Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower

   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower
  • Thread Starter
#31  
Hi - and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you :)

The 2017 mowing season is over, and I have cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the 4 knives, and my Zanon mower and I are ready for the coming season. This was my fifth season with the ZCR, and I used it for another 30 hours this year, bringing the total up to 169 hours.

As Zanon has not come up with a replacement for the ZCR on their home page, updating this thread might seem like a waste of my time, but I had one experience this summer that might be of interest to users of other Zanon mowers with a similar drive train. This could be mowers like the ZRA lawn mower with side discharge, the ZRF disc mower or the FALK brush mower.

As can be seen on my pictures in post #7 in this thread, there is a universal joint in the drive line through the PTO-flange. This is in order to allow the flange to be adjusted vertically, allowing the deck to run parallel to the ground independent of tractor wheel size and mowing hight. Each part of the universal joint is fitted with a bolt - and these 2 bolts gave me a sudden and big surprise this summer! One day as I was mowing, the tractor stopped very abrupt, with the engine still running and the mower free-wheeling to a stop. As this happened at brisk walking speed in 3rd gear - and without warning - I almost stumbled and fell on top of the tractor. The PowerSafe clutch did a good job protecting the engine from the shock load, as it slipped, allowing the engine to continue to run. I turned the engine off, and began investigating. At first I was afraid that the gearbox of the tractor was the problem, but after removing the yellow cover over the universal joint, the problem was obvious: both bolts had unscrewed themselves, and one of them was now trapped between the universal joint and the bottom of the housing, and thereby making a nice dent (see picture).

DSC05103.jpg

I felt lucky that nothing worse had happened, and after having replaced the 2 bolts, I now mow without the yellow cover over the universal joint, allowing me to keep an eye on the bolts at all time. On top of that, I frequently check that the bolts are tight.

As a little bonus, this incident showed me that the PowerSafe clutch is capable of protecting the engine very well, should the PTO or gearbox get jammed. :thumbsup:

Hi again Brian :)

In your post #25 in this thread, your tell that you hope to purchase a 2-wheel tractor in spring. Did you get one?

I have found it very difficult to find information on the Zanon ZCR mower - before I got mine, and also since. Perhaps I am the only one having one? :confused:

I have read post #13 from rickyd79 of course, but sadly I have not been able to find out, why Joel at Earth Tools and several of his customers did not like the ZCR mower, but I would like to hear. Perhaps your only choice now for a mower with a bag, are the BCS 22" or 38" models, or have you been able to find other brands? I hope that my Zanon will serve me well for many years to come, but if it should not, I would love to try the BCS 38" model as well.


Best regards

Jens
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower #32  
Interesting report Jens. I was using the sickle bar mower with my 739 last year and it grabbed a bite of a very thick maple sapling. The sickle bar jammed completely to stop moving but the engine continued to run. I quickly disengaged the clutch but I am sure I saw the sickle bar stop moving without stalling the engine. Maybe for 2 or 3 seconds. And there was no damage to tractor or implement. I didn't think the tractor clutch would slip so I assumed there was some type of clutch in the sickle bar (oil bath) gear box.
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower #33  
Hi - and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you :)

The 2017 mowing season is over, and I have cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the 4 knives, and my Zanon mower and I are ready for the coming season. This was my fifth season with the ZCR, and I used it for another 30 hours this year, bringing the total up to 169 hours.

As Zanon has not come up with a replacement for the ZCR on their home page, updating this thread might seem like a waste of my time, but I had one experience this summer that might be of interest to users of other Zanon mowers with a similar drive train. This could be mowers like the ZRA lawn mower with side discharge, the ZRF disc mower or the FALK brush mower.

As can be seen on my pictures in post #7 in this thread, there is a universal joint in the drive line through the PTO-flange. This is in order to allow the flange to be adjusted vertically, allowing the deck to run parallel to the ground independent of tractor wheel size and mowing hight. Each part of the universal joint is fitted with a bolt - and these 2 bolts gave me a sudden and big surprise this summer! One day as I was mowing, the tractor stopped very abrupt, with the engine still running and the mower free-wheeling to a stop. As this happened at brisk walking speed in 3rd gear - and without warning - I almost stumbled and fell on top of the tractor. The PowerSafe clutch did a good job protecting the engine from the shock load, as it slipped, allowing the engine to continue to run. I turned the engine off, and began investigating. At first I was afraid that the gearbox of the tractor was the problem, but after removing the yellow cover over the universal joint, the problem was obvious: both bolts had unscrewed themselves, and one of them was now trapped between the universal joint and the bottom of the housing, and thereby making a nice dent (see picture).

