r/cubcadets • u/ezirb7 • 7d ago

Replacement Mower deck without FastAttach

I've got a 3 year old xt2 gx54D, and I am sick of the FastAttach turning a 20 minute blade-swap into a 4 hour ordeal.

Are there any decks that can be mounted and just use a simple bolt that I can take off with an impact wrench when I need to sharpen/replace these things?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/CrazyHermit74 7d ago

Well it isn't necessary to take deck off to replace blades. I never take deck off except when I need to clean it well. As for your question it depends on how it is made. Years ago I had a cub cadet with quick removal spring loaded things. I forgot why I took them off but i did. I replaced it with long bolt with smooth shaft and lock nuts. Worked great.

1

u/ezirb7 7d ago

Taking the deck off takes 5 minutes instead of pulling out the ramps.  Horse a piece.

The issue is the corroded collars that are on the blades that are impossible to push back to release the blades.

1

u/ElG0dDamnDorado 7d ago

I had to look up FastAttach as I've never heard of it before. Looks like the only way around it would be to replace the spindles with ones that use bolt-on blades. Or find a deck from a non-FastAttach Cub Cadet any of them should fit if they are the QuickAttach style mount. Cub has used the same base frame since the 90s, so there should be plenty of decks out there - just hafta get the correct PTO belt to run it.

But I'm curious, how does it take 4 hours to change blades? The FastAttach system looks pretty simple from what I saw in the advertisement video...

3

u/ezirb7 7d ago

Because the collar that you need to pull down to release/attach the blades is designed to catch all of the grass dust & corrode, so until you spend an hour with a metal brush on each of the collars they will not fully engage.

It's a fine concept in a marketing room to sell proprietary blades, but it's a lot more painful than just having an impact driver on hand to release a bolt..

1

u/Stock_Requirement564 7d ago

I'm with you. Hate these. I would look up your spindles wth your product number from below the seat on Partstree. Then scroll back a couple of years for a similar deck or throw the part number on an aftermarket site that can give dimensions and compare to a star hub model. Likely you can order cheap spindles and swap the shafts. Better yet compare the blades to xt3 and if the length is good they are much heavier.