Zero Turn Mods

[Kubota Tee]

After exploring various forums on the Internet, I was not able to find a whole lot of posts where people were customizing their zero turn mowers. Of course, there is always 4Shorts on this forum who can (and does) customize just about everything and I will probably borrow from him once again with his zero turn customized rear bumper/hitch. But other than Paul, it gets pretty thin. When you search the lawn care sites, it's all about making money - which I completely understand! But for me, investing in a high end commercial zero turn mower is all about time, enjoyment and never wanting to buy another mower!! So ....., after many months of research, I landed on a Toro Z Master 6000 series commercial mower. I mow about 5 acres and sometimes up to 10 acres depending on a share-the-work program I have with my neighbor since we jointly own some nice property along side our lake that we use for recreation.

Now, on to the mods. The first question my wife asked me was "why do you want to mod your brand new mower?" She actually should have known better since I've done a bunch of mods to my Kubota Grand L3540HST. For me, it's all about making the machine MINE! Adding those extra features and conveniences that really turns a utility machine made for the masses into a one-of-a-kind, personalized machine made just for me. AND ....., like I said above, I plan on owning this machine for many, many years to come.

So, where to start? For me, it's lights and electrical accessories. I started getting things mounted and tested this morning, but I'm still waiting on my side lights to arrive before I complete all the wiring. Here's a few pics to show what I'm up to.

 

[4shorts]

Well Thomas you brought me out of hiding because I had to tell you just how cool your install is. Love it. Looks oem. Nice looking ztr as well. Looking forward to seeing more of your mods. As for modding stuff. I can't resist. There's always an improvement to be made with everything.
Have a great weekend my friend.

Paul

 

[JerryK]

Yes, but you don't have a foot operated PTO control, with an orange LED mounted in the connector across the switch that lights up when the ' PTO DEACTIVATOR FOOT SWITCH ' shut the PTO off..... [ I'm old and retired with lots of time on my hands, and sometimes shut the PTO off a lot crossing my dusty driveway.... ]

 

[Kubota Tee]

Well Thomas you brought me out of hiding because I had to tell you just how cool your install is. Love it. Looks oem. Nice looking ztr as well. Looking forward to seeing more of your mods. As for modding stuff. I can't resist. There's always an improvement to be made with everything. Have a great weekend my friend. Paul

Paul - great to hear from you! And of course, thanks again for all your inspirations. I've got a few more coming on this zero turn, so stay tuned .....

 

[Kubota Tee]

Yes, but you don't have a foot operated PTO control, with an orange LED mounted in the connector across the switch that lights up when the ' PTO DEACTIVATOR FOOT SWITCH ' shut the PTO off..... [ I'm old and retired with lots of time on my hands, and sometimes shut the PTO off a lot crossing my dusty driveway.... ]

That is one fine modification Jerry - I can definitely see that being useful if you are turning the PTO on and off quite often. Very well executed!

 

[npalen]

The deck height on my Exmark Navigator was hard to adjust consisting of pulling a hairpin cotter and moving to an adjacent hole on each of four adjusting posts while supporting the weight of the deck. I made the four pair of adjusting cam/handles out of 1/8" aluminum on my CNC router. The stepped cam lobes provide a range of four deck heights with a UHMW washer under to ease adjustment. This hand adjustment of each of the four corners pales in comparison to single point adjustment on many mowers but is much better than the stock method. Adjustment consists of grabbing the black handle and rotating the cam to the desired position. (times four places) Dropping one side of the deck temporarily for mowing along a curb, for example, is a fairly easy process.

 

[Kubota Tee]

The deck height on my Exmark Navigator was hard to adjust consisting of pulling a hairpin cotter and moving to an adjacent hole on each of four adjusting posts while supporting the weight of the deck. I made the four pair of adjusting cam/handles out of 1/8" aluminum on my CNC router. The stepped cam lobes provide a range of four deck heights with a UHMW washer under to ease adjustment. This hand adjustment of each of the four corners pales in comparison to single point adjustment on many mowers but is much better than the stock method. Adjustment consists of grabbing the black handle and rotating the cam to the desired position. (times four places) Dropping one side of the deck temporarily for mowing along a curb, for example, is a fairly easy process.

npalen - that is one heck of an engineering effort to overcome a challenging factory design. Boy, they must have thought people only adjust their deck height once or twice a season! I'm glad the new designs have made the whole deck height adjustment a lot easier. Although mine is a mechanical approach with a single pin, many of the new machines have a dial that allows you to dial in your desired cutting height and away you go! Nice job on this mod!!

 

[Kubota Tee]

The side lights came in today and I was able to get them mounted. For the starboard side, there was a hole already there from the factory - not sure what for, but the location seems perfect. I went ahead and drilled out a hole on the port side in the same location to get both sides mounted up. The next step will be to wire everything up and start using these new accessories. My next post will be of pics with everything functional, including some pics at night to show how the lights are working.

