Zanon ZCR 800 lawn mower

[Jens767]

Hi - and a happy New Year

Since a few month, my 2016 mowing season is over, and I have added another 29 hours on my Zanon mower. This was my fourth season with this mower, and it now has a total of 139 hours. The tractor/mower setup was the same as for the 2015 season, and it has worked just fine.

I find it hard to believe that I should be the only member of this great forum who has a Zanon ZCR, but considering the lack of replies to this thread, that might be the case. I would very much like to hear from members who have experience themselves with this lawn mower.

As I do not have much to add to my previous comments this year, I can offer a few photos of the mower in action instead.


Best regards

Jens

 

[NibbanaFarm]

Some great shots there Jens. Looks like you have quite a bit to mow. And a nice property. You must have to empty that bagger quite frequently though? I thought I read somewhere that it was better to let the clippings stay on the lawn rather than collect them?

As for myself, I'm going to keep my Cub Cadet lawn tractor going as long as possible. As much as I dislike it. When it does eventually retire, I'm not at all sure what I will replace it with. The price is definitely right on a mower for the BCS. What I am worried about is that I have a lot of obstacles to mow around and so would probably be better served by something with a hydrostatic drive.

 

[joecoin]

I have a Zanon ZRA800 on my Grillo 107d.

What I like; it cuts very nicely.

What I don't like; it is noisy and the height adjusters are a bad design.

 

[Jens767]

Hi NibbanaFarm - and thank you for your nice comments

My lawn is around 1,700 square meters, or around 18,000 square feet. Depending of course on the weather and thereby on the growth, I try to mow around once a week during the season. I usually spend 1 1/2 hour or a little less mowing the entire lawn then. I am glad, that the 3 photos above does not show the normal growth in a week, because then you would be right - then I really had a lot to mow

I took the photos in the summer of 2013 after coming home from a 2 1/2-week vacation, in which time the weather at home had been warm and rainy, and the lawn had grown to around 30 cm (1 foot), as mentioned in the first post in this thread. I normally always mow in third gear, but due to the large amount of clippings then, I spent 6 hours mowing in first gear! The mowing of course took longer driving in first gear, but as you rightly indicate, emptying the bag took forever.

Whether to leave the clippings on the lawn or to collect them depends on several factors: if you mow often, and thereby have a small amount of short clippings, you can easily leave the clippings, and they will dry and disappear into the lawn itself. This is what they often do on golf courses, especially by warm and dry weather. At the same time, you need a mower that will distribute the clippings evenly, preventing lumps of clipping rotting on the lawn. This is not possible with the ZCR, because without the bag, it throws the clippings in front of itself, often in lumps, especially with the amount seen on my photos. That day I think I spent twice as much time emptying the bag, than on actual mowing. When mowing normally around once a week, emptying the bag is not that big a deal, if you can empty it close by.

A lawn tractor - or a 2-wheel tractor - with a hydrostatic transmission, is probably always the best you can get, especially if you have a lot of obstacles. Although I have the impression, that such tractors are often at the top end of the range, and therefore very expensive.

As I mentioned in my first post in this thread, the overall length of a 2-wheel tractor/mower combination, is a disadvantage compared to many other types of more dedicated mowers. That said, with practice, it is not that bad a compromise. What is important I have found, is to find a path around your lawn, where you have to turn - or even worse - change into reverse, as little as possible. I fought my tractor to much in the beginning, but after a while, I found a path where I hardly ever have to go into reverse, and where I turn as little as possible.


Hi joecoin

I fully agree with you on the noise issue! My Zanon is also very noisy, and it especially has a high frequency noise, that I thing comes from the fast rotating bevel gears. The transmission is rather complicated, as the driveline changes direction twice after the PTO-shaft. As the 3 bevel gears also are of the simple straight type, they are prone to be noisy. The more complicated, but also more expensive spiral bevel gear would reduce that problem.


