lostcreekranch
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2012
- Messages
- 7,716
- Location
- Austin County, Texas
- Tractor
- NH TL-100A with Bush Hog 5045 FEL, WR Long 3rd function, LS XR4155HC w/FEL, WR Long 3rd Function.
Picked up my new ZD1211 with 72” RD Deck last Friday. I’ve used a John Deere Z820A commercial grade Mower with the 60” side discharge 7 Iron Deck, since early 2009.
When I started looking into upgrading, last October, from the John Deere, I had three main goals;
1. Diesel powered.
We have a 300 gallon bulk diesel tank, for our two tractors, which is off-road tax exempt fuel. I have been going thru 25-30 gallons of “ethanol contaminated” gasoline per month to fuel the John Deere ZT and our Polaris Ranger. With all the storage problems of EC gasoline I hauled it with 5 gallon containers. The John Deere used the majority of the 25-30 gallons / month.
2. Wider deck.
As noted my JD had a 60” deck. Our yard, around the Ranch house, is about 9 acres with lots of trees. Plus lots to mow around barn, workshop, etc. An upgrade to a 72” deck made good sense to me.
3. Rear Discharge.
Our JD Mower is side discharge and if you mowing east, with a south wind, you’re getting filthy, not to mention breathing the dust. When mowing around flower beds, you can only go in on direction.
Many on TBN have extolled rear discharge decks, for these reasons, and pretty much unanimous that they’d never go back to a side discharge Mower.
When I started investigation for an upgrade, I found several good quality diesel powered units so, made a list of all of them. I’m sure I missed a few but, believed my list included all major players.
When I applied goal #2, a 72” deck, several units on my list dropped out as their max deck width was 54” or 60”. This pretty much eliminated all but;
John Deere 997.
Kubota ZD1211.
Kubota ZD1511.
When I applied Goal #3, rear discharge, the John Deere 997 dropped out. It’s available with both 60” and 72” decks but, only the 60” is available with rear discharge. I asked dealer, that I bought my ZD829A from, to check and see if JD had any near term plans for a 72” rear discharge. My Z820A still mowed well so, I had the luxury of being able to wait to upgrade. Dealer got back to me a day or so later and advised that there was nothing in the works for a RD 72” version. They also told me I would be VERY UNHAPPY with rear discharge. When I asked them if they’d sold any RD mowers and they admitted they had not. Seemed to me they were trying to push what they had in stock over trying to sell me what I wanted. Final straw was the low ball trade in they offered for my Z820A, which is in excellent condition.
As previously noted the above research was back in October of 2017.
The list was now whittled down to the two Kubota ZD Models.
On return from a trip up to the Texas Hill Country, I stopped by a big Kubota Dealer in Seguin. The had both a ZD1211 and a ZD1511 in stock but both had 60” decks. It was starting to rain so my “test drive” was short. I was very impressed with both models but, the Air-Ride Seat, on the ZD1511 really was comfortable.
I visited 3 Kubota dealers, nearer the Ranch, and asked for quotes on both models with 72” RD Decks. The results were all over the map. The lowest price came from dealer furthest from our ranch. Highest pricing came from Dealer I’d done business with servicing our previous Kubota B2710 tractor.
At that time, I was pretty focused on the ZD1511 for more power and the Air Ride seat.
I asked dealer to match the low price from farther dealer and they agreed so, told them to get one coming and get back to me when it came in.
Didn’t hear back from them for two weeks so, gave them a call to get status. They told me there were no units at Dallas Forth Worth warehouse. I asked the dealer to see if any other dealers had a unit and they called me a day or so later and said there were three in Texas but, none of the dealers would agree to transferring one. Whuuu? They also checked factory and were told that no ZD1511’s would be shipping until March of 2018. How could they not deliver product for almost 6 months? Trying to spend almost $20K was starting to be hard work!
I decided to just keep using my John Deere for the time being and checked with Dealer again, in late March, assuming that they be flush in ZD1511’s. Nope! None in warehouse and delivery from The GA factory would be June at best. Started getting a bad feeling about the ZD1511 so, had a sit down with owner of dealer. He agreed to get in the middle of this and called me later that week saying he was hearing that the ZD1511 had been pulled from sales and returned to “engineering” for some DPF issues. Two days later he emailed me the email he got from Kubota. It was a string email, from various individuals at Kubota, denying that there were any issues with the ZD1511. I asked, if that’s all true why were they holding up manufacturing and shipping until June? No one had an answer for that. 9 months, of no production, just didn’t make sense to me.
I decided to take another look at the ZD1211 which seemed to be in ample supply all over. The dealer had one on display but, it was 72” side discharge so, no deal.
Kept on mowing with the John Deere deciding upgrading was just about too much work.
Stopped by dealer to visit with their service manager to see if they would honor warranty if I bought a ZD from another dealer? They confirmed that they would as warranty work paid well and they could care less where the Mower came from. I told him I didn’t feel like the sales guys were very interested in selling me a ZD. Didn’t visit with sales guys at all ..... purposely. The owner is service manager’s father-in-law so assumed my visit might come up over Sunday dinner?
Viola! A few days later I got a call that dealer now had a shiny new ZD1211, with 72” rear discharge deck, in inventory and the sales guys now acted like they really wanted to sell a ZD. I asked for their best price and trade-in value for my John Deere.