 

[kydick]

what about a radio? years ago i put a 8 track tape player on a motorcycle. that was before there was much music for motorcycles. with all weather radios for tractors it wouldnt be hard to find a place to set it.

 

[Ed of all trades]

This is not something you would want to do Kubota Tee but someone might want to. My nephew made a very simple discharge shoot shut off for his. He used a 1" board and a couple eye bolts and used a bungee cord for a spring. It sets up in the vertical position out of the way when not in use and just flips down over the shoot when he wants to block the shoot so he can mow next to a flour bed or something. He just reaches down and flips it ether way with his hand and the bungee cord holds it in place, I can't send a pic because the mower is over a hour away and my camera wont focus well that far, it would be all blurry.

Kubota Tee no insult intended I just assume you would want something more polished.
Ed

 

[Kubota Tee]

what about a radio? years ago i put a 8 track tape player on a motorcycle. that was before there was much music for motorcycles. with all weather radios for tractors it wouldnt be hard to find a place to set it.

kydick - Thanks for bringing up the radio topic. What I have found to be most practical for a lawn mower or an open air tractor is something that provides hearing protection in conjunction with content (music, pod casts, talk radio, etc). Of course, this totally changes in a closed cab situation. For my new zero turn, I plan on using my portable devices (ipod nano with radio or iphone) along with ear protection that allows for a headphone type connection. This was the main purpose for including a USB power connection as part of my first mod. To take it one step further, I may look at investing in new headphones/ear protection that offers bluetooth connectivity in order to remove the hard connection between myself and the source device. Something like this.

 

[Kubota Tee]

This is not something you would want to do Kubota Tee but someone might want to. My nephew made a very simple discharge shoot shut off for his. He used a 1" board and a couple eye bolts and used a bungee cord for a spring. It sets up in the vertical position out of the way when not in use and just flips down over the shoot when he wants to block the shoot so he can mow next to a flour bed or something. He just reaches down and flips it ether way with his hand and the bungee cord holds it in place, I can't send a pic because the mower is over a hour away and my camera wont focus well that far, it would be all blurry. Kubota Tee no insult intended I just assume you would want something more polished. Ed

Ed - It's actually a very good suggestion. Fortunately for me, Toro has an answer with an optional accessory that accomplishes the same effect. Here is the description and picture from the Toro website

Operator-Controlled Discharge Chute
Landscape friendly rubber discharge chute provides complete control of clippings. with three discharge settings, from wide open to blocked, the OCDC will put the clippings where you want them and not in beds, streets, etc. The integral design allows the discharge chute to remain in place and on the machine, reducing the risk of personal injury and property damage.

 

[JerryK]

I made a wood cover to plug up the chute on my old commercial Toro ZTR. Going to made something like your stock chute cover thing this winter. They make one called a grassflap that is foot operated, and I am going to make one similar to that... except a couple hundred dollar cheaper..... like me, cheaper....

 

[Kubota Tee]

Everything is wired up and functional. My neighbor came by this evening while I was finishing up the wiring and commented that he may want to copy my mods for his JD zero turn because he often gets chased off his lawn by the darkness. I told him that I was more than willing to help! Here's an initial picture I took. More to come when it gets darker outside.

 

[Kubota Tee]

Spent about 30 minutes last night giving the new lights a good work out. This will definitely be a game changer for me, especially during the late summer and fall when I often find myself getting home from work after the sun has gone down. In the past, the lawn would get overgrown and I'd spend the weekend mowing (usually twice) to deal with the extra long grass. Now I'll be able to keep up with the lawn work, even in the dark. Some additional pics from last night .....

 

[Kubota Tee]

Just completed my next customization on the Toro Z Master 6000 - a rear hitch plate. I want to eventually do something like 4shorts did on his Kubota zero turn (see pic below), but I'll need to farm out the machine for a while at the welding shop, and I just can't have it out of service right now. For now, I decided to just go with a simple hitch plate. I found the Toro accessory part number and saw they wanted $70 for it. I found an equivalent on Amazon for half the price, but most reviews said they needed to adjust the holes to make it fit various machines - more of a generic replacement. However, everyone commented on how beefy the part was, so I decided to go for it. I did have to drill out the slots in order to make sure it fit, and put some spacers to accommodate the gap between the bumper and the frame. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The first pic is 4Shorts custom bumper, the rest are of my hitch.

 

[Kubota Tee]

Can you guess my next mod?

 

[farm boy00]

Can you guess my next mod?

I'm guessing a horn???

 

[4570Man]

I like the light, but I would bust them. I need to make a draw bar that is a little nicer than the current 2x4 board.

 

[Ford850]

I have a hitch similar to what you got from Amazon, and I use it all the time. It works great for my trailer, sprayer, and spreaders. I've even pulled light harrows when seeding areas.