RC48 Mower Deck Transplant to 54" Cub Cadet Deck

[Blue280z]

Hi All,

My G5200 garden tractor came with a unique mower deck. It seems the original Kubota RC48 decks for the G5200 were made from a terrible metal that rusted. The previous owner of my tractor must have had the same problem so he was clever and transplanted the key parts of the RC48 to a Cub Cadet 54" deck.

Below are some details. It looks like he cut out the top deck of the Kubota that contained the gearbox and two outer spindles then welded this to a similarly cut-out CC54" deck. He also seems to have either transferred or fabricated the front attachment points and rear hanger points.

Note, most of the belt ways are the same but the angle of the tension pulley spring was changed. There seems to be an additional front right wheel too.

I hope this is helpful.



Transplant Body


Weld Line




Bottom (Weld Lines can be seen)



Hanger Bracket Detail



Front Bracket Detail

 

[Blue280z]

Cub Cadet 54"



Another look at weld line from top

 

[Blue280z]

 

[marine-mp]

Hey Blue280z, good to see y’all again!!!! Finally getting that fiddytwohunert out of cold storage, huh!!!! Be time soon for it to go back into hibernation!!!! Thanks for posting the pictures. The former owner has some ingenious ideas for that deck. I imagine the yellow one is yours also??? If that orange one is yours, it’s in “great” shape compared to the one I had to rebuild!!!!! Anywho, welcome back and thank you kindly for the intel. I’ll mark this one for later….just in case!! Take care. Semper-fi & This We’ll Defend, Mike

 

[Blue280z]

Hi Marine-MP. Likewise. Good to hear from you too! It has been a crazy last 10 months but getting back on track now. I only have the grey one. The other photos are for reference to help others. Perhaps the RC48 is yours before the resto? It was a nice one for comparison so I re-posted it.

 

[Torinodan]

I have a 50 inch deck (like yours) I plan on doing the same mod too. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[XYooper906]

I can see why the previous owner/fabricator chose the CC deck for the transplant. The deck stampings are very similar. What surprises me is that he was able to reuse the top portion of the Kubota deck that the spindles mount to. From what I've seen during my short ownership of my G5200 is that most of those series decks rust out in that very area. Of course, any deck can rust out in other areas, especially if repeatedly stored with wet grass clippings stuck to it.

As someone who has done quite a bit of fabrication, I do appreciate seeing other's custom solutions to a particular problem. I sometimes have to balance in my head what is possible to repair vs. what is practical to repair. This looks to be a fairly straightforward transplant, and appears to have been a successful one judging by the evidence of use afterwards.

Thank you for posting the pics!

 

[Torinodan]

This is the 50 inch I'm going to mod.