982 Cub Cadet

Navajo350

Member
I'm looking to buy a heavier duty lawn mower than the 1211 I'm currently using around the farm house and property. I see a 982 with a heavy duty 60" deck, supposedly all original original with less than 1,000 hours. It looks real clean and even newer.

Is this series a pretty good, heavy duty lawn mower? How is the engine? It's an Onan according to Tractor Data, and I don't know much about them. I was looking at the 2072s and 2082s that I used to mow lawn with 25 years ago and they were great, heavy duty lawn mowers, but they are a little steep for me.

Thanks,

Robert
 
I've heard that the onan engine parts are pretty pricy, but that's only scuttlebutt. I've got one I need to drop in my 1811 to replace the smoked Kohler twin. I guess I'll find out when I pickup the coil.

This sub forum is pretty slow, there's one called cubcadetsonlyDOTnet that's pretty active.
 
The Onans are a darned good engine, as good as a little air cooled engine gets.

If it's been taken care of and you take care of it... keep a good, clean air filter in place, and change engine oil and filter regularly it will last a LONG LONG time.

If and when it needs a major OH, you are looking at big bucks, though.
 
Agree with all that. Good news is, once an Onan is fixed right, you shouldn't need parts for a l o n g.... time. If parts are needed there are some options beyond Onan/Cummins that are a lot cheaper. A normal overhaul, not rebuild, is what they normally need and can be done for a few hundred, usually 2-300 bucks, if you're the labor source.
 
The Onanas seem to be a good motor. I have a 782 which I believe is the same tractor but had a 17.5 Kohler. I repowerd with a 20 HP kohler and I cant be beat. What a machine. I would recommend either, I have been looking for a 982 to repower, but at a reasonable price. I have a total of $1000 in my machine. Looks really sharp.
 
What's up? You didn't like the responces you were getting on the IH forum?
As I said there, Many Many BAD design features on the Onan engine. Governor design is just stupid,
plastic finger wheel to spin ball bearings centically out and move a cknical washer, Finger wheel is
pressed onto machined shoulder of cast iron gear, and plastic expands FIVE times as much as cast iron.
Engine looses rpm, then surges and over-revs. Diecast conn rods break with some frequency, normally
destroy the block when they break. Ignition points and condensor actually installed where crankcase oil
vapor can accumulate on the points. The new points & condensor only last about 125 hours anymore. Cost
about $100 with tax & Shipping.

A 982 is a great tractor, Onan is a terrible engine. Guy that posts on another forum was a service tech
for welding supply shop, they had a mountain of blown up Onan's. Scrap them all out and start a new
mountain. Onan was a popular engine in Lincoln & Miller welder-generators.

Don't plan on anything close to a $200-$300 rebuild. Fuel pump was $106 plus tax 16 years ago! Carb kit
was $40 6 yrs ago. The B48G in my 982 had over $2000 spent on it in 1999.

If your going to buy a 982, buy it cheap enough you can put a new or slightly used Kohler OHV V-twin in
it. And make sure it has all the options, 2nd aux. remote hyd valve with frt outlets, steering brakes,
Cat O 3-pt, rear PTO, and steering brakes.

I bought my 982 18 years ago. Put about 500 hours on it. I haven't used it much the last 2 years since I
got my Cub Cadet Tank zero turn. Took 4 hours to mow my 2.3 acres, Tank took 3 hours first mowing, do it
in 2-1/2 hrs now, need to grind some stumps and I'll be under 2 hours. Still like the 982 tractor, still
hate the Onan. 982 is the ONLY Cub Cadet that used the Onan.
 
I've got two Onans, a P218 with 1800 hours and a P220 with 1250 hours, have spent very little money on either one, both are on Wheel Horses, good runners.
 
Both those engines have electronic ignition, NOT points & condensor ignition like my B48G has. Longest time I've got out of a points/condensor was 140 hours, 125 on last one, I replaced and the one in the engine has about 75-80 hours and is going bad. Last p&c I bought was about $70 several years ago, bet it's $100 Now! The new Chinese or Thailand imported ignition parts SUCK! Even ignition parts for my Kohler engines are not near as good as what you could buy 20-30 years ago. My problem is I don't have a drawer full of points/condensors for Onans like I have for Kohlers.
Next time I'm buying an electronic ignition replacement from Dave Kirk. My Kohler Points Saver I got from him years ago died a quick and sudden death, Dave replaced it but I didn't install the new one.

I don't have the uneasy feeling I just lit a short fuse on a firecracker when I start the Kawasaki FX850V engine in my Cub Cadet TANK zero turn like I do when I start the Onan in my 982. Every 982 and most 1872, 2072, etc CC Super garden tractors guys on IHCubCadet.com have now have Kohler or Briggs engines, think I have the only Onan. Says Everything about Onan durability!
 
GOSH, what are you doing to "kill" points like that?

I've had and used a couple of 318's (Onans) and a 400 (Kohler) (all DEEREs) for 20+ years or so and have NEVER replaced the breaker points in any of 'em, and they'll all start before you can let go of the key.

On a "larger" note, I've had a gas 4020, the second most scorned tractor DEERE ever made, for close to ten years and haven't touched the breaker points.

A BASIC secret for long breaker point life is to NEVER leave the ignition switch in the "ON" position if the engine is not running.
 
Bob, SERIOUSLY? Your 318 didn't even have ignition points, used some sort of solid state magneto. The #532 Kohler in the 400 was an orphan when Deere put it in the 400. Very unpopular engine with a poor reputation.
I loaned my 982 to my son one summer to mow with. He had too many beers one afternoon and left the key on for a couple hours, 2 or 3, after mowing. I've had two bad condensors since then, so that wasn't the cause. I replace points because a bad condensor is really hard on the points. Maybe it's Onan's stupid idea of putting the points & condensor in a place where oil vapor can get on the points and cause the contacts to burn why they last such a short time and that gets terribly hot, electrical gear loves high temps! My Kohler K-series points last hundreds of hours because their design keeps oil vapor INSIDE the engine and heat away from the points. I'd like to drop an air-cooled 2-cylinder Deutz into the 982. That is a durable engine!

Your being overly harsh about your gas 4020. There were several in our neighborhood. BTO I worked for ended up with one after buying a farm, he needed a little more hp, only had two 4020-D's and a couple 2-cylinders I hated with a passion. The 4020 gas was only able to plow in 4th with 5-14's, the 4020-D's and 4320 ran 5th everywhere with the same plow.

Now 3020 gas tractors were tempermental. Different Neighbor had one, Why I don't know. He farmed 160 acres with a 4020-turbo, 3020 gas, 730-diesel pony start, and a Farmall 350. The 350 was his first and only tractor when he started farming on the 160 across the back fence from our farm. When he quit farming the only running tractor he had was that 350. The other three wouldn't run. He was one of those guys who could break a steel anvil with a rubber tack hammer.
 
Go buy that 982. If the Onan is running good it's been well maintained and probably will last if you do the same. The red 982's are getting harder to find and a nice one should be on par with the 2072/2082 pricewise. What I have found with the 982's that I have seen -- many of them have been repowered with the original Onan long gone.
 

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