Does anyone have "zero turn regret"?

[hawkeye08]

Yep, I have ZT regret. I regret that I did not find a way to get one 15 years ago.

 

[Coyote machine]

Tried garden tractors, zero turns with lap bars, and a zero turn tractor and all had shortcomings on my highly sloped lawn. Ended up with a Cub SZ60 Tank and never looked back. Added some weight to the front, and with the steering wheel it holds my most severe slope with no issues. No issues at all after 3 years of use.

Ditto! Have/Had them all. Just sold: Scag Wildcat with 61" Velocity deck and 3 bag 12 bushel bagger system. Have or had Lawn & Garden tractors, Dr. Brush mowers, with their 42" lawn deck too, Dr. Mower/ trimmers, Husky AWD 322T Articulating Rider; BUT the Cat's Meow is this: Recently bought a Cub Cadet Pro Z 160 with 23.5 HP Kawasaki & 60 inch 3 blade fabbed deck and ALL Wheel Steering, NOT AWD. It does anything I throw at it. Climbs like a bear with 3" claws, and does slopes, grades, 3' high unmown grass, etc. It's AMAZING, and I can FINALLY do what needs to get done at my propertie(s)! YEAH.:thumbsup:

Reasonable $$ for the results given by the mower too. Ask me any questions you might have...:thumbsup:

To clarify, the Cub Cadet Pro Z IS a commercial grade Zero Turn mower, BUT it has unique features that make it work like few other ZT's. First the front wheel steering makes it stable in almost all conditions that other ZT's mostly fail at epically. It WILL climb most any slope, within reason, and it will stay stable on the slope/hill IF the conditions are within reasonable expectations. That means not soaking wet grass and such, which almost ALL ZT's fail at...

Terrain at most speeds is not a problem, and with turf tires on ALL four wheels, it's an aggressive climber. Can it slide slightly on thick piled up grass, sure, anything will; BUT it's still more stable than anything I've ever tried in 33 years at my 2 properties, which are mostly all sloping grass around ponds, and near fields and woods land. I have hardly any actual flat areas and it's always been a bear to maintain, especially safely. We've put numerous mowers into our big pond from loss of control, and some several times, and most of those fortunately were walk behinds...
I just don't get why my SO and my son don't get that when you start to lose the mower over the bank, DON'T fight it- just let go of the handlebar(s)?!:anyone:ullinghair:

 

[CobyRupert]

I have "zero turn regret"!

Once when driving my motorcycle, I was looking backwards and didn't notice in time that the road took a 45 degree turn.
I & the bike however did a zero turn.

I instantly regretted it! :laughing:

 

[dragoneggs]

I have "zero turn regret"!

Once when driving my motorcycle, I was looking backwards and didn't notice in time that the road took a 45 degree turn.
I & the bike however did a zero turn.

I instantly regretted it! :laughing:

Funny, but not really I guess. :laughing:

 

[Soldier415]

Finally joined the zero turn club on Thursday. No regrets

 

[Creamer]

Finally joined the zero turn club on Thursday. No regrets

I'll bet not! that looks like fun!

 

[powwowell]

I got a CC, Z Force LX54, back in May. Mowing the lawn today (11-7-2017), for the last time this season. No regrets. Well, sometimes I think about the Hustler FasTrak, 54" cut, that I almost bought. The dealer was out of them, the Saturday I went to purchase the Hustler. I saved a few dollars with the CC.

For five years I had been mowing 4 acres with a Yanmar EX3200 and a Woods 60" finishing mower. The Z Force mows quicker and better. Sold the Yanmar and the Woods. Raising the deck with the spring assisted handle is the cats Meow. Extremely easy. The dual fuel tanks are a real plus. If I ever get another zero turn mower, it will have a suspension seat! At my age, I doubt I'll ever get another one.

 

[the old grind]

I mowed 1.5 ac yesterday, and once again only regretted buying a rigid framed machine vs one with full-time two wheel drive. All the beating my mower/deck, rowboats, trees, trailers, buildings, etc comes from not always keeping the right 3 wheels on the ground 'in the corners'. :laughing:

That said, with a 60" welded deck ZT-3400s, foot-deck-lift and 28hp Briggs power for <$5k OTD I don't regret NOT buying a whomped-out Kohler-powered 'Commercial' with 2,000-4,000 hrs on it for about the same $$.

My local Country Clipper dealer has 60" with pivoting axle and 730 Kaw power (24hp), for ~$6k but with 2800s and only joystick steering left on hand. On my bumpy-a__ sand dune it takes two hands on the sticks to stay in the seat with that rigid chassis.

btw, w/rears always at 10-12 psi and fronts always 7-10 I'd bet even the best suspended seat would bottom out in my yard at even a 1 ac/hr clip.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Does anyone have &quot;zero turn regret&quot;?

We bought a John Deere Z-820A demo unit with 25 Hours on it 10 years ago. I had never driver a ZT at the time so, my wife actually did the test drive and she gave a thumbs up. It has the 60” 7-Iron Deck. This ZT replaced a John Deere HP GX345 garden tractor with a 54” deck.

We’ve put just over 1000 Hours on the Z820A and only costs have been oil & filter changes and a new set of Oregon Gator blades every year. It has been bullet proof. We keep about 8-9 acres of “yard” mowed around Ranch house plus mowing under low tree branches and along fence lines in some pastures.




I’ve decided that the side discharge is not great with our sandy soil. I get filthy when mowing with wind coming from my right. Side discharge means I can only mow in one direction around flower beds. It also creates big windrows when mowing higher grass.

Solution = Rear discharge deck.

We have a 300 gallon diesel tank for 2 tractors but, I haul ethanol contaminated gasoline in 5 gallon containers, about 20-25 gallons / month during peak season. Unless we have a hard freeze, we mow year round here.

Solution = Diesel ZT.

The John Deere 60” mows fairly fast, if blades are sharp but, I have to slow down because of all the trees around our house.

Solution = 72” deck.

I initially looked into the John Deere 997 Diesel ZT but, they build their 72” deck model in side discharge only.

I’ve now narrowed my choices down to a Kubota ZD1211 with 72” rear discharge and Kubota ZD1511 with 72” rear discharge. Test drove both and the air ride seat, on the ZD1511, is sooooooo much more comfortable, than my John Deere, it like driving a 1960’s Cadillac. The adjustable seat, on the ZD1211 is an improvement over my JD but, still no comparison to the air ride seat. If Kubota would offer the AR seat on the ZD1211 I’d go buy one today. I understand they will sell you one for $1200 but, no credit for the stock ZD1211 seat.

Bad news is that local dealer can’t find a ZD1511 with 72”RD. Kubota is telling dealer that they won’t be shipping any ZD1511’s until mid March 2018? How can they not supply product for 5 months? I checked dealers, outside Texas, and got same results.

Guess I keep using my John Deere. I have zero regrets with the John Deere, I’ve just learned a bit in 10 years. The Z820A is a huge improvement over our previous JD GX345. Hoping the Kubota will be a step change up from our JD.

Kubota had better hope that another big shiny object doesn’t come along in the mean time.