Cub Cadet (42") Two-Stage Tractor Mount Snow Blower (Also fits MTD, Toro and Troy-Bilt)

I have a Cub Cadet 1045 and have struggled to mount and adjust this blower for the last time. This attachment is not designed well and eats belts at a rapid rate 3 or more a winter at $40 each.

Installed properly and without difficulty. Adjusted skid shoes to proper height. On it's first use, I plowed an 8 inch snow for about 50 feet on a clear path with no hidden obstacles, and heard a big crack. The impeller kept spinning but the augers were free floating. Something had obviously snapped in the gear box. Warranty service has been a nightmare. They insisted on taking the tractor with the snow blower unit attached to make sure I attached it properly. They have it 2 weeks already and acknowledge that it is indeed defective, but the manufacturer is slowing down the process. Very frustrated and very disappointed. Thought this was built tough, but not worth anywhere near what it costs.

Installed properly and without difficulty. Adjusted skid shoes to proper height. On it's first use, I plowed an 8 inch snow for about 50 feet on a clear path with no hidden obstacles, and heard a big crack. The impeller kept spinning but the augers were free floating. Something had obviously snapped in the gear box. Warranty service has been a nightmare. They insisted on taking the tractor with the snow blower unit attached to make sure I attached it properly. They have it 2 weeks already and... more

As per my previous review, the gear box failed 50 feet into it's first use on an 8 inch snowfall. Took a month to get it back from the warranty service. Used it on a 6 inch snowfall yesterday. With the skid shoes fully down, the excessive weight still caused it to dig in and bog down at every slightly soft spot in the ground. the only way to use this thing was to constantly pull down on the lift arm so that it could glide. This was effective but extremely difficult as the thing is so heavy. I'm pretty strong, and can't see a person of average strength being able to do what I did to use this thing to cut a path 100 yards long. It needs to be modified so as not to dig in so readily, otherwise it's worthless. I wish they'd allow me to return it in trade for a different unit so as to have a happy customer, rather than an angry one.

As per my previous review, the gear box failed 50 feet into it's first use on an 8 inch snowfall. Took a month to get it back from the warranty service. Used it on a 6 inch snowfall yesterday. With the skid shoes fully down, the excessive weight still caused it to dig in and bog down at every slightly soft spot in the ground. the only way to use this thing was to constantly pull down on the lift arm so that it could glide. This was effective but extremely difficult as the thing is so heavy. I'm... more

The snow blower was junk the day we got it . When we started using it belts would break, we replaced the love joy coupling many times, replaced drive pulley at least twice, very poor engineering!! We had the pleasure of cutting the snow blower to pieces with a sawsall today. Bought a new snow blower today, but it certainly was not a Cub Cadet.

I got this unit to replace an older Cub snow blower I had on a 1720. The sales staff was very helpful and after placing the order told me the ground shipping would arrive in 5 days. They lied: the unit was here the next day.

Looking over the shipping container it arrived in made me hope the snow blower was built as well as the crate. I think it took almost as much time to remove the unit from the shipping container as it did to mount in on my 2012 Cub 1042 KW.

There are some good and bad points to this unit. It is built very sturdy with thicker steel than the old unit I had on the 1720. Instead of using 2 augers, it has 6, each with its own shear pin and that means six times as many failure points. The chute's directional control is placed kinda strange and could be mounted much better. It can hit the side of the tractor when raising the unit up if you don't place the chute in just the right place. The combination of the chute control and the raise/lower arm make it difficult to get onto the tractor's seat.

The power transmission plate is held to the frame with four 3/16 inch diameter pins. This seems kinda wimpy for the 18HP engine in the 1042 KW and looks out of proportion for the rest of the unit. However, it fits very well on the tractor frame.

For the most part, installation was simple and straight forward. Removing the mower deck was easy. With a few exceptions, everything is mounted with quick release pins. The hardest part was installing the drive belt which fit very tight with out the tensioner in place. There is a 3/8 square hole used to swing the belt tensioner out of the way. I used a 2 foot long breaker bar w/ a 3/8 adapter on it and it worked fine.

