Steve_Miller
Veteran Member
For anyone interested in why I purchased this model. I decided last year that I had enough of the bouncing around and slow going of my old Yard Pro 14(42", 14HP Kohler), besides it is 17 years old and things are starting to wear out at inopportune times to my liking. It mowed my 1 acre plus home property for ten years until we built a cottage some 7 or 8 years ago. I took it to the cottage to mow the 2.5 acres or so there for the last 7 or so and bought a low end version Cub hydro (17.5HP/42") for my home knowing that sooner or later I would have to buy something else. I hated this Cub with a passion for the first two years as it spit more grass out the left side than the chute on the right. I know, some of you will think why did he wait this long to figure out why. It just came to me one day in a conversation about mulching blades, so I went to the dealer I bought it from and got a set of gator blades and it was like night and day in the mowing performance, better cut and appeared to be less loading of the engine. As it come to find out there were mulching blades on the deck without the cover being installed on the mower deck. After this maybe Cub wasn't so bad after all. This is leading up to the RZT50 purchase, I decided to upgrade to something different and more productive without breaking the bank as we have both daughters getting married this year and a new grandchild on the way as well. I priced an RZT50 at a dealer near my cottage at $3700CAD last year. This year about two months ago, HD had a flyer out with the RZT for $3500, so I thought about it for a while and said to myself, I'll wait for a month or so before I really need it and I'll probably get one from a dealer. The next week, HD comes out with a four day event with the RZT50 for $3200 plus a free push mower and a free whipper snipper (retail value of $508). I needed a whipper snipper for the cottage and I could sell the push mower which I did to my brother in-law. To me this was like $2800 for the RZT so I went to get one on the last day of the sale as I was confident that a dealer could not match this deal. I decided that since both mowers I had previously purchased had never been back for warranties that I would take that chance for the money that I was saving. I'm mechanically inclined so I gave myself that credit and did it. I have mowed with it for several hours now and it seems to fit the bill for which I bought it. I'm thinking I will get a set of gators for this one as well. If something goes wrong I will have to bear the burden of trying to get a dealer to help me. I knew going in that HD would not be top notch at putting one of these together so went over it quite thoroughly when I got it home and had to properly level the deck, put in the oil and adjust the steering handles to suit my comfort level. Adjusted the air pressure in the tires. As for my old Yard Pro, it is still going as I gave it to my future son-in-law. It has a set of gators I put on it about ten years ago and I have only had to sharpen them once or twice. It has had one set of spindle bearings replaced and they came apart amazingly easy. I bought bearings from a motor rewind shop for less than ten bucks. Some of the linkages were starting to seize up but a little spray solve those, I only had one new mowing belt in seventeen years which I found sort of amazing as well. The other Cub I bought is now 6 or 7 years old and trouble free other than the user, so this all has given me the confidence to go ahead with the RZT purchase. I scrape my decks down after every use and usually undercoat them at the end of each season as well as keeping the mowers inside all year round. I attribute this to the longevity of them as well. Anyhow, these are my reasons and analogy for why I decided on the RZT50. Hope it helps or entertains.
Steve
Nova Scotia
Steve
Nova Scotia
