Mahindra Tractors???

And all of those components are built to the OEM manufacturers spec. Just because both engines say Briggs on them and appear similar, does not mean they are equal. The same is especially true with the transmissions. The frames on the Deere's are a fully welded piece. The frames on a Cub/Troy/MTD machine were held together in several spots with large self-tapping sheet-metal screws.

Please never use that deck wash system. Ever. The rest is fluff.

The turning radius is interesting. Unless it's more than 2" or so however you are unlikely to notice a difference in actual operation. Turning radius is a 2 part equation with a mower. Both the actual radius and a second spec, seldom advertised are equally important. The "uncut circle" left by a machine is something to consider considering it's primary purpose as a mower. Rear gauge wheels on 42" decks are pretty much there for cosmetics unless you are mowing a serious washboard of a front yard, and then the terrain is likely to tear any of these relatively fragile mower decks to shreds anyhow with the gauge wheel mounting brackets usually succumbing first.

What makes them better? In my eyes it's the number of these units that are STILL out there running 12 years after they hit the market. They exceeded my expectations as we were told upfront that they were designed with a 7-10 year useful life with average use. Plenty of them wound up in the hands of ambitious homeowners who were undersold by HD/Lowes or worse yet, their dealer. They proceeded to kill them mowing 13 acres, and plowing snow all winter plus don't forget the giant cart used to haul the occasional load of topsoil, stone, or mulch if the machine was lucky. These machines died very early deaths, hardly making it past the warranty period and are largely responsible for the negative sentiments often expressed towards this series. Also, many replacement parts for these were actually cheaper and easier to replace than their MTD counterparts. Notable example being the mower spindles.

 

True that. The paint on one of these tractors in question actually IS better than most of the competition. But that doesn't sell tractors.

I guess what bothers me the most about the Cub units is that, mechanically speaking, they really are not any better than similar units from the same manufacturer painted another color and priced differently. We all joke about green paint being so expensive but what makes yellow more expensive than red or black?

 

On machines that were working well above their pay grade, yes. All K46's are not created equal either. My LT180 has the dreaded K46 trans. Pulls a yard cart, mows 2 acres on a substantial hillside and runs a 42" snowblower attachment in the winter. That machine is now 13 years old and still running strong with about 500 hours on the clock. An I guarantee you it isn't the same K46 they put under the Lightning platform machines.

Glad to hear it. It only took them a decade to catch up. I should amend my statement to read that at the time they were brought to market, those box-store Deere's were well above the competition. Over a decade later, it looks like Cub may have a good competitor and Husqvarna has been doing well against the Deere's as well.

All in all, it looks like you'd spend roughly $100 more on a Deere over it's equivalent Cub Cadet XT1-type machine. And the Lightning tractors are now riding 12-13 year old tech. But I'd have a hard time on coming up with any significant changes really. Maybe do 4 gauge wheels on the 42" deck (the 48" decks are already 4-wheelers) and tighten up turn radius a tad. And honestly, (and this applies to ALL lawn tractors, not just green ones) if the deck is leveled and adjusted properly (which is extremely rare on a new unit), the gauge wheels will have no effect on how "even" the cut is and rear gauge wheels only help out in certain instances. Plus, none of the machines in this price range have gauge wheel brackets that will stand up to any kind of rough terrain. Welding them things back on is probably one of the most frequent repairs to these units.

Those are aftermarket replacements, albeit from quality vendors. But even the OEM parts are within about $10 of each other according to a quick google search. Pricing on the MTD part varies wildly from vendor to vendor.