The first run up showed a possible danger point: with the PTO fully disengaged, engine at idle and the belt clearly loose, the auger was turning with more than enough torque to take a finger off. Please, please, turn the engine off before attempting to clear the chute or anything else on this thing. Yes, the owner's manual says the same thing, but sometimes people don't always read or heed warnings like this and they do lose fingers as a result. Please don't be one of them and turn the engine off before attempting to clear the chute!

The first use proved more good and bad. The snow was very heavy, heart-attack slush, the kind that loves to plug up chute's and is a 2 stage's worst nightmare. The old unit didn't have too much trouble with this stuff as long as you went slow and cleared out the chute every now an then..

When this unit is running at full power, it didn't plug up. However, it didn't throw the slush very far and I had to make many extra passes to clear the drive. It also seemed to help if I went faster than normal.

My driveway is mostly gravel and there is a section of grass that I keep clear for parking and a turn around.. Given it is early winter, the ground isn't fully frozen yet. The unit had a tendency to dig in unless you lean on the raise bar a bit.

As with most tractor mounted snow blowers, the tractor has little to no directional control when the blower is down. So make sure you are lined up before starting.

Getting the tractor and snow blower on to my trailer is proving to be a challenge. With the blower fully raised, it hits on the ramp of the trailer. The slid plates are fully down because of the gravel driveway.

I got this unit to replace an older Cub snow blower I had on a 1720. The sales staff was very helpful and after placing the order told me the ground shipping would arrive in 5 days. They lied: the unit was here the next day.

Looking over the shipping container it arrived in made me hope the snow blower was built as well as the crate. I think it took almost as much time to remove the unit from the shipping container as it did to mount in on my 2012 Cub 1042 KW.

There are some good and... more

I ordered this snow blower attachment in February 2015, and it arrived at my house within a week. During the instillation I discovered the mounting hardware was missing. I called customer service at power equipment direct, who in return called the manufacturer and had them send me the missing parts.

After two snowstorms and a week later I finally received the parts from the manufacturer. The installation directions are fair at best, if you don't have mechanical skills it would be to you're advantage to get help from someone who does. The installation took approximately one hour, and the snowblower attachment has worked flawlessly over the past three recent snowstorms. My wife is also able to use this unit with no problems. It is well built, and is a beast in the snow.

I have read a lot of reviews on this website complaining about the belts snapping or the auger still turning while the PTO is disengaged. If the unit is properly installed, you will have zero problems with it performing. I have found if the auger is still turns despite the PTO not being engaged, then the Supplied PTO return spring has not been installed, once that spring has been installed there will be zero auger movement without the PTO being engaged .

I ordered this snow blower attachment in February 2015, and it arrived at my house within a week. During the instillation I discovered the mounting hardware was missing. I called customer service at power equipment direct, who in return called the manufacturer and had them send me the missing parts.

After two snowstorms and a week later I finally received the parts from the manufacturer. The installation directions are fair at best, if you don't have mechanical skills it would be to... more

I have owned this for more than 10 years. Lots of trouble when trying to plow an unpaved drive. I do three paved drives every storm. I used many belts the first year. Then switched to utility belts from napa. Just 12$ and I havent changed it for three years now. Huge learning curve on this mtd machine. Pretty good now but just wore out my second shaft coupler. I would only recommend a very mechanical person buy one.

I bought this snow blower in fall of 2012. I have used it all winter of 2012-2013, and so far this winter too. I spent extra timer ensuring everything was aligned and adjusted properly when I assembled it. This thing is fantastic, and I have only had 1 issue, a bolt that holds one of the arms to the side of the unit vibrated off. Easy enough of a fix.

Big suggestion: Ensure that the 4 bolts that attach to the front of the unit are not tight. The unit is soooo much easier to raise and lower if they tightened, then backed off about 1/4 to 1/2 a turn. It's a night and day difference.

After every few uses, I go through it and check all the bolts just to make sure they aren't backing out.

My biggest complaint is that this thing is huge and difficult to store when winter's over. When I have it out and am using it though, all my neighbor's are fully of envy!