Best regards

Jens

 

[bjc68speed]

Hi Jens, I don't post often but have followed this thread from the beginning. I hope to purchase a two wheel tractor this spring and am leaning heavily towards the Grillo G110. I followed your thread because it seemed you had corrected the nits shortcomings. I have heard that Earth tools does not sell the unit you have as there was a lot of dissatisfaction. I just looked on the Zannon website and don't see your unit shown anymore. Happy New Year!

 

[Jens767]

Hi bjc68speed

Thank you very much for your post.

I have not been on the Zanon homepage for a while, but it looks like you are right. I can only find the FALK and the ZRA now, which might indicate that the ZCR in no longer produced.

As I was looking for a lawn mower implement to my BCS 740 4-5 years ago, I spent a lot of time on research without finding much. As I am away from home a lot, and cannot mow on a regular basis, I wanted a mower with a bag. As I recall, I only found two mowers to choose between: the BCS, and the Zanon. In the end, I decided to go for the ZCR, primarily based on the positive impression I got on the Earth Tools homepage regarding the other Zanon products. Especially the heavy-duty qualities were important to me, as my lawn is far from a manicured British one.

In order to try to provide others in the same situation with more information than I had available at the time, I decided to share my experiences in this forum. I had hoped that others would do the same, but perhaps I am the only one here who uses the ZCR. I have tried to be as objective as possible, to help others in their decision-making.

Reading your post, I get the impression that you are perhaps also considering a lawn mower for your future 2-wheel tractor? If so, it would be interesting to hear about your considerations and your decision.


Best regards

Jens

 

[NibbanaFarm]

You make some very good points Jens. It might take a little extra walking, but if thought out well, a lot of stop-go-reverse action could be avoided. And, as I recall the price of these things is on the order of $2000 USD. That's cheap for a good mower. For a quality hydrostatic, I think it's probably more like $5000-10,000 depending on where it's made. Big bucks. I won't rule these out when I'm in the market. I paid almost $4000 for my CC 8 years ago. I've been making it work but it doesn't cut that well at all. And it's very difficult to work on. A disappointment.

 

[bjc68speed]

I was considering the CZR based on your post. I only have an acre of grass and really wanted the ability to bag the clippings. I currently have a 1999 Exmark Metro commercial mower which has a great cut and with an aftermarket grass catcher does a pretty good job of collecting clippings. I was leaning heavily towards the Grillo G110 with the diesel but may have to reconsider the BCS. I am curious as to how well the ZRA THROWS clippings with the deflector removed and wether an aftermarket catcher could be fitted. I usually only collect the clippings around my pool but could probably get away without it. Definitely looking forward to only having to maintain one motor and a little more storage space. Regards

 

[Jens767]

Hi NibbanaFarm

When I began mowing with my Zanon in spring 2013, I tried to mow straight up and down my lawn with a 180-degree turn at either end, as I had done before with my more traditional lawn mower. It did not work that well I think

As the BCS does not have a live PTO, the power to an implement is disconnected every time the clutch is disengaged, either to change gear or direction. This is no big deal with low-torque implements like my sweeper, but with a high-torque mower like the Zanon, you cannot just let go of the clutch, but have to engage it with ease in order not to overstress the powertrain. This is my main reason for trying to avoid too many changes of direction while mowing. - And the extra walking is good for me, my doctor says

I do not know about the prices in the US, but I paid €1645.42 ($1747.19) for my ZCR in November 2012.


Hi bjc68speed

You say that you "only have an acre of grass" to mow. To me that sounds like quit a lot, compared to my 18,000 square feet. Depending of course on how often you are able to mow, you might expect to spend quite some time mowing and emptying the bag. My lawn is less than 1/2 the size of yours, and I spend around 1 1/2 hour on average mowing it.

I have the impression, that there are very few lawn mowers with bags for 2-wheel tractors on the market. Only the BCS models perhaps, if the ZCR is no longer produced?


