Need help choosing a new Kubota mower

[slus]

I guess I'm not surprised. CA is making it very unfriendly for many products and companies.

It seems to get worse before it gets worse here. I bought an Stihl FS250 brush cutter a few years ago to replace a 20+ year old one. The guy at the counter tells me I got lucky when I called to order it, there was only 2 left in the state that he could put hands on before they were banned for dirty emissions. I had him order the other one for me too so I'd have a spare, chances are if CA says you can't have it, it's probably a good thing to have around.

I went back for some parts and the same guy says that was one of the good ones, and proceeded to tell me a story about a guy that bought 2 of them just to have a spare

 

[slus]

I stopped by a few dealers at lunch, it is worse than I thought.
Ferris is out, they do not have any CA approved models anymore. Too bad, they were working on a customers, and it was sweet.
Same dealer sold Skag, Exmark and Hustler, who do have a few CA approved commercial models but none available, cheapest one is 12k and they have no idea when the next one will show up.
Kubota had 2, a Z231 on site with a 42" deck (too small) and a Z422 at another, which is very tempting.
I've been avoiding the all green store, but I drove by it, and they must have 30 zero turns parked out front!

 

[WM75Guy]

With a Kubota, if California dealers can't or won't sell parts because of regulations, Messick's is available for mail order parts. They are easy to deal with and the parts guys have been very knowledgeable about what I needed.

 

[Brown Dog]

… I bought an Stihl FS250 brush cutter a few years ago to replace a 20+ year old one. The guy at the counter tells me I got lucky when I called to order it, there was only 2 left in the state that he could put hands on before they were banned for dirty emissions …

I bought an FS250 Stihl a few years ago. It’s a bad sum buck.
Actually too heavy to use very long lol.

 

[slus]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just paid for a Z422 with a 60" deck. It has the suspension seat standard. I actually wanted a 48" or 54" deck, but this one was available now and the discount was good compared to the MSRP price listed on the Kubota price, so I went for it. It's coming from another location, I should be able to pick it up next week and will post pictures. Hopefully it cuts mowing time significantly, I told my wife it was double the money but half the time mowing.

 

[BigBlue1]

It should definitely cut your mowing time. When I switched from a JD x758 with 60" deck to my Bad Boy Rouge zero-turn with 72" deck my mowing time for 7 acres went down from 4.5 hours to just under 3 hours.

How much did it end up costing you?

 

[slus]

It should definitely cut your mowing time. When I switched from a JD x758 with 60" deck to my Bad Boy Rouge zero-turn with 72" deck my mowing time for 7 acres went down from 4.5 hours to just under 3 hours.

How much did it end up costing you?

X758 seemed like a heck of a machine to start with! If I can knock my 2 acres out in an hour or less I'll be happy.

The price was 8351 + tax

 

[RjCorazza]

It's hard to go back to smaller decks once you've mowed with a 60 or 72" deck. I'm sure you will like the new machine!
I can mow my wide open 3.6 acre field in 40 minutes (5.4 acres per hour) but my overall average across 18 large rural properties is 2.7 acres per hour.

 

[Brown Dog]

It's hard to go back to smaller decks once you've mowed with a 60 or 72" deck. I'm sure you will like the new machine! ...

I’m glad @slus stepped UP to the bigger 60” deck

I tried to get my paw in-law to buy a 72 when he replaced a 60 : now he wished he’d stepped up.

His lil 60 doesn’t stick out past the width of the ZD1211 tires Not allowing him to trim up rear close.

I wished Kubota made a ZD 40+ HP with a 84 inch deck :

NOW that would be the Ultimate Mower for my 18 acre application

 

[slus]

Good to hear. The only reason I wanted a 48 or 54 is for one spot between a sidewalk/retaining wall and propane tank, my 48" rider just barely fits. I'll have to hit it with the push mower for now, which will give me incentive to plumb the propane tank further away. I never understood why the builders put 4 nice windows in a master bathroom that look directly at a propane tank set on a raised mound of dirt so I have to look at it every time I shower or brush my teeth, I assumed they hit rock and couldn't bury the line deep enough for code, but why right there???

