lock up and burn up belts.

I thought that regular mower decks are slightly angled under the mower so the gap between the blades doesn't leave a strip of uncut grass. It looks like this Scrub Cadet deck and blade position is perpendicular to the body (and the direction of travel) which - if the blades were shorter to where they didn't hit each other - it would constantly leave a small strip of uncut grass.

My dad was big into mowing yards when he was younger and people told him so the stuff that they sell in the home goods stores are pretty cheap stuff. We still got two toro personal pace pushers that are still running great.

I'd sold a yard bug type mower last year to a couple. They called me a week later and told me it would barely move. Even though the belts looked good when I sold it, I could see that they had been dry rotted from the inside and only the kevlar jacket looked good. My bad. I replaced the belts and dropped it off. A week later she messaged me it wouldn't go into reverse, was smoking and she wanted her money back. Turns out she had the deck down to 2 to shave the lawn and when she was backing up the deck dug into the ground causing the rear tire to slip/spin until it started smoking. She'd also banged the blade into something and had a big divot out of it. After replacing the 28" blade ($50) I resold it to another gal who loves it and had no issues with it whatsoever. I may have broke even on that one. Expensive life lesson.

Taryl I've been able to fix so much stuff because of you! I love you guy's man. I would love to spend a day with you guy's.

Good to see a video on the timed mower decks, I have a collection of Snapper 1855 mowers, and they have a timed deck with a gearbox and belt set up, three blades timed, gearbox runs the center spindle and two timing belts, one off to each side blade spindle. Short coming for them were the plastic gears, I had to re-engineer mine, used for 2.3L timing gears and belts, been using it for about 5 years, works pretty good, still trying to better the design.

Good idea on the buy back. You might want to look at the front left wheel, looks like the bushing is worn and the axld is riding on the rim.

Another great fix Taryl Dactal now hopefully who ever buys it from you can stay clear of objects other than grass you shouldn't have to see it back at your shop for a while. I always enjoy watching your videos keep them coming. 👍👍😎

I'm late to this video... I thought about shorter blades too. But the 'star' pattern of the blades - I didn't think about that. Taryl did. But one thing I would have done if were my mower is grind the end off of the two used blades so they'd pass about 1/4 from each other if the timing slipped again. Heck, you could even clock them to meet and test it. Normal multi-blade mower's blades can (do?) meet at the middle. That's how 'normal' multi-blade mowers work. Put a new $100 belt on it and hope for the best. You're going to replace the belt anyway. The blades were used - not much to lose. Worth a try...

This is why I run commercial mowers. They are built heavy duty. Exmark and Gravely!

I love your truth and sense you make, you are very hilarious and smart, thank you sir and thanks again for your honesty

Glad to see MTD still loves their springs and cables. 😞

It's funny how you and mustie1 both did a video today on Cub cadet mowers.

Thanks Daryl.I learn so much watching your videos.

Awesome job God Bless you and your family

That deck is just like those John deere freedom 42 mulching deck,yea,I've done a couple of those cub decks,great for golf coarse lawns,and you mentioned Walker moweres,yes they overlap also, there are little shear bolts on the blades that break before the T Boxes break most of the time,great video,thumbs up

the amount of timing belts we sold in our mower parts store were frequent,we were a lawnking dealer! they mostly snapped the belt as well as bending the blades!

Another fine fix, cheers Taryl.

Thank you for the video Knoxville TN.

My 3 blade 42 inch zero turn overlaps so there is not strip left. But not by timing. They overlap by the middle blade being forward of the other two. The outsides ones are set in just a little giving the overlap.

Good to know..cause I had no idea some tractors had that design. I'm wondering now about the deck blade design on the new E-mowers. They don't have all those pulleys and belts on their decks which I kinda like but if they have timed blades that could get real expensive to fix! ??

Great problem solving!

