First take on my Cub Cadet Z-Force 50

[BoobyTrap]

Fordlords, I'm with you. To each his own, but that was my reasoning for my 2554 instead of a Zero turn, more potential. It may never do more than cut grass, but, if I want more, it can, but us old farts are set in our ways. Don't mess with us old people, we're treacherous.

 

[LBrown59]

Fordlords, I'm with you. To each his own, but that was my reasoning for my 2554 instead of a Zero turn, more potential. It may never do more than cut grass, but, if I want more, it can, but us old farts are set in our ways. Don't mess with us old people, we're treacherous.

I love my GT2554
A lot of tractor for the money.

 

[JTKub]

..The only way to get the oil out is to remove the unit from the mower and ether remove the vent tube and turn it upside down or do what I did and removed both units,drained them, took off the bottom plate, cleaned the internal filter, reinstalled the plate with new sealant, refilled with high quality 20w50 engine oil, reinstalled transmissions, did purging procedure and every thing has been fine since. Now the bolts that hold the bottom plate on tend be siezed in the holes and if you try to force them they will break. I know because I broke two of them on the first unit and had to drill them out and retap..

Excellent info OM. If you can get at them easy enough, I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to remove each bottom plate bolt individually, add some never-seize and reinstall. Nothin' worse than a steel screw/bolt set tight into an aluminum casting once they get some years on them. Been down that road a few times and have been a never-seize fanatic ever since.

Joel

 

[dawoodwa]

I have a Z Force that I have used for 3 years. I have only had one part fail on it, idler pulley sealed bearing. Cost me $30 to replace it. I do have a problem with the blade height adjustment, my daughter hit a stump with the mower deck and now the adjustment is twisted with the left side lower than the right. I plan on taking the deck off of it soon and repairing that. I just had to adjust the linkage for the right side drive, it would not reach full travel speed. One complaint that I have is the speed at which the front rollers wear out, seems like I replace these 3 or 4 times each year, but I do roll over a lot of ground with mine, I cut almost 5 acres.

 

[BowHunter22]

I have a 2006 Cub Cadet Z-Force 50 is there any way to keep the mower blades from disengaging while in reverse?

 

[OldMachinist]

Under the covers on each side there is a switch for each steering lever with a little plate that pushes the switch you only have to make it so one of the switches isn't working and the PTO won't cutout.

 

[theKiwi]

I recently went through the same agony about what to buy, and ended up with a Z-Force 48 to replace a Sears Craftsman 19.5HP 42" cut mower that I'd done over 1,900 hours on. I figured I HAD to have the transmissions I could change the oil and filter in myself, and the RZT didn't have that on all models, but I did end up with a decent deal from a local IH dealer on his last "last year's" model - he knocked $500 off on top of the $800 that Cub Cadet were knocking off during April/May 2011.

Overall I'm VERY happy with the Z-Force - cutting time is WAY reduced especially if I don't have to catch the grass, it's a better job done I think too

But one thing is bugging me - whenever I stop it for more than a minute or 2 with the engine idling (to unclog a clogged bagger tube, or to push the grass in the bags down to get more in for example), I get a dead patch on my lawn from the incredible heat coming off the engine/muffler - I haven't figured out exactly yet if it's from the muffler or the air blowing off the engine, or a combination of both, but it's not good.

I'm thinking of some kind of baffle under the rear end to deflect that hot air backwards rather than downwards, and to act as some kind of a heat shield if it's just the radiation off the muffler doing it.

Or at least start out with a heat shield on the lower side of the muffler so that at least the radiated heat won't be so great.

Anyone else have any experience of this?

Thanks

Roger

 

[OldMachinist]

I've experienced the brown spots. The heat comes off the muffler and it will even happen if you park the mower on the grass after using it. I think if you try to redirect the heat it may end up damaging the machine or your bagger.

There have been posts from guys with new mowers/tractors that have experienced this too.

 

[Goebz]

I've had my Z force 50 for 10+ years. It ran great when we got it. So well my wife enjoyed mowing our 1 acre with it. After a church moved in behind us and graded their lot wrong we started having flooding problems. That caused a lot of ruts. The ruts and my teenage son's impatience added up to a lot of maintenance. 5 blown front inner tubes, not including the first 2 flats that peeled the tires off the rims, broken brake on right side, constant lap bar adjustments, a new module the week after it got a tune up this year, and now a wire off the starter fixed by the driver who came to pick it up. It has outlsted all the neighbors RZTs, Toros, and other MTD products and I paid less than they did at an MTD auction when I got it with 4 hours on it. Reading this thread, I think adjusting air pressure might help when mowing those rutted areas. Also thinking of adding an LED light bar so I can finish mowing in the dark. PS I did add a trailer hitch bracket from an ATV to pull a lawn roller. I did ok, just had to basically use the outside bar to make sweeping turns so I didn't jackknife the thing. Was way easier using our ATV and could do it een in the wettest conditions but we sold it. The new Z Force versions are like $6900, can't really justify that.