RZT Kawasaki Engines & other ???

[Spiffy]

I'm not in the market for anything right now, but another thread got me wondering:

Why Kawasaki for an RZT when that seems to be the engine of choice in the Tanks; if it is the same, why not the ZF too?

ZForce 60?

How about the ZT2800 trannies in that thing? I think the 2200 are EZT and 2400 are IZT; hydrogear lists a 2600, but 2800? If the 60 does exist and with those specs, does the M50 run the 2800s too? By HG's specs; I don't think the IZT would be rated for tires larger than the ZF.

With the fab-deck ZF coming out, I only see two "holes" in the line up [but filling them might make mfg, marketing, and stocking harder than the gains are worth]: a pump/wheel motor ZF and a fab deck M50 (but I'm sure it'd be priced so close to the M48 that it might not make sense).

OK, just rambling now...and I know about curiousity and kitty cats /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif but we could get some interesting theories or maybe even somebody has the facts too! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[gamble77]

Well for the record the Kawasaki motor that is in the RZT is from the same motor family as the motor in the Tanks. Therefore it is a really good motor. Now as to why they went with the Kawasaki and not the Kohler or B&S are two fold.

First they wanted to get away from B&S because they are now the "competition" since they own Snapper, Simplicity, Ferris, etc. No sense in putting money into competitors pockets. Secondly Kohler Commands, which are used in the Z-Force machines, are great motors in their own right and are themselves used on many commercial units (Grasshoppers). However, Kohler is about maxed out on their supply of the Command motors (last I heard). And considering how many RZT's Cub will sell in a year Kohler probably couldn't meet demand. So these things combined probably resulted in the Kawasaki being used.

Of course the Kawasaki used in the RZT doesn't have the heavy duty donaldson air filter on it, so in that way it is not exactly like the Tank's motors.

The Tanks do not run the type of transmissions that are used in the RZT/Z-Force. The ones in the RZT/Z-Force are fully enclosed units. The commercial units on the Tanks has a seperate compartment for the fluid, two seperate hydraulic pumps, and two seperate wheel motors. Whatever Hydro-Gear number you are quoting is probably the number for their pumps on the Tanks...but don't confuse that with the transmissions on the homeowners units.

Putting a fabricated deck on the M50 would just turn it into a Tank. A Tank and and M50 are exactly the same save the deck. Putting a commercial drive system on the Z-force with the fabbed deck would just make it a Tank...so I think they have all their basis covered!!

Hope this helps more than it confuses. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Spiffy]

The engines make perfect sense; Thanks Gamble! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

On the transmissions:
I was actually referring to possible different variations of the IZT, like the EZT [in CC RZTs] being the IZT's "little brother"; is there a "big brother" like the specs in the link would suggest?

I was thinking that the M50 was running integrated instead of pumps/motors; so thought it might make sense even if the ZF 60 in the link was just somebody's imagination.