Cub Cadet Pricing - 1250

Locally a couple of Cub Cadet 1250s have come up for sale. Neither is especially nice but both appear to be in decent running shape. I currently have a 1450 and a 125 - I thought I might pick up the 1250 and sell my 125. Called both ads - both guys are asking $750 for their cubs. I thought they were both about $250-$300 to high given what they were (no lights on either, both could use new seats - no rear lift arm). They appear to have been shed kept but one didn't even have a deck and the other had some ugly looking welds on the deck and they appear they've been well used in their 40+ years.


I know they have some collector value - but I'm buying them to use and neither was of "collector" quality. When I bought my 1450 15 years ago it was a mowing machine with a 50" deck and a hydrostat - but since then the Zero Turns seem to have eaten a huge amount of the market of people that want high capacity mowing tractors. Is the Cub market really that hot yet? I know the really old units like an "Original" are a premium and the later red 82 series are sought after but are the run of the mill units really that high? I'm in NE Kansas.

I ended up learning a little more than I would have liked last year and this spring about quietlines. The puller guys seem to like them, and everybody else thinks they are the next big thing for the collector set. They are a decent tractor, but highly over rated in my book. Especially if it didn't come with the creeper gear.

The 1250 is a hydrostat so "creeper gear" doesn't really apply. I like them because the engine is so much cheaper to work on than the 82 series that came after them. The biggest downfall is if the PTO clutch isn't working. Those things are expensive.

$300-400 probably the norm for a wide-frames unless low hours or rebuilt motor. The thing that keeps prices low these days is the outrageous motor rebuild costs.

I restored a nice 1450 in '91 (paid $600) and used it to mow and clear snow for many years. Had the motor rebuilt in '99 for just $300. The quietlines were good tractors and the rubber motormounts and massive cast-iron grille helped dampen the single-cylinder vibration. I now have a 782 and 982 and prefer the smooth twin motors.

Both the quietlines and the '82s mow great and I'll gladly relax and enjoy the ride watching my neighbors rattle their teeth and bobble their heads with their zero-turns.

The old single cylinder Kohlers are still cheap to rebuild - the engines in the 782 and 982 (especially the 982) cost as much as a small block chevy V8 to rebuild.

Yeah the Onans are crazy expensive. On the 982 I priced a NOS shortblock for $1250, then got lucky and found a real nice '94 P220 for $485 off ebay. The 782 has a good Kohler M18 from a CC 1811. FIL was restoring a 149 last year and wanted to rebuild the K321. Machine work including hot tank would have been $400, parts another $300+.