First Post - Cub Cadet 3206

carhopper · #1 09-22-2012, 10:40 PM

Hi guys, this is my first post and my first cub. I have had a John Deere zero turn for about 5 years and a Huffy before that. I live on 2 acres of rough hilly terrain so the zero turn can be a bit squirrelly on the hills. I do enjoy mowing the lawn with it, but I'm afraid to let my son or wife on the zero turn. I also had an 89 Wheelhorse 310-8 without a mower deck. I just used this to pull a 900lb jet ski down to the lake in the back yard. It does a pretty good job but takes a lot of weight and sometimes some extra pushing to get it out of the lake. The wheelhorse only has one wheel of traction in the rear and I desperately needed dual, hence the 3206.

I started looking for a heavy duty tractor capable of pulling such a trailer. I was eyeing the John Deere X500 for a while but couldn't find a used one locally and the remote ones were very expensive any way. Since it's the end of the jet ski season, I decided to sell the wheelhorse and the JD to have money to buy something else. I sold the wheelhorse and then traded the cash plus the Z425 to a dealer for a 3206.

It's a very nice tractor with power steering, differential lock, and nearly $1,000lbs with the mower deck and filled rear wheels. It jerks that jet ski up much easier when I engage the diff lock. It needed quite a bit of TLC as I've been working on it all weekend. I sent it back to the dealer immediately because apparently the fuel pump failed and\or the float valve was sticking. They cleaned the carb and replaced the fuel pump and now it runs great.

I spent a few hours leveling and adjusting the mower deck first, then I tightened up all of the loose bolts that I found. The brakes needed to be adjusted, and the brake safety switch wasn't fully engaging with the parking brake on, so I bent the bracket in just slightly since I didn't see an adjustment for that. Now everything works like a charm.

There are just a few other things that bug me. One is the deck stop adjustment. I can't get the thing to budge. I suppose with a properly adjusted mower deck and rollers you don't need it anyway. I figure if I lock the deck at some level, the deck won't float any more. The 2nd is the forward control speed. I think it needs to be adjusted because I have to press hard on the pedal to get it to go faster that a moderate pressure. I got the manual from the manufacturer web site so I'll dig into those next weekend.

cubby102 · #2 09-23-2012, 02:30 AM

Sounds like ya got a good one. Everyone on the site loves pics. the more the merrier

Vince_o · #3 09-23-2012, 06:04 AM

Before you go messing with the linkage be sure there's not 5 years of grass in the frame that is limiting the travel of the linkage.

I'm surprised you had to do that much work to the unit, if we are reselling a cub, we go threw them and fix everything. If its a, lets say, a snapper, you get what you see.

Cubcrazy · #4 09-23-2012, 07:51 AM

carhopper · #5 09-23-2012, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubby102

Sounds like ya got a good one. Everyone on the site loves pics. the more the merrier

Nothing to look at really, it's still stock right now and one of the cub cadet stickers was peeling off so I removed it. I'll get some pics up when I put on AG tires and have the jet ski trailer in tow.

carhopper · #6 09-23-2012, 08:33 AM

Let me ask you guys something, my model number and serial are Model 14A-652-100 Serial 1E152G20022. Apparently there was a newer and earlier model, and I got the earlier one since my serial is before 1J. What year was mine produced and what are the differences with the newer Series 3000 as well as the newer GT. Are the GTs the same.

Oak · #7 09-23-2012, 10:42 AM

Welcome carhopper. The 3000 series are great tractors. Your machine was built May 15, 2002 and was the 22nd built that day on assembly line #2. The 3206 were built from 2000 to 2002 and have the cast iron rear. The locking differential is nice but be careful on how you use it. I see a lot of these machines with blown out rears because the locker will break inside and then the broken pieces will break the case.
I have a 3205 and 2 3165's but mine are the older design and don't have the deck height adjustment knob. My decks ride on the front casters and rear rollers. They changed the brake location on the later machines and moved them inside the frame. Mine have the disc brakes located out near the wheels.
I have a few 3000 series repair manuals that I can email you (pm me your email)or maybe one of the mods can post it in the manual section.
Now, let's see some pictures of it!

jsoluna · #8 09-23-2012, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carhopper

There are just a few other things that bug me. One is the deck stop adjustment. I can't get the thing to budge. I suppose with a properly adjusted mower deck and rollers you don't need it anyway. I figure if I lock the deck at some level, the deck won't float any more. The 2nd is the forward control speed. I think it needs to be adjusted because I have to press hard on the pedal to get it to go faster that a moderate pressure. I got the manual from the manufacturer web site so I'll dig into those next weekend.

Welcome to the club! I own a 3205 myself and love it.

The deck stop adjuster needs to be adjusted with the deck height above the position indicated on the deck stop knob. Raise the deck up and try turning the knob again, then slowly let the deck back down to rest on the knob's setting. These are a great feature to have but need to be used properly. I've seen plenty of deck stop mechanisms broken because the knob was adjusted with the deck riding on top of it during the adjustment.

Your difflock is another awesome feature, but also needs to be used properly to ensure its longevity. When the difflock pins fail on these rearends its almost always because the user attempted to engage the difflock while moving, thus shearing the pins. ALWAYS stop the tractor, press difflock pedal, then slowly take off. If you remain a constant forward motion, the difflock will stay engaged even with your foot off the pedal. To disengage, stop the tractor, release pedal, and slowly take off. The rears on these tractors arent as stout as the IH Cubs, but if used (and abused - I've had mine through some loads I really shouldnt) properly will last a lifetime. Hydro is also very strong, it's the HydroGear BDU-21 pump.

Remove the fenders for sure, your linkages, hydro, and pretty much a good portion of the entire tractor are accessible in about 15 minutes. My bet is that you just need to clean everything out in there and lube all the pivot points. This goes a long way to changing how the 3000 Series pedals react.

Best of luck, lets see that beast!!!

carhopper · #9 09-23-2012, 06:59 PM

Wow thanks guys, that's great information. I'll heed your warnings about the diff lock. I will likely only need it when I'm pulling the jet skis up the hill.

My deck won't raise above about 5-1/2, the instructions say to raise until it is at 6. Maybe there is an adjustment to get it higher before it will adjust.

jsoluna · #10 09-23-2012, 09:11 PM

For what its worth, my 44" deck on my 3205 only lifts to 5.25 on the indicator as well.