Best regards

Jens

 

[bjc68speed]

Jens, thanks for all your input. The videos I've watched of the ZRA shows tall heavy grass balling up as it exits the deck, it appears if the deflector were removed the grass would be broadcast more evenly. I could live with that and just double cut my lawn as I do know when the grass is really growing heavy. I also have not looked into which are the deck will discharge on. I have not seen a ZRA on a Grillo. All the other videos show it to the left. Hopefully there'll be a replacement for the ZCR by spring.

Regards, Brian

 

[Jens767]

Hi - and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you

The 2017 mowing season is over, and I have cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the 4 knives, and my Zanon mower and I are ready for the coming season. This was my fifth season with the ZCR, and I used it for another 30 hours this year, bringing the total up to 169 hours.

As Zanon has not come up with a replacement for the ZCR on their home page, updating this thread might seem like a waste of my time, but I had one experience this summer that might be of interest to users of other Zanon mowers with a similar drive train. This could be mowers like the ZRA lawn mower with side discharge, the ZRF disc mower or the FALK brush mower.

As can be seen on my pictures in post #7 in this thread, there is a universal joint in the drive line through the PTO-flange. This is in order to allow the flange to be adjusted vertically, allowing the deck to run parallel to the ground independent of tractor wheel size and mowing hight. Each part of the universal joint is fitted with a bolt - and these 2 bolts gave me a sudden and big surprise this summer! One day as I was mowing, the tractor stopped very abrupt, with the engine still running and the mower free-wheeling to a stop. As this happened at brisk walking speed in 3rd gear - and without warning - I almost stumbled and fell on top of the tractor. The PowerSafe clutch did a good job protecting the engine from the shock load, as it slipped, allowing the engine to continue to run. I turned the engine off, and began investigating. At first I was afraid that the gearbox of the tractor was the problem, but after removing the yellow cover over the universal joint, the problem was obvious: both bolts had unscrewed themselves, and one of them was now trapped between the universal joint and the bottom of the housing, and thereby making a nice dent (see picture).



I felt lucky that nothing worse had happened, and after having replaced the 2 bolts, I now mow without the yellow cover over the universal joint, allowing me to keep an eye on the bolts at all time. On top of that, I frequently check that the bolts are tight.

As a little bonus, this incident showed me that the PowerSafe clutch is capable of protecting the engine very well, should the PTO or gearbox get jammed. :thumbsup:

Hi again Brian

In your post #25 in this thread, your tell that you hope to purchase a 2-wheel tractor in spring. Did you get one?

I have found it very difficult to find information on the Zanon ZCR mower - before I got mine, and also since. Perhaps I am the only one having one?

I have read post #13 from rickyd79 of course, but sadly I have not been able to find out, why Joel at Earth Tools and several of his customers did not like the ZCR mower, but I would like to hear. Perhaps your only choice now for a mower with a bag, are the BCS 22" or 38" models, or have you been able to find other brands? I hope that my Zanon will serve me well for many years to come, but if it should not, I would love to try the BCS 38" model as well.


Best regards

Jens

 

[NibbanaFarm]

Interesting report Jens. I was using the sickle bar mower with my 739 last year and it grabbed a bite of a very thick maple sapling. The sickle bar jammed completely to stop moving but the engine continued to run. I quickly disengaged the clutch but I am sure I saw the sickle bar stop moving without stalling the engine. Maybe for 2 or 3 seconds. And there was no damage to tractor or implement. I didn't think the tractor clutch would slip so I assumed there was some type of clutch in the sickle bar (oil bath) gear box.

 

[rickyd79]

Hi - and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you

The 2017 mowing season is over, and I have cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the 4 knives, and my Zanon mower and I are ready for the coming season. This was my fifth season with the ZCR, and I used it for another 30 hours this year, bringing the total up to 169 hours.

As Zanon has not come up with a replacement for the ZCR on their home page, updating this thread might seem like a waste of my time, but I had one experience this summer that might be of interest to users of other Zanon mowers with a similar drive train. This could be mowers like the ZRA lawn mower with side discharge, the ZRF disc mower or the FALK brush mower.