View attachment 532968

I felt lucky that nothing worse had happened, and after having replaced the 2 bolts, I now mow without the yellow cover over the universal joint, allowing me to keep an eye on the bolts at all time. On top of that, I frequently check that the bolts are tight.

As a little bonus, this incident showed me that the PowerSafe clutch is capable of protecting the engine very well, should the PTO or gearbox get jammed. :thumbsup:

Hi again Brian :)

In your post #25 in this thread, your tell that you hope to purchase a 2-wheel tractor in spring. Did you get one?

I have found it very difficult to find information on the Zanon ZCR mower - before I got mine, and also since. Perhaps I am the only one having one? :confused:

I have read post #13 from rickyd79 of course, but sadly I have not been able to find out, why Joel at Earth Tools and several of his customers did not like the ZCR mower, but I would like to hear. Perhaps your only choice now for a mower with a bag, are the BCS 22" or 38" models, or have you been able to find other brands? I hope that my Zanon will serve me well for many years to come, but if it should not, I would love to try the BCS 38" model as well.


Best regards

Jens

Hi Jens
Beyond the information I gave on the bagging Zanon a couple of years ago, I don't have anything further. The imported said they were too heavy and there were multiple customer returns so it made no sense to continue selling them. As a dealer I understand that. If its working well for you that is great, no need to change anything in my opinion.

Regarding the bolts and the u joint...I have had bolt come loose as well, but not fall out. I noticed it during a service. I would apply some thread locker as well and I think this will correct the problem.
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower
  • Thread Starter
#34  
Hi again NibbanaFarm - and thank you for your reply :thumbsup:

Like you, I would assume some sort of build-in protection like a slip-clutch or a shearing pin in a sickle bar mower, as it is quite a delicate implement, compared to most rotary mowers. I therefore had a look in the Operators Manual on the homepage of BCS America today. I was not able to find any clutch on a sickle bar mower however, so perhaps your mower - and tractor/engine - were also protected by the slipping PowerSafe clutch for the 2-3 critical seconds, until you disengaged the clutch yourself? Or perhaps there is a clutch that I have missed?

I think there is a fundamental difference to your case and mine however: your sickle bar mower got jammed at the knives, putting a lot of load on the complete power train from the engine to the knives. The "weakest" part of the power train happened to be the PowerSafe clutch, which was good, as it probably protected your mower and engine from any damage. In my instance, the PTO shaft got jammed, and as the high-torque mower protected itself, by free-wheeling to a stop, only the engine and the tractor felt the excessive load. Like in your case, the PowerSafe clutch protected them, until I disengaged the clutch.

It still puzzles me if there is no clutch or other build-in protection in a sickle bar mower. For comparison, I just had a look at my Berta 2-stage snowblower. It has 2 shear pins protecting the left and right sides of the auger respectively, and a third shear pin protecting the impeller - not bad! This gives me a good feeling when working with the implement, as you never know what might wait for you in the deep snow. - A bit like when one is mowing, right? ;)


Best regards

Jens
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower #35  
Jens, What you're saying makes sense. What's confusing me is this. When the sickle bar jammed, I was only running the engine just a little above idle. So I can't imagine it was making much horsepower at all. The clutch should be able to deliver all the motor horsepower to the PTO I would think. Or it couldn't operate large, power hungry implements like rotary mowers, etc. So it seems to me that in this case the clutch should have easily stalled the motor without slipping.

There is a youtube guy, grasshopperranch. In one of his videos he said that he got a rock jammed in his rotary plow and it stalled his diesel BCS running wide open throttle. Wow. That is scary. Anyway, I know it's a different clutch, but I would think any clutch would have to deliver the full rated hp to the PTO.

So in essence, the clutch shouldn't slip. Maybe I'm confused. Not sure.
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower
  • Thread Starter
#36  
Hi NibbanaFarm :)

Like you, I would also expect that a clutch in any vehicle will be able to transfer the maximum torque that the engine can deliver. I would also expect that a safety clutch or shear pin in any implement should to be able to withstand the amount of torque that this implement is designed to handle.