Best weed smoker show I have watched ever. Love he work also

I had an LT1042 Cub Cadet, similar to that one and it ate deck belts to the point that I took to buying them at a farm supply place for a third the price of the Cadet seller. Finally, because it is now a well known fact that an engineer who graduates at the bottom of his class, lies on his resume, and is fluent in Apple II+ CAD, can still work designing Kohler small engines like the Kohler Courage...mine died. A bunch of screws came loose on it, the crank case split, I used some ideas from Taryl to get a few more cuts out of it and it truly died. Wouldn't even turn over. Kohler may or may not design an engine that works, but I wouldn't buy any of their products after having seen that Courage engine. The honorable thing to do would have been to replace every single one of those engines with one that was properly designed, eat the loss and maintain their reputation, but never underestimate the power of human stupidity as demonstrated in Cub Cadet, MTD lawnmower design. All I wanted it to do was cut grass. It didn't have to launch me into orbit. It didn't need to solve world hunger or fill the hole in the ozone layer, just cut grass. But oh no! Not if it came from Mega Trashy Design, "let's use the worst engine that money can buy!" paired with a deck that ate $65.00 deck belts like they were M'n'M's. But, you ask, am I bitter? Am I disappointed in my lawn tractor? Well, it drove me to the unthinkable, yes, I was forced by circumstance and aided by a large poverty-inducing bank loan to buy a brand new lawn tractor, as opposed to a used one held together with modified c-clamps and ABC bubble gum. And so far, it hasn't spit exhaust valves through my Kia Soul doors in passing. Time will tell. There is a special hot seat in Hades that is being held until the passing of the Kohler Courage design team. It's shaped like the seat on a Cub Cadet LT1042 lawn tractor, but warmer.

Musty 1 is working on a cub cadet tractor too but it has the regular 42" deck I believe with the electric pto system. Oh and how is the new shop you just got built? Looks pretty sweet👍 And there's your dinner 🤪

Always enjoy, laugh and learn. Thanks for the good content!

Great info Taryl 👍🏻

Taryl!! Even you should know that if you turned that deck into a conventional design that you would be leaving Mohawk strips of grass everywhere you go because that timed deck is perpendicular to the mower and not offset 😂

Hey Taryl, it looked like you missed a couple of other things in the grass. Maybe you could lower the deck and hit those as well to see how much it takes to get the blades to hit!

Thank you for the education!

Thanks for the info 🇺🇲

My dad had a way with mowers.....a broken way. RIP Dad - Also I spied a worn out front wheel bushing on the Scrub.

My neighbor had same one and him and me just swapped the decks out for similar deck non timing set up and installed and problem solved. 👌

Lancelot "Link" Secret Chimp! 😂 I thought I was the only kid that watched that show back in 1969-1971? You crack me up. Thanks for the videos. I'm learning a lot

Preach!! Sometimes the best sell is the one you don't make

Taryl can you do a video showing the “POOR MANS POWER STEERING CONVERSION” (thrust bearings/steering axles) on a riding mower???

a standard deck has left side blade slightly in front of rt side so that blades cut without leaving an unmowed strip in the middle . i believe they overlap a little , but the offset prevents blades from touching . if you put 42 in blades on that deck , a : they would hit each other , and b : (once shortened) they'd probably leave a streak in the middle .

Hello Taryl,...as always informed video and very watchable.... I have a Hydro Gear transmission a 310-0510 type on my old lawn tractor,have you ever done a video on a rebuild on one???

Taryl & GrassRats. I have a Cub Cadet 44C mower deck that I pulled from off of my 682 Cub Cadet tractor am working on that lost its proper belt tension in which the center blade was cutting grass the other two blades would spin but not fast enough to do anything. Upon Dis-Assembly I found parts that appeared to be the original OEM parts painted with the IH/Cub Cadet white paint mainly the tension arm assembly and the original looking pulleys. And Yes, A very old tension spring was broken and I decided to go ahead and replace the tensioner pulley that also appeared to be OEM just for good measure. My point is that I love how simple and easy that the vintage Cub Cadet mower decks were to work on. None of the Gimmicky MTD cables and way too many brackets that you see on the newer MTD/Cub Cadet tractors. The most expensive part that I may still replace is the tension arm which is just over $100. I’m pretty confident that once I get all of my new pieces and parts ordered and installed that my mower deck will last for several more years -, I guess MTD decided that concept wasn’t feasible enough for their bottom line.

A lot of mower decks are on a slight angle so that you don't get a skipper down the middle one blade is slightly ahead of the other one so the blades overlap without being timed.

I'm going to buy one of your N.O.P.E. shirts. I'm always hitting sticks in my back lots and having to straighten or replace blades. I would think it wouldn't bend a blade to hit small sticks, but the crap blades are so thin that the bend.