As can be seen on my pictures in post #7 in this thread, there is a universal joint in the drive line through the PTO-flange. This is in order to allow the flange to be adjusted vertically, allowing the deck to run parallel to the ground independent of tractor wheel size and mowing hight. Each part of the universal joint is fitted with a bolt - and these 2 bolts gave me a sudden and big surprise this summer! One day as I was mowing, the tractor stopped very abrupt, with the engine still running and the mower free-wheeling to a stop. As this happened at brisk walking speed in 3rd gear - and without warning - I almost stumbled and fell on top of the tractor. The PowerSafe clutch did a good job protecting the engine from the shock load, as it slipped, allowing the engine to continue to run. I turned the engine off, and began investigating. At first I was afraid that the gearbox of the tractor was the problem, but after removing the yellow cover over the universal joint, the problem was obvious: both bolts had unscrewed themselves, and one of them was now trapped between the universal joint and the bottom of the housing, and thereby making a nice dent (see picture).

View attachment 532968

I felt lucky that nothing worse had happened, and after having replaced the 2 bolts, I now mow without the yellow cover over the universal joint, allowing me to keep an eye on the bolts at all time. On top of that, I frequently check that the bolts are tight.

As a little bonus, this incident showed me that the PowerSafe clutch is capable of protecting the engine very well, should the PTO or gearbox get jammed. :thumbsup:

Hi again Brian

In your post #25 in this thread, your tell that you hope to purchase a 2-wheel tractor in spring. Did you get one?

I have found it very difficult to find information on the Zanon ZCR mower - before I got mine, and also since. Perhaps I am the only one having one?

I have read post #13 from rickyd79 of course, but sadly I have not been able to find out, why Joel at Earth Tools and several of his customers did not like the ZCR mower, but I would like to hear. Perhaps your only choice now for a mower with a bag, are the BCS 22" or 38" models, or have you been able to find other brands? I hope that my Zanon will serve me well for many years to come, but if it should not, I would love to try the BCS 38" model as well.


Best regards

Jens

Hi Jens
Beyond the information I gave on the bagging Zanon a couple of years ago, I don't have anything further. The imported said they were too heavy and there were multiple customer returns so it made no sense to continue selling them. As a dealer I understand that. If its working well for you that is great, no need to change anything in my opinion.

Regarding the bolts and the u joint...I have had bolt come loose as well, but not fall out. I noticed it during a service. I would apply some thread locker as well and I think this will correct the problem.

 

[Jens767]

Hi again NibbanaFarm - and thank you for your reply :thumbsup:

Like you, I would assume some sort of build-in protection like a slip-clutch or a shearing pin in a sickle bar mower, as it is quite a delicate implement, compared to most rotary mowers. I therefore had a look in the Operators Manual on the homepage of BCS America today. I was not able to find any clutch on a sickle bar mower however, so perhaps your mower - and tractor/engine - were also protected by the slipping PowerSafe clutch for the 2-3 critical seconds, until you disengaged the clutch yourself? Or perhaps there is a clutch that I have missed?

I think there is a fundamental difference to your case and mine however: your sickle bar mower got jammed at the knives, putting a lot of load on the complete power train from the engine to the knives. The "weakest" part of the power train happened to be the PowerSafe clutch, which was good, as it probably protected your mower and engine from any damage. In my instance, the PTO shaft got jammed, and as the high-torque mower protected itself, by free-wheeling to a stop, only the engine and the tractor felt the excessive load. Like in your case, the PowerSafe clutch protected them, until I disengaged the clutch.

It still puzzles me if there is no clutch or other build-in protection in a sickle bar mower. For comparison, I just had a look at my Berta 2-stage snowblower. It has 2 shear pins protecting the left and right sides of the auger respectively, and a third shear pin protecting the impeller - not bad! This gives me a good feeling when working with the implement, as you never know what might wait for you in the deep snow. - A bit like when one is mowing, right?


