Scag Wildcat ZTR

[Alan L.]

We have pretty much narrowed our search to the Wildcat with 52" Velocity deck and 26HP liquid cooled Kawasaki vs the Hustler Z with 60" XR7 deck and 25HP Kaw air cooled engine.

The Hustler is 60" because their 54" has no trim edge, the mower itself is too wide, whereas the Wildcate apparently is narrow enough to get 3" of trim edge on the 52" deck.

I really like both. The Hustler dealer has offered to bring out a unit for a demo, I haven't asked the Scag dealer yet. The Scag dealer is about 25 miles away in a convenient (away from the city) location, whereas the Hustler dealer is about 32 miles away toward Dallas.

Been waiting for some grass to get some idea.

Mrs. Alan L. does most of the "little" mowing so this will mainly be her equipment. She mows a couple of acres now with the Craftsman (5-6 hours) but this will probably grow with the good mower. And, she definitely likes the Scag the best, partially based on quality of cut ratings we have read on Lawn Cafe and Lawn Site by owners of those units.

Months ago I was leaning to a Hustler Mini-Z but was discouraged from those units by 2 of our members, and I appreciate it very much, I don't think I would have been as satisfied with the mini-z.

The 52" Scag vs the 60" Hustler are about the same price - $8000 for either, when you include the ROPS and flex forks on the Hustler. I am choking on the cost, but I have not been able to find anything used for much less, and even the residential grade "good" ztrs are close to $6K and more. If you are spending $6K you might as well spend $8K and get what you want. Of course Scag Turf Tigers are telling me if I'm spending $8k, might as well spend $9500, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

Is anyone using either of these units, to offer feedback on them.

 

[CJ4]

I know little about the Scags but would be interested since i'm in the market. Would love to see some pics when you get it. Does it have a hydraulic lift for the deck??? Don't see those much these days.

 

[Alan L.]

Neither of these mowers has a hydraulic lift on the decks. You push a pedal with your foot, but it seems fairly easy on both. The Scag deck feels somewhat heavier than the Hustler, but Mrs. Alan L was able to handle it OK, so no problem.

 

[crbr]

Scag is a reputable name with the price, but I also think that quality is there to justify their price.

With regards to the Kawasaki engine, I have had 4 other machines with the Kawasaki engine with no complaints at all. In comparison to air-cooled VS liquid-cooled, I have much preferred the air-cooled. Liquids are OK but by nature of the enclosed coolant syatem, they draw a lot of debris onto the screen and radiator. Air-cooled engines will not do this. The 25HP engine is reliable and works hard. That would be my preference in this particular model.

The Kawasaki engine would be my first priority on any machine.

SCAG POWER EQUIPMENT - Wildcat Zero Turn Rider

 

[dirtydan]

I have owned a Scag Wildcat for over a year now. Great mower. I have the 60 inch with the Kawasaki engine. It does use some fuel but it covers a lot of ground in a hurry. I can mow full speed if the ground is smooth enough. It used to take 3 hours to mow our yard with a 42 inch Craftsman. The first time with the Scag it was 1 hour and 10 minutes, now I can do it in 50 minutes and less trimming. Now we are going to make our yard bigger and mow down by our pond as well. I also mow a lot in town that is just over an acre. It is 3 miles away. I can load up the mower go in and mow it and be back in less than an hour. Definitely makes it less of a chore. I have also mowed some grass in the horse pasture. It will handle heavy grass very well. My wife used to hate mowing with our Craftsman but now doesn't mind it at all with our Scag. With my mower I found that if you shut it off you need to choke it every time unless you start it back up immediately. I also looked at Gravely and Grasshopper and have nothing bad to say about them but the Scag dealer was closer and was good to deal with.

 

[Alan L.]

dirty dan, is your Kaw engine liquid cooled? I was wondering how much trouble you had keeping the radiator clean.

 

[MartyAnderson]

Alan
I bought a Graveley 260M XDZ with the 26HP LC Kawasaki engine last summer. This engine has a removable protective screen above the radiator that catches the debris. Simple matter to remove the screen, & blow it out with compressor or leaf blower. Total time to remove, blow out, & reinstall is at most 3 minutes.
Marty

 

[Alan L.]

Yes, I examined the screen over over the radiator and it is easy to remove and replace. Could be some material can get in behind it, then you have to blow out the radiator. I'm prepared to do that. Glad to know it does not to present much of a problem. Plus you don't have to worry about cleaning out fins and such for the air cooled engine.

 

[dirtydan]

Yes it is liquid cooled. The screen is easy to remove and clean. Some of the finer clippings do seem to go through the screen so I have had to clean the radiator fins some also. I always check it everytime I mow.

