New Guy - Western MA
 

Hello All,

I have lurked on here for a few years from time to time, trying to get myself inspired to get an old Cub Cadet of mine going.

Short Version - I picked up a 1250 back in 2008 from a guy at work that was moving and was trying to downsize a lot of what he had in his barn. I knew him fairly well and trusted him - he told me that it did run, but that its sat in his barn for quite a few years.

It did fire up, but ran like garbage. I figured the carb. just needed to be cleaned/rebuilt. I managed to get it back to my house after finding a trailer - little did I know this thing was so heavy. I expected to pick it up with a few guys and get it in the back of my truck - not how it ultimately unfolded.

It sat under my porch for about 4 more years as my house projects took up most of my time. Summer of 2012 I went down and purchased a new battery and took the carb off and went through it. Cleaned the tank and put fresh gas in it, and to my surprise it fired up - and then it moved! forward and backward. I could not believe it.

I had no grass in the yard at that point (all sand - which is why this project was not on the top of the list). I drove it around the yard though not believing how good it was running. Then....it started to spit and sputter and then died. It started back up again a few minutes later and round and round we went. If I let it sit for a few minutes, it would fire up, and run for a few minutes then die.

I took the carb apart again, but never found anything so I parked it. 6 years later I am now interested in trying to get this thing in order as I now have an actual lawn. I have been told that it may be the valves getting hung up in the head? I have also been told it could be electrical.

Ultimately I'm hoping to get some information here on pointers of places to start and what other items I should address as I get into this. For some reason I remember previously reading that these things have issues with exhaust metal and motor mounts??

Some pics below for good measure!

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like your issue is the fuel flow coming from the tank, i suspect something is restricting the flow from the tank to the carb which doesn't allow the the carb to fill up fast enough.

Have you cleaned the screen in the tank?

I was not aware that there was a screen in the tank. That would certainly make sense though. I will check into that. Thank you!

Any other suggestions on things to check out? Was I right about these having exhaust issues and motor mount issues? Good idea to change fluid in the rear end?

Where in Mass are you? I'm in Whately