Hello OCC
 

Hi. My name is Marty and i bought a lake house in the fall that came with a ~1986 Hydro 782. I bought a Cub Cadet roto tiller new several years ago and never knew how well-engineered and well-built Cub Cadet equipment was until then. I was curious how my new 782 would be and sure enough, it is solid. It needed some TLC -- the air-cooling shrouds had never been removed and 34 years of oily mowing-dust had packed the cooling fins on the left head, and around the starter such that the bendix could not move to the flywheel -- but it runs good now.

I am joining this forum because there is an element of the snowblower I cannot figure out, and there will probably be other questions as I start to mow the grass next summer. Thanks for being here! I'll go post my question about the belt tensioner now. I could not find it on a search.

PS - It also came with a rotor tiller which I do not need. Will figure out where to post it, in case anyone wants it.

Welcome to OCC........... :Welcome2:

The 782 model was made from 1979 to 1984. The chassis serial can pin point the Month & Year.

Thanks. re: the year, I was going by the original purchase receipt from the original owner, of 1986. However online I found info that says the 5th digit of the s/n is the last digit of the year. That would make it an '85. Am I reading the s/n wrong? Thanks again.

Only the last 6 digits of the serial number are the actual serial number for the tractor. The first part (2050585) indicates what model the machine is, and the "U" indicates that it was built in the United States.

your tractor's serial number is 712662. When looking at this chart: http://cubfaq.com/pdf/ccc_serial_numbers.pdf, your 782 is just barely a 1982, first year that they were produced in the Yellow and white color scheme.

The Kind code (2050585) lines up with it being a 782. :beerchug:

It's a 1983.

Oops my bad :biggrin2:

I've never been the best doing serial number math

Thanks gents. 1983 it is. That will help as I try to find parts.
Now if only I could find anyone with the same snowblower as I have on this, to help me understand the belt tensioner as-intended. I've posted that separately but gotten zero replies. :-/

When ordering parts, the magic number is...... 712662

Speaking for myself, the snowblower question is vague and the pictures you posted does not give a clear picture. I am guessing, this is the reason for a lack of responses.

Welcome! :beerchug:

Yea, I wish I took a better picture. Will do that next time I'm up there. I figured if someone had that snowblower they'd know what I was talking about because it is so unusual. I've worked on cars and equipment my whole life (56 yrs) and not seen anything quite like it, and the pictures in the manual just don't show the details. Thanks for the welcome messages.