Received an email later that day including trade in for my John Deere. I countered with a lower number for the ZD and higher trade value for my JD. They agreed to my numbers same day.
I ended up getting trade value, for my John Deere, of nearly 60% of what I paid for it 1100 hours ago in 2009.
When I started looking into upgrading, last October, from the John Deere, I had three main goals;
1. Diesel powered.
We have a 300 gallon bulk diesel tank, for our two tractors, which is off-road tax exempt fuel. I have been going thru 25-30 gallons of “ethanol contaminated” gasoline per month to fuel the John Deere ZT and our Polaris Ranger. With all the storage problems of EC gasoline I hauled it with 5 gallon containers. The John Deere used the majority of the 25-30 gallons / month.
2. Wider deck.
As noted my JD had a 60” deck. Our yard, around the Ranch house, is about 9 acres with lots of trees. Plus lots to mow around barn, workshop, etc. An upgrade to a 72” deck made good sense to me.
3. Rear Discharge.
Our JD Mower is side discharge and if you mowing east, with a south wind, you’re getting filthy, not to mention breathing the dust. When mowing around flower beds, you can only go in on direction.
Many on TBN have extolled rear discharge decks, for these reasons, and pretty much unanimous that they’d never go back to a side discharge Mower.
When I started investigation for an upgrade, I found several good quality diesel powered units so, made a list of all of them. I’m sure I missed a few but, believed my list included all major players.
When I applied goal #2, a 72” deck, several units on my list dropped out as their max deck width was 54” or 60”. This pretty much eliminated all but;
John Deere 997.
Kubota ZD1211.
Kubota ZD1511.
When I applied Goal #3, rear discharge, the John Deere 997 dropped out. It’s available with both 60” and 72” decks but, only the 60” is available with rear discharge. I asked dealer, that I bought my ZD829A from, to check and see if JD had any near term plans for a 72” rear discharge. My Z820A still mowed well so, I had the luxury of being able to wait to upgrade. Dealer got back to me a day or so later and advised that there was nothing in the works for a RD 72” version. They also told me I would be VERY UNHAPPY with rear discharge. When I asked them if they’d sold any RD mowers and they admitted they had not. Seemed to me they were trying to push what they had in stock over trying to sell me what I wanted. Final straw was the low ball trade in they offered for my Z820A, which is in excellent condition.
As previously noted the above research was back in October of 2017.
The list was now whittled down to the two Kubota ZD Models.
On return from a trip up to the Texas Hill Country, I stopped by a big Kubota Dealer in Seguin. The had both a ZD1211 and a ZD1511 in stock but both had 60” decks. It was starting to rain so my “test drive” was short. I was very impressed with both models but, the Air-Ride Seat, on the ZD1511 really was comfortable.
I visited 3 Kubota dealers, nearer the Ranch, and asked for quotes on both models with 72” RD Decks. The results were all over the map. The lowest price came from dealer furthest from our ranch. Highest pricing came from Dealer I’d done business with servicing our previous Kubota B2710 tractor.
At that time, I was pretty focused on the ZD1511 for more power and the Air Ride seat.
I asked dealer to match the low price from farther dealer and they agreed so, told them to get one coming and get back to me when it came in.
Didn’t hear back from them for two weeks so, gave them a call to get status. They told me there were no units at Dallas Forth Worth warehouse. I asked the dealer to see if any other dealers had a unit and they called me a day or so later and said there were three in Texas but, none of the dealers would agree to transferring one. Whuuu? They also checked factory and were told that no ZD1511’s would be shipping until March of 2018. How could they not deliver product for almost 6 months? Trying to spend almost $20K was starting to be hard work!
I decided to just keep using my John Deere for the time being and checked with Dealer again, in late March, assuming that they be flush in ZD1511’s. Nope! None in warehouse and delivery from The GA factory would be June at best. Started getting a bad feeling about the ZD1511 so, had a sit down with owner of dealer. He agreed to get in the middle of this and called me later that week saying he was hearing that the ZD1511 had been pulled from sales and returned to “engineering” for some DPF issues. Two days later he emailed me the email he got from Kubota. It was a string email, from various individuals at Kubota, denying that there were any issues with the ZD1511. I asked, if that’s all true why were they holding up manufacturing and shipping until June? No one had an answer for that. 9 months, of no production, just didn’t make sense to me.
I decided to take another look at the ZD1211 which seemed to be in ample supply all over. The dealer had one on display but, it was 72” side discharge so, no deal.
Kept on mowing with the John Deere deciding upgrading was just about too much work.
Stopped by dealer to visit with their service manager to see if they would honor warranty if I bought a ZD from another dealer? They confirmed that they would as warranty work paid well and they could care less where the Mower came from. I told him I didn’t feel like the sales guys were very interested in selling me a ZD. Didn’t visit with sales guys at all ..... purposely. The owner is service manager’s father-in-law so assumed my visit might come up over Sunday dinner?
Viola! A few days later I got a call that dealer now had a shiny new ZD1211, with 72” rear discharge deck, in inventory and the sales guys now acted like they really wanted to sell a ZD. I asked for their best price and trade-in value for my John Deere.
Received an email later that day including trade in for my John Deere. I countered with a lower number for the ZD and higher trade value for my JD. They agreed to my numbers same day.
I ended up getting trade value, for my John Deere, of nearly 60% of what I paid for it 1100 hours ago in 2009.
