Cub Cadet Pro Z - Any Experience?

[nh15201]

How would you rate the B&S engines on the Ferris vs the FV series Kawasaki. From what I could see - the B&S commercial series gets good reviews as does the Kawasaki. The little 9 / 9.5 HP FE290 Kawasaki in our 1995 Club Car helped me decided on the FV series Kawasaki in our 560 Cub Cadet. That little thing never ceases to amaze me. I wanted to dump the Club Car and get my wife a Kubota UTV for her yardwork and running the trails - she told me that unless I wanted to start doing all the cooking and cleaning around the house to forget it.

 

[Shears]

Should not shudder anymore then any other hydro would which they shouldn't!!!

Thanks didn't think it should shudder

 

[nh15201]

I let my wife make her solo today on her new 560 Cub. It was her job to mow the yard today entirely on her own. I was busy mowing our bottom area. She did it all and a darn good job I have to say. She loves mowing and is getting comfortable with her new Cub. She even had it blown off, wiped off and fueled by the time I got back to the house. In all my years as a Plant Manager, it never ceased to amaze me how good training, letting the employee do the job hands on and the right support paid off in end.

 

[Rdrcr]

^^^^
Excellent! Good to hear!
I mowed with my 560S yesterday. I’m thankful to have such a capable and fine machine.

Mike

 

[art]

How would you rate the B&S engines on the Ferris vs the FV series Kawasaki. From what I could see - the B&S commercial series gets good reviews as does the Kawasaki. The little 9 / 9.5 HP FE290 Kawasaki in our 1995 Club Car helped me decided on the FV series Kawasaki in our 560 Cub Cadet. That little thing never ceases to amaze me. I wanted to dump the Club Car and get my wife a Kubota UTV for her yardwork and running the trails - she told me that unless I wanted to start doing all the cooking and cleaning around the house to forget it.

I'd take the Kawi any day! For pro's they burn less fuel with more torque then the higher horse Briggs. Typically last longer too!

 

[nh15201]

I will have to double check the fuel tank capacities on our 560 KW S. I have my wife mowing at full throttle. She burns through roughly 1/2 tank on a mowing session. The FX850 27 HP is breaking in nicely with 16 hours on the meter and I'm wondering if the fuel consumption will improve with additional break in? I typically run ethanol free 90 or 91 octane in my equipment, straight and 2 cycle. Kawasaki engine on the Cub is using so much fuel that I am running 87 octane pump gas in it during the weekly mowing season and then plan to switch back - on empty tanks - to the ethanol free for final run and storage. I don't like standard pump gas, but figure since we are running it through and switch tanks every week thar we'll be ok for summer mowing? Any thoughts?

 

[stevem5215]

My Briggs 27hp engine on the Simplicity Citation XT with the 61" deck is about 2.5 gals for a 4 acre (or so) cut. It holds 5 gal in there so I can cut twice on one tank if i want (usually don't and fill at each start).

 

[Rdrcr]

I will have to double check the fuel tank capacities on our 560 KW S. I have my wife mowing at full throttle. She burns through roughly 1/2 tank on a mowing session. The FX850 27 HP is breaking in nicely with 16 hours on the meter and I'm wondering if the fuel consumption will improve with additional break in? I typically run ethanol free 90 or 91 octane in my equipment, straight and 2 cycle. Kawasaki engine on the Cub is using so much fuel that I am running 87 octane pump gas in it during the weekly mowing season and then plan to switch back - on empty tanks - to the ethanol free for final run and storage. I don't like standard pump gas, but figure since we are running it through and switch tanks every week thar we'll be ok for summer mowing? Any thoughts?

How long are your mowing sessions?

My old boss has a BB Rouge (?) with the 999cc FX Kawasaki engine.
I demo’d his mower on my property before making my decision to go with the 560 KW S. The 999 FX drinks fuel.
I thought, and we figured the 850 FX wouldn’t be as thirsty and perhaps it’s not, but fuel consumption is close. Closer than I wanted.

My mowing sessions are 1 1/2 hours (down from 2 1/2 hours on my old tractor w/ MMM). I go through about 3-4 gallons of treated premium 92 octane fuel per session.

Mike

 

[nh15201]

I'd have to say 1 1/2 to 2 hours on average per mowing session. There are places in the yard where we only mow every other week or so depending on rain and time of year. We switch tanks every other mowing. After 2 sessions I filled both tanks and still had approximately 1 gallon left out of an over full 5 gallon gas can. So a trifle over 2 gallons per session. I'm running untreated 87 octane pump gas with 10% ethanol during the mowing season then plan to switch and run both tanks with non-ethanol 90 octane for fall and winter downtime. This is with my wife running WOT and still learning. I would use the same amount of fuel if I took the time to mow with either of my JD 140 with a 46" deck - but at least an hour longer to do the same job.

 

[Rdrcr]

^^^^
You may be doing better than I with fuel consumption. It’s worth noting, I do mow steep hillsides, so that may also increase my fuel consumption a bit.
And, because of the hillsides, I fill both tanks and keep the fuel lines open on both, to make sure I don’t starve the engine of fuel when traversing steep terrain.

Mike

 

[nh15201]

^^^^
You may be doing better than I with fuel consumption. It’s worth noting, I do mow steep hillsides, so that may also increase my fuel consumption a bit.
And, because of the hillsides, I fill both tanks and keep the fuel lines open on both, to make sure I don’t starve the engine of fuel when traversing steep terrain.