On the other hand, I think it is a very good feature for a clutch if it will slip, should these limits be exceeded, thereby protecting the entire power train. Perhaps that is a feature of the PowerSafe clutch, and perhaps that is what happened to you with your BCS 739, and to me with my BCS 740? Grasshopperranch has a BCS 853 with the traditional cone clutch, which perhaps differs from the PowerSafe clutch in this respect? The chock load that the entire power train had to withstand as his rotary plow jammed and his diesel engine stalled, cannot be good to any component!

It is perhaps useful to remember, that a clutch transfers torque, and that even with reduced engine rpm, the torque can be relative high. At high engine rpm the power transmitted through the clutch increases significantly, but that does not stress the clutch, as torque is dropping slightly at high rpm.

Honda Engines | GX39 4-Stroke Engine | Features, Specs, and Model Info

At 2000 rpm, the Honda GX390 engine produces 25 Nm of torque, or almost 95% of its maximum torque of 26.4 Nm at 2500 rpm. At maximum rpm though, the engine produces "only" 23 Nm, or only 92% of the torque at 2000 rpm - or only around 87% of its maximum torque!

I hope you feel less confused now? :thumbsup:


Best regards

Jens
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower #37  
I know I am dragging up an old thread. I have a single blade Zanon mower deck that I run on a Grillo g85d my Grillo has the 10 hp kohler and larger wheels. It is a beast cutting stuff that my rider chokes on.
 
   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower
  • Thread Starter
#38  
Hi :)

In autumn last year I cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the knives, and tried my best to get the Zanon mower ready and well prepared for the coming season. My ZCR has now served me well for 7 seasons, and I have used it for a total of 236 hours now, and wanted to bring a little update.

During the summer of 2017, the ZCR disappeared from the Zanon homepage, which could indicate that Zanon had chosen to end the production of this particular model. A quick search on the internet today though, brought up this page:

http://www.zanon.it/pdf/prodotti/ZCR-BILAMA.pdf

As the above link is part of the official Zanon homepage, I was surprised to find that they still mention the ZCR mower.

A large Dutch dealer just across the border from Germany, also still mention the Zanon ZCR mower on his homepage:

lozeman - Teilebucher

And finally, the dealer from whom I got my mower, also still mention it on his homepage:

Sichelmahwerke mit Aufnahme | kokotech.de

Whether these 3 links above are simply old links that should have been deleted, or if they mean that the ZCR mower is still available, I don't know. Perhaps some of the well-informed dealers among our members can tell?

At my last update after the 2017 season, I mentioned the problem that I had with the universal joint which is part of the drive line through the PTO-flange. Since this experience, I have left the yellow cover over the universal joint off, allowing me to keep an watchful eye on it at all times. Further more, I often check that the 2 bolts keeping either end of the joint in place, are tight. To connect the incoming and the outgoing shaft to the universal joint, there is a keyed joint at either end of the universal joint. This feature allows the male flange on the coupling to be adjusted up or down, always allowing the deck of the mower to run parallel to the ground, even with varying tractor wheel size and mowing hight.

Last summer then, I noticed that the key on the outgoing shaft was beginning to wear out, as a little bit of slag had developed in the joint, despite my constant effort to keep the fixing bolt tight. I brought the mower to my local BCS dealer, and he recommended to replace not only the worn-out key, but the outgoing half of the universal joint as well. The picture below shows the final result.

DSC05648.jpg

To me this looks like a much more professional solution than the original one, as the new outgoing half of the joint has a slit, that allows it to press tight on the entire circumference of the shaft, and not just at the point where the bolt is.

DSC05649.jpg

The picture above shows the original half of the universal joint with the bolt pressing on the incoming shaft.

Perhaps something similar can be a useful solution to other owners of Zanon mowers, experiencing similar problems.


Best regards

Jens
 
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   / Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower
  • Thread Starter
#39  
Hi ;)

Around 18 month have passed since my last post, so I want to bring a little update that might interest users with a Zanon mower.

I’m in my 9th season with the Zanon ZCR lawn mower, and the mower has accumulated a total of close to 250 hours. In early spring I was struck by bad luck while mowing, as one of the hinged knives struck a stone to hard and broke :cry:

I decided to use this opportunity to replace all 4 knives including their 2 mountings, and save the old parts as spares.

1628357580634.jpeg

A new knife next to a 9 year old one with close to 250 hours of use.


1628357706698.jpeg

The Zanon ZCR standing on its side with the new knives and their new mountings in place.


Best regards

Jens
 
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