I bought this snow blower in fall of 2012. I have used it all winter of 2012-2013, and so far this winter too. I spent extra timer ensuring everything was aligned and adjusted properly when I assembled it. This thing is fantastic, and I have only had 1 issue, a bolt that holds one of the arms to the side of the unit vibrated off. Easy enough of a fix.

Big suggestion: Ensure that the 4 bolts that attach to the front of the unit are not tight. The unit is soooo much easier to raise and lower... more

Compard to my JD this is a piece of junk, they sent the wrong undercarriage, I said I need smaller belt, they took it in to make sure I mounted it properly and then installed a smaller much thinner belt. The first use the factory installed bolts fell out of the lift arm.

I replaced the bolts and checked all the others. Several were loose, after being in the shop for 2 weeks to install a belt. Next thing to go was the PLASTIC trigger to release the deck down, it's made of plastic and cracked rendering it useless, we had 12 inches of snow and had over 1000 feet of driveway to clear so I manually release the lock and had to use the lift arm to hold the deck up while backing up, an important part like this made of plastic.

I am open to suggestions on how to repair this, the trigger is not available by itself but is available with the entire cable for around $50

Compard to my JD this is a piece of junk, they sent the wrong undercarriage, I said I need smaller belt, they took it in to make sure I mounted it properly and then installed a smaller much thinner belt. The first use the factory installed bolts fell out of the lift arm.

I replaced the bolts and checked all the others. Several were loose, after being in the shop for 2 weeks to install a belt. Next thing to go was the PLASTIC trigger to release the deck down, it's made of plastic and... more

I was not logged in the first time i reviewed, the first review was under "Scott."

as i stated in that first review, the unit seemed flimsy and the impeller was off center a fair amount which would cause a lot of problems with the chute clogging up, etc.

before i was even able to use this attachment i ordered a rubber impeller flap kit online.

with this installed this snow blower works amazing. I've used it on wet heavy snow 11 inches deep (going really slow) and it throws the white stuff at least 25 feet. 50+ feet in powder.

other notes: the chute rotating device is terrible. it takes some effort to spin it. only rotates around 180 degrees also, not 220 like most...really sucks.

The unit was far too heavy for a gravel driveway and its oem skids. i welded some 3/8" plate steel to the bottom of the those skids to give it a 2" wide skid. works much better. All in all i fairly pleased with how well this unit clears the snow. i have not had any problems ruining belts so far. so fingers crossed.

I was not logged in the first time i reviewed, the first review was under "Scott."

as i stated in that first review, the unit seemed flimsy and the impeller was off center a fair amount which would cause a lot of problems with the chute clogging up, etc.

before i was even able to use this attachment i ordered a rubber impeller flap kit online.

with this installed this snow blower works amazing. I've used it on wet heavy snow 11 inches deep (going really slow) and it throws... more

The unit looks to be pretty cheap and flimsy. Took me less than 30 min to install on tractor.It's impossible to get pulleys for belts lined up perfectly. But it should be good enough for the belts to last a season

The impeller is over 3/8" of center. So much for it being balanced. With the impeller being this far of center means that the gap between each fan and the housing is different. The smallest gap being 3/16", and the largest being well over 5/8". This gap is unacceptable for efficient snow clearing. I have not used it yet, but I expect to have ALOT of clogging issues, which means I have to get my chubby butt off the tractor more, which means the whole snow blowing process is going to take longer.

I have ordered an impeller kit to close the gap of the impeller fans.....hopefully this will hide any issues that I could have.

I will be sure to write another review as soon I get the chance to move some snow. I have a feeling that this blower is going to be a 1300 dollar yard ornament.

The unit looks to be pretty cheap and flimsy. Took me less than 30 min to install on tractor.It's impossible to get pulleys for belts lined up perfectly. But it should be good enough for the belts to last a season

The impeller is over 3/8" of center. So much for it being balanced. With the impeller being this far of center means that the gap between each fan and the housing is different. The smallest gap being 3/16", and the largest being well over 5/8". This gap is... more