Thank you for what you do!

I would 100% retrofit a non timed deck to that instead of dicking with it more. But, chances are huge it has the kohler Courage in it so its not long for this world anyways!

I think the deck would have to be an off set deck for your idea to work. its a timed deck.

Those front wheel bushings look like they have seen better days too, great vid!

I've got a freedom 42 on an old JD LT 166. I've thrown that deck across the yard so many times! It's my pull stuff around machine mainly, and I used to cut some really overgrown stuff, abusing the balls out of it too! Never had an issue while beating the heck outta it, but it always happened out of nowhere, it was always the timing belt slipping for no apparent reason, making the blades smashem' bashem' always bending them, and they are 80 bucks too. But I gotta say, that deck cuts amazing and if you take the time to stripe, it leaves a professional looking job.

u need to let your wife fix it, so it will b done rite

Regarding customers, one of my favorite sayings is: 'If it wasn't for customers... I'd have a pretty good job!" 🤣😂

I have a John Deere LT 155 with the Freedom 42" deck that is like that one. They generally work well and mow a pretty yard, but they are not made for rough yards with heavy debris and roots coming out of the ground. You don't let your grass grow too tall if you have one of these also. A good rule of thumb before moving with anything is to walk the yard and remove debris or anything that deck might contact. Beware yes that parts are expensive if you screw up one of these decks. GREAT VIDEO!!! 🍻

Great tip on the flap disc for blade sharpening. Will try.

hey Tarrel i think i see the issue with that timed belt, the belt has a long soft spring tension on it, that's no bueno on a timed belt, it needs a limited amount of movement, an adjustable stop on the tension arm could solve the issue. the timed deck eliminates the need to offset the blades(one blade forward of the other to provide overlap), walker mowers blades turned oposit directions to push the material to the center rear of the deck for bagging, the walker 3 blade decks are offset for overlap and are belt driven.

Hey Taryl, you set the standard of excellence, for customer care. Now I know right off the bat, your answer would be a flat out "No-Picture(s,)" of the customer's lawn. But I'm hoping to precede you to do a "drive-by," a lot of us "GRASS-RATS," just gotta know, how stupid is stupid. Thanks for sharing. (if the "lawn-problem,") is in the back-yard, that would be a bummer.

I got a 2012 mtd yard man with 42” deck. Just got it home blades were very bad shape. I got new blades with it when I bought it. So I go to take the blades off and had to use a 1/2” breaker bar with 2’ snipe on the end to get bolts loosend. Put one new blade on Shute side no problem. Go to put the other one on and find the star part on the shaft is all worn out but installed the new blade anyways. Engaged the blades and they were contacting each other the odd time. So stoped the mower went and bought new spindle with pulley pre installed and mounted it in place. Still making contact after new spindle installed. When I got the new spindle the holes were smooth inside not threaded. I had to drill out the holes to accommodate the 5/16” bolts with nylon lock nuts. Not sure if this is factory setup as I bought used. Maybe they use self tap screws for the spindles🤷🏽‍♂️. I’m thinking deck might be bent judging by the old blades. I was thinking of removing deck , then level the deck front and back and sideways then putting a couple of those small round bubble levels used in fridges on the spindle nuts to see how far off they are. Just wondering what my next step should be. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks, Chris

The owner is clearly in love with you Taryl, and it's merely a ruse to see more of you!!! Cheers from the Hunter Valley Wine Country Australia

Customers like that keep the industry busy .. And Kudos to you for buying it back ..and putting him back into another mower ... Wooooooooooo....

Great demonstration. Would wonder if owner had deck set to low and running over uneven ground. Thanks for the "show and tell".

YOU BOUGHT IT BACK?!? You are one good man!! Now that's customer service!!!!!

Great show guys 😊

I love when Taryl tells it like it is. 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

TaryL this is the best he helps people understand how to fix so many different types of problems I have really enjoyed the experience of Learning TaryL thanks for your experience . GOD BLess

Nice job. My old Simple City ones had 3 blades... But the middle one was way forward, so there was a lot of overlap, but no real possibility of interference, or blade vs blade contact.... and I'm not sure how you'd ever get "stripes".... there was a lot of overlap in the 3 circular cutting paths.... I liked them. They ran really good, and my lawn looked like Augusta National....

