New Kubota ZD1011-54

[STx]

A neighbor gave me a 42" Troybilt ZTR last year, I knew it was crap but, free is free so I figured I'd run it until it wouldn't go anymore. Last week I put the transmission belt back on it again only to discover that one of the hydro motor was locked up. That's it, with it needing a new deck, spindle and now hydro problems it will officially cost more to replace than it's worth so I'm going to remove the 60 Kohler motor for some furture project and load the mower up with Tannerite.

Yesterday, my brand new Kubota ZD1011-54 diesel ZTR was delivered. I've done in just over 4 hours what would have taken a couple of days on that other piece of crap and tackled some stuff I never would have considered taken it into. I own a lawn service so fully understand the difference between consumer and commercial equipment but, this beast has exceeded my expectations. I wish I'd turned around and sold that Troybilt instead of running it fir a year and just applied the money to a real mower in the beginning, I'm kicking myself for wasting so much time trying to keep it running.

 

[riptides]

Sweet machine.

 

[Powerhorse]

Nice mower. I bought a new ZD221-54 around 4 years ago. Great machine. That suspension seat on yours looks real comfortable. Enjoy.

 

[STx]

Thanks guys, I've got 4 hours on it now so I feel like I can give a preliminary review of the mower.

First, the buying process was super easy, I did it all via email and was given a fair price without any haggling. I contacted a couple of dealers, one about an hour away and a smaller dealer 10 minutes away, the closer dealer I called a couple of times and told them exactly what I wanted but never got to speak to a salesperson and never got a return call, their loss. The machine was definitely expensive but, I've learned that I prefer buy once, cry once and 48 months at 0% helps a lot.

I have found a couple of things I dislike about the machine. First is the operator presence switch on the seat but, everything has that and it's an easy fix. The other is that the throttle lever is tensioned like the BX tractor with a set nut and a jam nut. Kubota isn't using a grippy jam nut still, just a regular flat nut, so mine worked loose and the throttle lever would just drop back to neutral. A wrench and a drop of blue loctite took care of that. So the dislikes are pretty minor things and both will be fixed.

The things I really like are numerous.

• 
  I love the fact that this machine has only one belt on it, to drive the blades from the gear box, and that it is constantly under tension. The PTO shaft driven deck gear box and direct driven hydro transmission is fantastic and eliminates the biggest time waster on most machines, replacing or reinstalling belts.

• 
  The suspension seat is AWESOME! I have bulging discs in my lower back and neck and it does a good job of absorbing most of the shock before it gets to my body. My ground is pretty uneven, it's not a manicured lawn by any stretch, just areas that we've cleared and keep the native grasses short.

• 
  It's not lacking power at all, the torque from the diesel is transferred right to the blades. I wanted to see how much it could handle so I tackled stuff with it that I would normally have used the 6' Rhino rotary cutter on, it barely bogged down in thick grass that was 5' tall. I'm probably going to start using it to maintain the roads that I was cutting with the rotary cutter, my wife likes that grass shorter than the 6" that the rotary cutter would do.

• 
  Fuel consumption is pretty good considering what I did with it and the size of the machine, 4 hours burned about 2/3 of the 6 gallon tank, so about a gallon an hour at full throttle.

• 
  The hydraulic deck lift is a really nice feature, I could live without it but, it's convenient to be able to just step on the lift while running the machine to clear a stump or some other obstacle.

Overall, it's just a super well built machine, the deck is crazy thick and I can jump up and down on it if I want to, it's comfortable to run for hours at a time because of the ride the seat gives and also the arm rests, the tires have good weight displacement so you don't really leave any depressions in damp soil and the water cooled diesel is much quieter than an air cooled gas motor. A diesel was a requirement for me because I've already got a 100 gallon transfer tank with red dye diesel in it and I'm tired of having to keep gasoline as well. Now I just need a small amount of gas here for chainsaws, weed eaters and other little hand tools and we've recently gotten an ethanol free pump not far from here so it keeps better.

I would definitely recommend this machine to anyone, I can't really imagine what could be better about the ZD1200 or ZD1500 series mowers other than bigger motors and larger decks, although I must confess that the air ride seat and rear discharge on the ZD1500 would be really nice to have, the decks on it are bigger than I could really use though.

I forgot to mention, access to the motor, gearbox, grease points, battery, etc. is all really good as well. Maintenance on this machine will be a breeze.

 

[wngsprd]

I agree. I bought the ZD1021 in may because I wanted the 60 inch deck. It makes mowing a breeze and 4 hours on that comfortable seat is better than a half hour on my old mower.

I have 31 hours now and no problems.