Best regards

Jens

 

[NibbanaFarm]

Jens, What you're saying makes sense. What's confusing me is this. When the sickle bar jammed, I was only running the engine just a little above idle. So I can't imagine it was making much horsepower at all. The clutch should be able to deliver all the motor horsepower to the PTO I would think. Or it couldn't operate large, power hungry implements like rotary mowers, etc. So it seems to me that in this case the clutch should have easily stalled the motor without slipping.

There is a youtube guy, grasshopperranch. In one of his videos he said that he got a rock jammed in his rotary plow and it stalled his diesel BCS running wide open throttle. Wow. That is scary. Anyway, I know it's a different clutch, but I would think any clutch would have to deliver the full rated hp to the PTO.

So in essence, the clutch shouldn't slip. Maybe I'm confused. Not sure.

 

[Jens767]

Hi NibbanaFarm

Like you, I would also expect that a clutch in any vehicle will be able to transfer the maximum torque that the engine can deliver. I would also expect that a safety clutch or shear pin in any implement should to be able to withstand the amount of torque that this implement is designed to handle.

On the other hand, I think it is a very good feature for a clutch if it will slip, should these limits be exceeded, thereby protecting the entire power train. Perhaps that is a feature of the PowerSafe clutch, and perhaps that is what happened to you with your BCS 739, and to me with my BCS 740? Grasshopperranch has a BCS 853 with the traditional cone clutch, which perhaps differs from the PowerSafe clutch in this respect? The chock load that the entire power train had to withstand as his rotary plow jammed and his diesel engine stalled, cannot be good to any component!

It is perhaps useful to remember, that a clutch transfers torque, and that even with reduced engine rpm, the torque can be relative high. At high engine rpm the power transmitted through the clutch increases significantly, but that does not stress the clutch, as torque is dropping slightly at high rpm.

Honda Engines | GX39 4-Stroke Engine | Features, Specs, and Model Info

At 2000 rpm, the Honda GX390 engine produces 25 Nm of torque, or almost 95% of its maximum torque of 26.4 Nm at 2500 rpm. At maximum rpm though, the engine produces "only" 23 Nm, or only 92% of the torque at 2000 rpm - or only around 87% of its maximum torque!

I hope you feel less confused now? :thumbsup:


Best regards

Jens

 

[plumberroy]

I know I am dragging up an old thread. I have a single blade Zanon mower deck that I run on a Grillo g85d my Grillo has the 10 hp kohler and larger wheels. It is a beast cutting stuff that my rider chokes on.

 

[Jens767]

Hi

In autumn last year I cleaned the mower and the bag, sharpened the knives, and tried my best to get the Zanon mower ready and well prepared for the coming season. My ZCR has now served me well for 7 seasons, and I have used it for a total of 236 hours now, and wanted to bring a little update.

During the summer of 2017, the ZCR disappeared from the Zanon homepage, which could indicate that Zanon had chosen to end the production of this particular model. A quick search on the internet today though, brought up this page:

http://www.zanon.it/pdf/prodotti/ZCR-BILAMA.pdf

As the above link is part of the official Zanon homepage, I was surprised to find that they still mention the ZCR mower.

A large Dutch dealer just across the border from Germany, also still mention the Zanon ZCR mower on his homepage:

lozeman - Teilebucher

And finally, the dealer from whom I got my mower, also still mention it on his homepage:

Sichelmahwerke mit Aufnahme | kokotech.de

Whether these 3 links above are simply old links that should have been deleted, or if they mean that the ZCR mower is still available, I don't know. Perhaps some of the well-informed dealers among our members can tell?

At my last update after the 2017 season, I mentioned the problem that I had with the universal joint which is part of the drive line through the PTO-flange. Since this experience, I have left the yellow cover over the universal joint off, allowing me to keep an watchful eye on it at all times. Further more, I often check that the 2 bolts keeping either end of the joint in place, are tight. To connect the incoming and the outgoing shaft to the universal joint, there is a keyed joint at either end of the universal joint. This feature allows the male flange on the coupling to be adjusted up or down, always allowing the deck of the mower to run parallel to the ground, even with varying tractor wheel size and mowing hight.