I bought a cub cadet same model as that one, used it for many years & never had a problem. I keep it in my garage when not in use, always kept it greased & the oil changed regularly, only replaced the belts 1 time, sold it to a man & it still looked good. People just don't take care of things anymore.

Nice Job i am watching your videos Every time

I wish I could buy that from you, Taryl. But it's a bit far to ship it to Australia. You see, I just had my 900 square meter yard landscaped and a new lawn of tall fescue sewn. It's grown quickly and established well. The yard has gentle slopes at the side and is flat at the front and back of the house. No rocks, stumps or curbs to hit because tall fescue doesn't creep at the edges. Cutting height is 2 1/2 inches. In other words a yard and mower made for each other. Anyway, someone reading this may have a yard similar to mine and would never have a problem with that Scrub Cadet. So there's YOUR dinner.

Heck yes. Really helpful for me

Taryl when It was in the late 50s my dad brought a cub cadet lawn more that had timing blades on it. We lived on a farm and had to mow a lot of things that was made for a different kinda mower and us boys had to do a lot of the mowing the yards and around barns, this and that well we would hit a rock or something unseen and throw the blades out of time. But we never had to take the deck off we got to where we carried a big stick with us and we would put our foot on the outside blade and take the stick and push the other blade half around to get it from hitting and go to mowing again. We learned quickly how to time it with that stick by pushing that blade and maybe be down 5 minutes and back to mowing.

you're a good man Taryl. you treat people as you would like to be treated wish you were closer..

My neighbor had a John Deere with a similar deck in the mid 90's. I bet I re-timed the deck a couple times for him and replaced that timing belt that had teeth on both sides a couple times. What a pain !.. and the belt was NOT cheap. Back then it was like $75 bucks and the first time he bought one I about fell over when he told me the price. Those mowers have to be used on a "golf green" style lawn, no dips , possible foreign debris or anything else that might upset the blades. Your description of POS is right on ! 😅

I 100% agree. I dislike these MTD Scrub Cadets as well. The real International Cub Cadet was a great machine, a thousand times better than these yellow MTDs, especially the ones with the timed blades.

So true what you said at the end. Namely, just cut grass and not rocks, stumps, etc. and they'll cut just fine, ha!

You’re awesome Taryl!

I always practice engaging the blades only with the engine at idle or slow speed to lessen the wear on the belt or clutch, furthermore I never turn off the ignition with engine at full speed because it’s still sucking raw gas into the cylinder for a couple of seconds. My main rider is a 50 plus year old John Deere 112, still going strong, (and it WILL grind stumps, saplings, and rocks like a champ.. LOL) I always enjoy your videos, keep it up! 😄

I one time bought some blades that was tad too long so I ground down the ends of the blade like 1/8 inch worked lol on a non timed setup though.

I agree with you. I understand the problem they were trying to solve, but they complicated it for typical home ownership.

I had the same problem with a castelgarden mower with timed deck....ended up cutting the blades shorter so they dont hit anymore...had to weld the fins back on and then ballanced the blades...its still mowing without any problems now👍

My Craftsman and Troybilt 33 inch walk behinds that besides the color were identical twins had the same problematic problem ! I hadn't thought of those nightmarish times till now and I feel a sense of relief knowing that those days are gone!

yesterday I was using my stand on mower which we got last year and for some reason while I was mowing some very tall grass, it kept raining so I couldnt mow it and because of my leg hurting me for a few days, somehow I was going past a tarp on the wood pile thought I had enough clearance it sucked it right in did not realize it sucked in so strongly I thought oh no hope I did not hurt this mower enough to do any damage, my hubby which is my savior from my own stupid mistakes, saved the day put it up using the jack and was able to cut ot off the blades, took like a second, and went to use it the blades would not engaged okay I am in trouble, he figured the spring came off put it on and yippee mower was working good, I would of felt bad if we had to have it serviced, just a note try not to have to much fun with the zero turning, it is fun by the way, and I love how I can mow the steep hill backwards and still have the blade engaged, I keep the heavy part of the mower down hill to avoid flippng does a wonderful job of going really slow down so I can see where I am going and what obstacles I have ( it is a big pasture after all I used when we h ad horses). it makes short work of 3 acres too. it is a 52 inch in the process of hubby fixing the spring I learned alot watching him so that in the future I can do it myself if he is not around for some reason.