 

[Brown Dog]

Sounds about like a builder lol

That one short swipe beside the tank is nothing compared to how much time it will save you

 

[slus]

Picked it up and brought it home yesterday. I didn't get more than 5 minutes to play with it last night, but I got the hang of driving it pretty quick, got it on and off the trailer no problem, mowed a few passes in thick grass and it did not bog down AT ALL. I think I'll be happy. I'll give it a real test this weekend.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[riptides]

Nice, keep us informed as to how it goes.

 

[arto98607]

...........snip...........

My dream option would be a 4x4 Kubota F series, but I need to keep this somewhere around 10k, maybe 15k for something that would last many years. So a new F is out of my price range, and I haven't been able to snag a used one in my area for a decent price.

......snip.......

With $10 - 15k budget you should be able to get Kubota F 4x4 model if you take your time and are prepared to delay purchase until you find one.
Be prepared for some rebuilding in high hour F (IE. something over 2000 - 3000 hours), but they are worth it.

They are built for commercial use wear & tear.




Above is my 3700 hour F and it came close to $10k by the time everything was overhauled (good thing my labor was free).

 

[slus]

I would have loved a used F series if one showed up, but I'm happy with the Z422 I ended up with with for the price and near zero time investment, as saving time was the whole goal. The suspension seat is great, and it mows very quick. 3 times mowing the yard and I'm well under my 1 hour mow goal, 1.8 hours on the meter and that includes some time screwing around and playing with it, so it should last me lot of years at that rate. I'm now looking at extending the yard fence to claim more mowing with the zero turn vs pasture mowing with the flail

 

[jbjlock26]

ZD1211 as mentioned

Fluid fill the rear tires for traction & ride.

Find you a real low hour used unit & Don't settle for anything less

I’ve bought 3 72inch ZD’s with Kubotas 0% lol

I'm getting close to needing to replace my JD GT275. I have just one acre to mow, with a significant drainage easement through the front, and a fairly steep hill in the back. I also have a BX25D, which I got the 54" mower for when I bought it, but I've never used the mower with all the obstacles I have. I feel like it's too much machine for mowing and too heavy.

Been looking at the Kubota Z242KW-48 and the Z412KW-48, mainly due to the fact that I love the Kubota quality. Now I'm getting into the same ballpark as a JD X570-48 lawn tractor.

I feel like once I get past the learning curve, the zero turn should be more efficient. The question remains, would it be safe and efficient on the hills.

Would filling the tires on the 200 or 400 series be an option to improve traction? I have the tires filled on my BX to allow better loader capability.

​

 

[Brown Dog]

I wouldn’t fluid fill any zero with hydraulic pump motors at wheels as it would probably kill them plus it robs power bad on small HP mowers climbing hills.

But it makes a HUGE difference for traction, stability & ride imo

 

[RBsingl]

I wouldn’t fluid fill any zero with hydraulic pump motors at wheels as it would probably kill them plus it robs power bad on small HP mowers climbing hills.

But it makes a HUGE difference for traction, stability & ride imo

An important point and I would add that tractors are designed knowing that fluid filled tires are going to be used but that isn't true for typical ZTR designs. So when you hit a "terrain feature" that suddenly causes that weighted tire to generate high stress on the rest of the machine you may expensively find out where the weak points in the castings are located.

Rodger

 

[NoTrespassing]

I've read all the posts about rough riding mowers here and wondered, doesn't anyone roll their lawn anymore? My lawn started out as a very rough hay field. A heavy roller on moist ground can make mowing a much smoother ride.

 

[arto98607]

I was going to do my best to aerate my my lawn any day now, but maybe we should run this first.