Mike

I agree with the increased fuel usage on steeper terrain theory. The wife took off for a weekend visit / shopping trip last weekend with our youngest daughter. She wasn't around the bend in the road before I was mowing with our new CC 560. Starting out with a full tank and mowing the same area, I found that I used slightly less fuel. She is still getting the hang of this new mower where I've been mowing forever it seems. I will adjust throttle slightly depending on grass conditions and probably anticipate turns a little better from years of experience. I want her to start learning on her own so I just let cut at full throttle and let her chase the mowing patterns as the area size decreases. She is having fun, doing a great job, gaining skill and confidence - if that equals a couple extra gallons of gas over a summer mowing season so be it. The older I get, the less I fret over the details I guess.

 

[mikester]

My neighbor bought the CC at the same time I got my ZD326 11 years ago. We cut about the same acreage. At the time he razed me over how expensive K ZTRs are and a waste of money.

7 years ago he traded it in for a JD ZTR. He complained about constant breakdowns and repairs on his CC. I'm still using my ZD with no problems knocking on wood. My ZD seems cheap now in comparison.

I just picked up a set of filters at the dealership and saw a same age used ZD for sale. The asking price is what I paid for it 11 years ago.

 

[nh15201]

I'm a big fan of Kubota equipment.

 

[Rdrcr]

^^^^
Im not a brand specific guy but, me too.

Mike

 

[nh15201]

My neighbor bought the CC at the same time I got my ZD326 11 years ago. We cut about the same acreage. At the time he razed me over how expensive K ZTRs are and a waste of money.

7 years ago he traded it in for a JD ZTR. He complained about constant breakdowns and repairs on his CC. I'm still using my ZD with no problems knocking on wood. My ZD seems cheap now in comparison.

I just picked up a set of filters at the dealership and saw a same age used ZD for sale. The asking price is what I paid for it 11 years ago.

My brother has had a B7300 Kubota w/60" mid mower deck since he bought it new back in '96. It has proven out to be a good one - he just replaced the water pump last month. The mower deck is still on the original spindles and OE mower deck. He is thinking about a little larger unit with a loader - but he can't bring himself to get rid of it and he really doesn't need a loader on his steep property.

I hope that I fair better than your neighbor with our new Cub? As I have posted before, I wouldn't be caught dead with the box store Cubs - but - if I did my homework - the commercial series Cubs are on an entirely different level.

 

[DWPauly]

Bought a Pro Z 560 S w/the Kawasaki 850V 27 hp engine in Oct. 2024. Wife loves it - especially that it's not a "ditch magnet" like zero turns tend to be (she uses the lawn & farm equipment. I just fix the stuff) but today it quit running while she was on it. Mikuni fuel pump crapped out (already!) "No sweat" I thought and called the dealer I got it from just 2 miles up the road. Told him what's wrong (I'm not a lawn mower mech but am a certified aircraft mech) and asked if they had a pump in stock and if so I'd just come up and get it. "Oh no, can't have a customer work on it . . ." "OK" I said. "Just trying to save you some time/work." "Can you have your guy bring the new pump out and install it?" (5 minute job if that) and he again said "Oh no, we gotta bring it to the shop." "OK" I said. "That ain't gonna cost me anything since it's under warranty, right?" "$60 for the transportation". I told him I'd bring it up myself in the next day or 2 but after thinking about what a rip off that is, decided I'll buy (elsewhere) & install my own pump and resolve not to do business with these guys again. Compact tractors I've bought new in the past 10 years and a Husqvarna Zero Turn I bought new in 2011. The Dealers had to come get them for various warranty issues and none of them ever charged me for the transport so my question to those on this blog is "Are the Cub Cadet Management just a bunch of scrooges, is my dealer getting over at my expense or is this the way businesses are now doing things?" Nice as this Cub is it sure ain't the only game in town; so depending what I read on here this may be the last Cub Cadet I buy; at least from this dealer.

 

[stevem5215]

All dealerships are different. Yours is different in a way that's a negative to you. Fix it yourself and never see the again IMO is the best method.

 

[dpauly]

As mentioned in an earlier post, we bought a Pro Z 560 S with the Kawasaki engine new in October of 2024. Overall a good, powerful mower though already in May the fuel pump crapped out and now we're detecting "sticky" turning (i.e. takes more effort to turn it now and we're hearing some "squeekiness" when turning.)

The most aggravating part of owning this Cub Cadet is the fact that we as the customers have the burden to haul that monster back to the dealer for WARRANTY work, or pay them $60 for the 2 mile trip to their shop (not even sure that's round trip or each way) to come get it. I've bought tractors (other brands, obviously) going back to 2011 and when they had to go back to the shop for repairs covered under warranty, the dealer picked it up & returned it at no cost to me. So I called C.C. headquarters to see if this is a company wide policy or was my particular dealer just sticking it to his customers and maybe making additional money on things the warranty already pays him for. They said it's "company wide".

So, given the probability my mower would sit there in the quay at the dealer for at least a few days until they could get to it I elected to see if I could find an OEM fuel pump on-line (which I did and got 2 of them for the same price a dealer would charge for just 1) and did the less than 5 minute installation myself: saving money and time for this "Warranteed" repair. Buyer beware.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know if there's anything in the way of grease fittings accessible by the customer on this beast? When buying, the dealer claimed all the bearings were "lifetime, requiring no additional grease" but that steering issue I mentioned earlier sounds like something regular, proper greasing might have prevented.

One other thing: does anyone know where a Factory Service Manual can be purchased for this particular machine? Thanks.

 

[dpauly]

All dealerships are different. Yours is different in a way that's a negative to you. Fix it yourself and never see the again IMO is the best method.

So are you saying not all (Cub) dealers charge their customers for pick up/delivery? I generally tend to fix things myself but if something major occurs and it's still covered, it WILL go back to them for the work 'cause I've got plenty of other things to do (and I'll load it up on my dump trailer to get it to them and save myself $60 . . .)

 

[stevem5215]

Your call, your money.