(In the high-pitched voice) "But Taryl, don't that lawnmower cut stumps?"

I love how he just mulches the garbage that blows into his lot from the road lol i would too

I had a HDS2135. That thing was a beast of a mower. I liked that it had a drive shaft instead of a belt that drove the hydro. Bought it for 75 bucks like a year ago and all it needed was a coil. Stereotypical kohler command problem.

1:23 in....toro timemaster mower decks from home depot have the same blade setup....problem is a rock from a bed, just the average stone gravel people use around their houses (river rock, crushed stone about class 4 and 3 grade) and the bed is sloped down to the lawn, well after snow season is over or after a heavy down pour hundreds of those flood out into the lawn, and it only takes one getting kicked up and caught between the blades to wreak havoc. those notched belts on the toros instantly break and then the blades knock together until they lock up the mower deck with interlocked blades. this has happened so many times that i know you can usually find even the rock locked inbetween the blades that caused them to over lap and lock up and killstop the machine. also a good solid stick from an oak or walnut tree that is thicker that two thumbs put together will do this too. copper grounding rods near electrical panels mounted to the house or left over old rod from the project managers trailer head quarters for a residential or commercial subdivision/development will also bend a blade enough to cause this and knock the timing out of whack making the blade skip thru notches on the belt as it jumps to race past the gear. tree stumps bigger than a D cell battery. my yard has all these bonus features except the copper ground rod, which is why i stick with a deere 445 that has those nice 7/16" thick blades that chop the tops off river bounders mostly submerged in the yard, but poke out a little bit more every year as the ground settles. all bo store mowers are just popcans waiting to be recycled, pure junk unless you have a city lot in chicago, then they are fine for those basic yards. started seeing this box store trash in even the dealerships even about 5-10 years ago. you get what you pay for, quality machines start at 6,000-10grand depending upon the manufacturer

All right. You work good mister. I wish you all the best

Great video taryl what a lousy set up tell the crew I said hello and as always there's your dinner God Bless

@15:55 One of the star teeth is slightly longer so that other blades don't fit. Theoretically you could file out the tooth hole on another blade to make it fit. But it's proprietary parts. That's exactly what put IBM personal computers out of business.

Flap disc for sharpening, great idea, @TarylFixesAll, what grit would your recommend, K40 or a finer grit? Have a great one!

Our ole 03 LT160 had the freedom 42” deck with the timed deck belt. We got it from my dads father who snapped the original belt after 600hrs. Put a new belt on it, & it lasted a while until he hit something. Then got a cheap Amazon belt that snapped. Then got another OE JD belt that worked for a while then got another JD belt before he gave it to his brother when he upgraded. Tractor was pretty darn reliable. Transmission gave out at 900hrs then his brother junked it sadly when the trans probably just needed some oil in it.

I have a Cub Cadet walk behind with the timed blades. I got it free from a coworker who ran over his water shut off port in his yard. The blades ran into each other and he parked it in the shed for the next 6 years. I brought it home put a new battery on it, new blades, and rebuilt the carburetor. Its been working great every since.

Huge fan Taryl!

Did you sell hip the $100 mower flip Simplicity with the Kohler Command swap? Since this cub cadet has this Courage bucket engine not sure how much you will flip it for? as other problems that could throw the blades out of time is large debris or grass clumps can get in the toothed pullies and throw the blades out of time along with striking a rock or stump. Im not sure if you could put on a regular MTD deck on this like from a Craftsman, Troy Bilt, Huskee, The best reputable lawn tractors is Simplicity, Snapper, John Deere the X300 series, the Kubota T series, Ariens, Toro.

Looks like my 2166 Cub Cadet (23 years old). Now I need a new mower deck (had to store it outside for several years under a tarp because my garage was full and my old shed had problems... and will be torn down as soon as I can a new one built. The big problem I had with it was the belts becoming loose and burning up after 15 years of use... I found that going to a one inch shorter belt mostly fixed the issue, only burned once a year rather than 3-4 times a year. Not too bad for a old deck... but I plan on getting a new deck for it... the tractor part runs fine.