Dan

 

[Alan L.]

I picked up the Wildcat 61" with 26HP Kawasaki liquid cooled engine for a tryout at my place today.

Bad stuff first:

1) First thing I did was pull the seat back all the way and an hour later realized it was up against the radiator. Discolored a spot on the seat in one place, and punched a hole in another place.

2) Had to clean the radiator screen quite often, at least every half hour. I am hoping it was because I was cutting quite a bit of dormant dry grass (mixed in with spring growth) that was very lightweight and flying everywhere, plus it was very windy and the wind would sometimes blow the grass right back at the mower (and me).\

Cleaning it was very easy, just removed the screen and actually blew with my mouth and the little dry stuff was gone.

3) One of the tanks leaked gas around the filler cap. I had filled it up to the bottom of the threads. Also, the caps seem hard to get off, they get tight. The mrs might have trouble with that.

4) This thing really drinks the gas. When I ran out of the first tank (4 gallons) the hour meter read 2.4 hours. There was ALOT of grass cut with those 4 gallons.

5) I'm still having some trouble backing up. It took me a good 10 minutes backing it off the trailer.

6) Not a good mudder, got almost stuck several times in some wet spots and finally stuck it good on the edge of the tank (pond) and had to pull it out with my Kubota B2710.

Now, the good things:

1)AWESOME AWESOME AWSOME, man this thing chews up the grass. It makes my tractor and brushhog seem REALLY slow.

2) Ride is much better than I expected. It is not uncomfortable to operate at all. It had too much air the rear tires (fronts are semi-pneumatic) and the dealer told me I should let some out when I get home. I cut it down to 10 pounds, the manual says 12.

We are keeping it. No way I'm gonna give it up. Hopefully the problems are minor and fixable and I hope the radiator is not a pain.

 

[dirtydan]

I am sure you will be happy. I have not had any problems with the seat on mine and I keep mine all the way back also. No leaks around the tank either. The screen does need to be cleaned more often if it is windy or if I am cutting dry grass. If I am I try to keep an eye on the water temperature, though I have never had a problem. If it was hot enough outside maybe it would. I have never been stuck yet though I am careful as I know you are not going to push this one out by hand since it weighs 1200 lbs. I have one bank I mow that I have to be careful turning on as the rearend will slide down becuse of the steepness. It is very stable though. Took my wife awhile to get used to that. She still won't mow some areas and leaves them for me.
It does drink the gas but I always keep it topped off and check the oil so my wife doesn't have to.

Dan

 

[Alan L.]

The high was only about 75 or 80 on Saturday, but even when the screen was very clogged up with dry grass the temp indicator never went past the halfway point.

I found it very nimble and had no problems on my slopes.

Are you saying that you can't push the seat back where it touches the radiator cap?

 

[MartyAnderson]

Alan
Have you resolved the problems with your new mower? Did Sams repair/replace the seat & adjust travel so it wouldn't hit the radiator cap? Did they correct the leaking fuel cap?

FYI- After mowing my old dead bermuda the last few weeks, I have found the easiest/fastest way to clean the radiator & screen is to use the brush attacment on my shop vac.

Marty

 

[gerard]

I have a scag tiger cub, 52inch deck with the kohler 20hp engine. Bought it new about 5 years ago. I mow about 1.5 acres around the house and then another couple of acres around the rest of the property. I do the pastures with a bushog. All in all I've been very happy with it, no problems yet and cost me $5900. Designed for commercial use so my use is very light. Only complaint (and it's a design issue for this style mower) is no tilt up deck. It's a pain in the neck to get under the deck to clean out the grass. My next one will have a flip up deck.

 

[Alan L.]

The mower has been great and so far I just have not pushed the seat back into the engine again. Haven't noticed any more fuel leakage, and the radiator is only a problem in windy, dry conditions.

I have alread changed the oil & filter and greased everything. Mrs Alan L. & I have shared it, but she is mainly the yard mower, and I, the brushhog. Thing is, the brush hog does not have much to do, she is mowing everything with it and loves it. I work in Dallas 60 miles away and she gets it out and mows while I'm gone. This week she got it stuck, didn't call me, she just got her 4WD Yukon XL and a chain and pulled it out herself. She has also been known to change out blades when she hit something (not on this mower yet). She has a big welp on the side of your neck where a limb swatted her, so I have preached to her about being careful.

We did have a problem with the middle blade, it became loose and would not tighten because the threads on the long bolt were apparently bad from the factory. Sam sent a guy 30 miles to our place THAT DAY and fixed it, and even put a new blade on it at no charge.

So I don't have much worries that the dealer will take care of business.

