Saw Scags on about every pro landscape trailer back in 2009. Knew really nothing about ZTs, but wanted one, I thought, and my vacation lawn guy had his up for sale. Paid $8K for a 220 hour Scag Wildcat with 12 bushel 3 bag, bagger and 26HP water cooled Kawasaki. Manual said it can do 27 acres/day, all day long!
Used it for last 6 years of 8 years total ownership. Let it sit for the last two years until I sold it last week at 354 hours. Not much seat time over six years of use. Three different times I recall it bolted for the nearest tree at rocket speed while I cringed and grabbed the lap bars and pulled back while the turf tires spun like a chariot on fire! NOT fun, and remember these things have NO brakes! If it decides to bolt, you'd better have upped your life insurance recently.... Bagger was a pain in the shorts too- constantly jamming at the blower with even the slightest damp grass.
Parked it and bought a Husky 322T AWD rider with Combi 103 mulching deck and steering wheel. Tuff-Torq front transaxle came with a palm sized glob of white silicone jammed into the axle shaft area from the factory - leaked like a sieve! Dealer replaced it with a new one; transaxle, not mower. This one seems to be leaking intermittently now with just 100+ machine hours. Only 70 or so hours on new transaxle....
Seat frame held to mower frame by two welded to frame captive nuts and shoulder bolts that keep backing out. Added Nylock nuts and they are also coming loose.:confused2: Just yesterday drilled out new Nylocks and through the shoulder bolts and pinned the assembly with wire- just like on a jetliner!:confused3:
Time will tell. Meantime wife can use it; she loves it, but doesn't have to do the maintenance on it....
Next I decided to look for something, this time doing more research than just looking at what was passing by on the road, and found a surprising outcome. I went to look at Walker mowers hoping to be able to tame my slopes and hills, etc. Found a Cub Cadet Pro Z 160 S with 23.5 HP Kawasaki, and 4 wheel steering. It has turf tires on the front wheels, which turn via steering wheel control. It has a foot brake control, and CRUISE control, which is great to relieve my bum right knee when doing lots of mow time. It is an AMAZING hill and slope tamer/climber!:thumbsup: It can be equipped with either lap bars OR steering wheel, but the two dealers I went to only had steering wheel models on their lots.
So far I've got about 8 hours on it, and I've cut slightly wet 2-3 foot grass on my septic mound system, which is about 60 feet long and has a wicked downslope at both ends, and on the backside slope. The carbed Kawa is way quieter than the currently supplied 27HP Kohler EFI. Technically my mower was a 2016 build date, but sold in 2017. I believe the Kohler is the ONLY currently available engine, but maybe a dealer can order either engine
It has a 60" deck like my Scag, and ability to tow a sweeper or cart. Bager & striper are available; don't want/need either.
I kept shaking my head about considering buying yet another ZT after my Scag nightmare; (no fault of the mower- just too little research on part of buyer, me, when it came time to buy a mower back then).
So I'm asking myself - do you really want to go from an AWD rider back to a ZT?!
When I found the new ZT at my local dealer seriously discounted because a guy bought it and then decided it was too big a deck for his business use, I test drove it on a hillside. Then the dealer put it through it's paces where I had be gingerly going across the hill, being used to my Scag's wild azzed rodeo bull performances.What he showed me was not to be believed! I wrote a check and am now a finally confident in this particular ZT. Mostly because of the 4 wheel steering- IT'S AWESOME! Unbelievable really; I can now cut grass, weeds, small saplings, (just kidding on the saplings)! I am very happy with it's build quality, maneuverability and overall design. One can add 12 Volt outlet, lights, etc. and make it a mulching deck if desired too. The steering column is movable forward/back for driver comfort, and the seat is a good suspension seat with armrests. Higher grade seat and other options come on the 500, 700 and 900 model mowers. So far no regrets from this owner.
Having learned the hard way the first ZT buy, I would suggest anyone looking to buy a ZT test drive one on their worst sections of lawn or similar terrain at a dealer before even considering buying a ZT. They are excellent machines, BUT, IMHO a one trick pony that doesn't like slopes, damp or especially wet grass etc., unless of course one buys a ZT specialty pro grade mower like the one I just bought. Hope this helps!:thumbsup:
