Something I might mention is those " small" farm tractors of that vintage do not have live power, so when we put belly mowers, or rear mowers on them, when the tractor slows down so do the attachments/mowers.
I have a little chalmers "B" with a rear semi mounted sickle bar, and it takes some getting used to when mowing hay or ditch banks.
You kind of have to "get a running start" so to speak.
But no problem really, just something different.
I still prefer my haybine tho, for mowing hay.:beerchug:

Awesome! I really enjoy learing about these things lol yall are extremely helpful.

When did "Live Power" become a standard feature? I suppose thats why i was always told when i was a kid to mow in 1st gear with the thottle up, low speed for a clean cut, but high rpm to keep the blades spinning at the appropreiate speed. it all makes sence now haha.

The reason i suppose im stuck on a pre-82 IH 982 super GT is because, at least as of late, MTD has a poor record of quaity. I mean no disrespect to anyone whom has an MTD Cadet, I have a troybuilt push mower that works great, but over all, and from what i have heard, they seem to have lost there quality. Just an "out of the box" lawn mower so to speak.

Were the 1872 and 2072 Supers still quality tractors? When did MTD take over officially? i believe CCC lasted until '86 or '89 if iirc. Were the CCC tractors made with the same quality as the IH machines?

The 18 and 2072 are fantastic machines, pretty much the same as the IH models they replaced. Biggest difference is the alum rear end housings. I'm more concerned with how long the Kohler engine in my 2072 will last than all other concerns about that machine combined!

Live power means the PTO has its own clutch you can engage it anytime.
Old way was to start the mower or whatever you had to push in the clutch which stops the tractor moving as well. They shared a clutch so to speak
I've had to bale hay with an old M and it's not fun

The Lo-boy numbered series was the first cub-sized live pto setup. It wasn't great, but it did let you stop the tractor without stopping the mower ( or whatever else you were using)

If I needed to mow 2+ acres of open, then Farmall Cub w/ belly mower.

If it were trees, then Cub Cadet. More nimble and lower.

There's an old man with a real nice lot, maybe 2 acres, about a mile or so from me that cuts his lawn with a F-Cub. I've always liked the place & he really takes nice care of his property and buildings. I'll admit I've been waiting patiently (and optimistically) for it to go up for sale....

The lot would be doable with a Cadet though too. Maybe a little time consuming....

I don't know how many of you guys have ever mowed with a Cub tractor, but in my opinion they are a complete joke for mowing. You better hope the grass isn't growing fast or you can't even wait a week between mowings. I grew up around quite a few of them since my dad worked for an IH dealer and I helped there part time. I got to test quite a few after the mechanics were done with them by mowing the back lot. There's just not enough power there to pull a 60" deck. The 48" or whatever the single blade decks are were better on power but you could hardly mow as wide as the wheel track. Dad's Cub has a 3 blade Woods deck and a rebuilt engine, I'll blow past him with either of my Supers. Any decent 12hp Cadet is a better mower than a Cub. I will say the IH decks that had the built in ratcheting center pulley were nice so you could shift gears without having to wait for the deck to stop. The 154-185 Lo-boys did seem to have a little more power, must have been different gearing in the PTO. Cubs are great for running a sickle mower or cultivating, other than that they are just pretty much obsoleted---too much work to mount tillage tools unless they are fast hitch. If you really want a tractor to mow with, upgrade to a Super A, 100, 130 or 140 and then you will have something decent. You can get the mowers belly mount or rear mount.

"Littler" is right--I saw one recently at the Rock River Thresheree, and another one just up the road asking $3500 [!], and the engine block looks like something out of a half scale model.
More to my liking, there's a very clean Farmall A and an M in town and they both run and work and I can have them both for less than $3500. And that's not even taking into account CAT0 vs CAT1 vs Brinley...

Sidewinder, IMHO, MTD improved what IH made. The Cyclops were the last true garden tractors built by MTD but the 3000 series are great mowing machines. I agree with John on the Farmall Cub. I owned one and it was pretty cool but I couldn't use it as a weekly mowing machine but they are pretty cool in the garden.

The 982 was the biggest IH built but the largest deck available was a 50" cut. MTD used better engines and decks than IH did. The 1872/2072 is an improved 982 with a larger deck available, power steering, more standard options and a better driveline. The Cyclops SGT's are an improved 1872/2072.