This mower will flat eat up the grass and the quality of cut is very good. So far we have been able to mow as fast as the thing will go most of the time, and thats about 10 mph. Really not as rough riding as I was led to believe it would be and very fun to operate. The LC engine is not very loud - the blades are actually consideraby louder than the engine, but not too bad.

 

[dsb5610]

Alan,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like this unit is going to work well for you. I am going to look at a Kubota ZD326 tomorrow. Been mowing with a Deere F911 for the last 10 years. One of my concerns moving to a ZTR from a front deck unit was a rougher ride. Sounds like it may not be as big of a concern as I thought.

dsb

 

[Alan L.]

I used the Scag the entire season and put 134 hours on it. Great mower. Toward the end of the season I found the quality of cut was not what it had been, especially the middle blade.

After my last mowing of the season I took it in to Sam's Riders in Sherman where I bought it. The kept it about 2 months. Scag replaced the seat and put a stop on it. But they said my deck was warped.

While I probably hit this and that during the mowing season, but I didn't think I had done anything that would warp a 7 guage deck. A couple of weeks ago one of the mechanics said the Scag rep had looked at the mower and decided they were not going to replace the deck. So he apparently put some washers on the spindles and declared the mower fit for duty.

Today I called and this time talked to Sam himself. He seemed to know nothing about the warped deck, that it was his understanding that the Scag rep took measurements and determined the deck to be fine, but suggested some adjustments, lower the front etc. I told him the other guy had told us it was warped. I mentioned that I was concerned about how easy it must be to damage the deck, and figured I'd trade it on a brand that has a sturdier deck.

Sam hung up to talk to the other guy. A couple hours later he called back and said the mower is ready to pick up. Said he had pulled a deck off a new mower and put on it, as he did not want me to have any problems with such a new mower.

Never once did Sam or the mechanic imply that I was responsible for damaging the deck. They took care of the problem and I'm happy with Sam's Riders as a dealer.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Alan,

I bought a Scag Wildcat last summer and love it. I somehow missed your thread when I was researching mowers, but it sounds like we went through a similar process of deciding what mower to buy. I was really torn between the Scag and the Kubota, but kept coming back to Scag because of how heavy duty it was. Nothing else had the same amount of steel in them or the water cooled engine.

My experience with the radiator and keeping it clean has been just like yours. I haven't mowed close to my ponds with it, so I haven't gotten stuck yet. LOL I have found it great for mowing steel slopes. I can mow areas with it that I couldn't with my tractor and rear finish mower. I also found that while my finish mower does a great job, it's night and day compared to the Scag. The first time I cut with the Scag, the grass was all brown, but by the third time, it was beautiful and better looking then every before.

I'm mowing more areas with it then I mowed with my ride along mower, but getting it done much faster. I find the seat to be very comfortable and the controls easy and responsive. I can go as fast as I can handle the ride.

The only complaint is that I wish I had a fuel gauge. I haven't ran out of gas, but find that one tank is about what I use per mowing. Sometimes if we're having a party down at the lake, I like to mow there a few times to get it nicer looking and will fill up both tanks, but I'm always wondering if I'll run out of fuel.

So far, I haven't had any issues or need to call my dealer. I hope he's half the dealer that yours is. I'm very impressed with how he's handled your problems and taken care of them. My dealer is also my Echo and Stihl dealer, but again, I've never had a complaint about those tools either, so I don't know how well he'll handle them if I do need him.

When I bought my mower, I filled out the survey and just a few weeks ago, got my Scag baseball cap from them. I forgot about it, so it was a nice surprise to get it in the mail.

Eddie

 

[Alan L.]

Eddie: Yea, I got my Scag hat too. Being black, its a wintertime hat.... Good looking hat though.

I picked up the mower today and not only did it have a new deck, but the entire assembly was new, switched over from the other mower. That included spindles and even new blades. More than I would expect, for sure.

I changed the oil and did the grease maintenance today, so she is ready to go. Even mowed a few purple flowers with it, growing around my septic sprinklers.

Mrs. Alan L. has put most of the hours on it, but it is really fun to use, and comfortable, as you mentioned.

I found that the mower used less gas as it got broke in, although it certainly uses more gas than my tractor uses diesel.

 

[EddieWalker]

Alan,

I went to an auction today and while there, I was thinking about this thread and wanting to get out and do some mowing. As things worked out at the auction, we blew it on a a great deal on a tractor, so came home empty handed. I had fun on several dozen different tractors, ATV's, UTV, Golf Carts and excavators, but as soon as I got home, I checked my fluids and then took out my Scag to do some mowing.

I haven't started it in over four months, but it fired right up just like it did when I was mowing with it once a week. That impressed me.

Nice to hear of your good fortune. Your dealer sure goes above and beyond!!!

Eddie