Last summer then, I noticed that the key on the outgoing shaft was beginning to wear out, as a little bit of slag had developed in the joint, despite my constant effort to keep the fixing bolt tight. I brought the mower to my local BCS dealer, and he recommended to replace not only the worn-out key, but the outgoing half of the universal joint as well. The picture below shows the final result.



To me this looks like a much more professional solution than the original one, as the new outgoing half of the joint has a slit, that allows it to press tight on the entire circumference of the shaft, and not just at the point where the bolt is.



The picture above shows the original half of the universal joint with the bolt pressing on the incoming shaft.

Perhaps something similar can be a useful solution to other owners of Zanon mowers, experiencing similar problems.


Best regards

Jens

 

[Jens767]

Hi

Around 18 month have passed since my last post, so I want to bring a little update that might interest users with a Zanon mower.

I’m in my 9th season with the Zanon ZCR lawn mower, and the mower has accumulated a total of close to 250 hours. In early spring I was struck by bad luck while mowing, as one of the hinged knives struck a stone to hard and broke

I decided to use this opportunity to replace all 4 knives including their 2 mountings, and save the old parts as spares.



A new knife next to a 9 year old one with close to 250 hours of use.




The Zanon ZCR standing on its side with the new knives and their new mountings in place.


Best regards

Jens

 

[Jens767]

Hi

My lawn mowing season 2025 has come to an end, and I have cleaned and greased my Zanon ZCR to make it ready for the next season, and now it sits dry and warm in the garage.

I am aware, that there are very few members - if any at all, who uses this exact mower, but as the basic construction is very similar to other Zanon mowers, I hope an update could be of interest to members having these at least.

This was my 13th season using this mower, and I have put almost 300 working hours on it. It hasn’t worked without problems, but it does a decent job, and allows me to utilize my tractor way more than I otherwise would. As I have mentioned before, my lawn is more of a pasture, and the last 4 years or so, I only mow 4-6 times during the season, to allow the bees and other insects to feast on the clover and other flowers. This means of course, that the grass is tall when I finally mow it, and this probably puts more strain on the mower than it is designed for

This is how my setup looks, with the Zanon ZCR 800 in front of my BCS 740:



As stated in the previous post, I put new blades and blade holders on 4 years ago, and have used them for around 50 hours. Bad luck struck again in august this summer, as one of the blade holders broke while mowing! That really caught my attention, and this was how the parts looked afterwards:



As I have kept the original blades and blade holders as spares, I could put them on and finish mowing

4 years ago I had to order every little part separately, and fit the blades on the 2 blade holders myself. My Zanon dealer this time told me, that Zanon provide a complete blade holder now, with all the washers, bushings, blades and nuts complete as one unit. That was good news, and so I ordered 2 complete sets.

As I received the parts, I was very pleased to see that the new blade holder was much thicker than the old one. The original blade holder from 2012, and the ones I received 2021, were 4 mm (5/32’’) thick. That is probably adequate if the mower is used as intended, mowing nice lawns pretty often, but in my case, they were not up to the job

The new blade holders are made of 6 mm (15/64’’) steel, which makes quite a difference:



The blades, new or old, are 3 mm (⅛’’) thick. Note that I have sadly put the 2 washers in the wrong position, as I put all the parts together 4 years ago

Sadly, there was also a little disappointment, as I tried to fix the blade holders to the spindles. 4 new bolts were in the box, one of which is the lower one in this picture:



Compered to the old bolt at the top, the new one is not just bigger, but it is bigger than the hole in which it is supposed to fit

It still had the old ones of course, and this is how the lawn mower looks with new blades, ready for next year

The price for 2 complete blade holders was 156 Euro ($179.31), plus 25 Euro ($28.74) added for shipping. As homeowner I have to pay 19% sales tax on top of everything, bringing the total price to 225.31 Euro ($258.98).


Best regards

Jens