There are some differences between the different brands/models, but MTD makes no high end tractors and are generally placed below other brands. Of course, I am not talking about the 40 year old MTD that still doesn't use any oil someone will surely post about ; )

Surely the above post is incorrect. MTD's Cub Cadet makes some high end LTs and GTs with shaft drive to the transmission and to the mowing deck. Their 3000 and 5000 series machines are top of the line. Also their CC/Yanmar and their Professional Turf and Landscaping Equipment are as good as any. Their ZT machines are also good. Their Tank ZT is among the best. However, their latest ZT machine with a steering wheel is still troubled. Since CC never made a engine for their equipment, how does, "still doesn't use oil" relate to the subject. The also make a low end machine, as Deer does, for those who want them.

On this form if it is not John Deer or Kubota, then it is no good and never will be.

Check out ebay and you will notice many $4,000 to $14,000 machines.

Cub Cadet always ranks at the bottom. I know many don't believe a word Consumer Reports says (I can hear all the witty takes on their names already), but they have consistently placed the MTD products (Cub Cadet/Yard Machines/Yard-Man) dead last in reliability every year.

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MTD Brands... question.
Posted by emucom (My Page) on Thu, Jul 26, 07 at 14:25
I am not in the market now, but I am just wondering about all MTD products...
Are all brands mfg under MTD to be considered by some the same quality? Whether it be Cub Cadet, or Huskee, or White Equipment, or Yardman, etc... Like GM, where Cadillac is at the top and Chevy at the bottom, is there a similar heirarchy to MTD's brands? And a heirarchy to their quality?
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Low end
If it's sold at a box store it's low end entry level no matter the color , name on it or who the manufacturer is .
Upper level
If it's sold at a dealer but not at box stores it's upper level.

Consumers Report has NOT consistently ranked CC at the bottom of their quality list. Far down the list, but not the bottom and then they only tested the lower priced machines. CU rated JD push mowers at the very bottom too. Does that mean they never made a good push mower?

Tell me again about CU rating Mercedes and BMW at the bottom of their auto quality list. I sold my BMW just because of that.

From CR:
"Yard Machines/Yard-Man and Troy-Bilt--all made by MTD--have been among the more repair-prone brands of lawn tractors."

Their ratings are from over 23,000 owner responses, which is a pretty large pool, not just one guy who bought a lemon.

On your other topic, European makes have always been overcomplicated and repair prone, so that is no surprise to anyone.

1*but MTD makes no high end tractors and are generally placed below other brands
Posted by metal
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2*Surely the above post is incorrect. MTD's Cub Cadet makes some high end LTs and GTs with shaft drive to the transmission and to the mowing deck.
3*Their 3000 and 5000 series machines are top of the line.
4**Since CC never made a engine for their equipment, how does, "still doesn't use oil" relate to the subject?
5*On this form if it is not John Deer or Kubota, then it is no good and never will be.
Posted by bill_in_nc
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6*Cub Cadet always ranks at the bottom.
7*I know many don't believe a word Consumer Reports says (I can hear all the witty takes on their names already),
8* but they have consistently placed the MTD products (Cub Cadet/Yard Machines/Yard-Man) dead last in reliability every year.
Posted by metal
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1*Totally false.
2* Couldn't be any farther from the truth.
3*Actually their top of the line 2500 and 3000 series tractors offer a whole lot more bang for the buck at one half to two-thirds the price of a JD x500 or x700.
4*You answered this in # 5 above. Putting the same engine on a CC will cause it burn oil.
5*Take that oil burner off a CC and put it on a Kubota or JD and it will quit smoking.
6* see 8.
7*Ive seen them make too many wrong calls to have much faith in what they report.
8*All this tells me is CR still hasn't got it right.

I don't want to defend CR and their ratings, but as a CR subscriber,I believe their repair ratings are compiled by manufacturer. This means that it can't seperate Wally World Yard Machines from an independant dealers CC3000 series, and MTD does make a lot of junk, to support a few good tractors.

In answer to the OP question, I think the Cub Cadet 2000 series and up is the better stuff from MTD. I would say that all the rest is junk. I do think that Huskee and Toro have private labelled some of the CC GTs from the 2000- 2500 series, but I am not 100% sure of this.
steve

Posted by sadixon49 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 26, 07 at 18:55

I don't want to defend CR and their ratings, but as a CR subscriber,I believe their repair ratings are compiled by manufacturer.
*This means that it can't separate Wally World Yard Machines from an independent dealers CC3000 series

I think the Cub Cadet 2000 series and up is the better stuff from MTD.
**I would say that all the rest is junk.
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* It also means their conclusions are distorted.
** And I would say the same goes for the other manufactures found at the Box Stores.
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The Cub 2000 series are $3000+ tractors and up are not in the same class as their cheaper stuff. Start at $3000 and take a fixed amount of cash to your Cub, JD, and Kubota dealers and see what you can buy. The Cubs come out looking pretty good.

In my first response to the OP, I didn't address his reference to Cadillac and Chevrolet. A good friend of mine was a parts guy at a GM dealership. He told me that both of these cars used the exact same part in many instances. So, if you think that every part on a Caddy is different than the ones used on a Chev, then think again.

I suspect that MTD also uses the same part in certain places on their higher-end units that they use on their least expensive tractors. Is this a bad thing? Probably not. Take for instance a choke cable. If this will last ten years on a YardMan, then it will last ten years on a CC 2000 series. No harm, no foul. However, if I was buying a 5000 series to do commercial work, then I would expect a better quality choke cable because I would expect that cable to last me ten years too, even though I was using the tractor five or six days per week, all day long, instead of a few hours on one day.