Any more Pro Z steering wheel users around here?

[Jetblast]

I think I've only seen one other guy post about his, so just in case someone is considering one, I have a some non-commercial user input. I bought a Pro Z 560S early this mowing season and have found it to be a legit monster machine from Cub. I've been sold on steering wheel Cub Cadets for a while now. Lap bar ZTRs have some appealing advantages, starting with far fewer mechanical adjustment and failure points, but my slopes, ditches, and 900' fenceline go easier on something with front wheels directly aimed by a steering wheel. Due to that, in 2011 I bought a Z-Force Commercial S60 and it did a great job with no heartaches. I figured I was set for a at least a decade, but then the ergonomics of the Z-Force S60 started beating me down. I shop in Big & Tall stores so the limited legroom, lack of seat suspension and backrest angle adjustment, coupled with a bumpy yard started to hobble me to the point I didn't much like mowing anymore, and I wanted mowing to stay on my list of tasks I don't hate.

It was time to shop, and shopping high-end steering-wheel ZTRs is easy since there's only one brand now (R.I.P. Gizmow USA). Cub Cadet holds a dozen or more patents on their steering/hydro control design, so of what Cub had, I picked the Pro Z 560S for the 3" travel suspension seat w/back angle adjustment, extra legroom, Kawabunga FX engine, gearless Parker HTJ hydros, and so on. It's gone well because it's far more comfortable than what I had, goes as fast as my bumpy yard allows, and the effortless electric power steering is a revelation. My Z-Force S didn't have power steering, so I ended up putting my Easy-Rider Tight-Turn steering wheel knob into cold storage, and now it's resurrected because there's no steering wheel resistance with these mowers. That same knob on this machine closes much of the gap between how lap-bar ZTRs can pivot hard with easy arm motion, vs. how steering-wheel ZTRs do once hand-over-hand on the wheel is eliminated. I don't want to be a WWII submarine crewman closing a valve to keep a compartment from flooding just to do a 180.

The build strength of this mower is fairly ridiculous, giving it a weight of 1462 pounds. That's nearly twice the weight of my old mower, but the thickness of the steel everywhere allows for much abuse. I bent and had to repair the rear engine guard/bumper on my old mower after backing into an 80' oak tree, but this mower would have toppled the tree before sustaining damage. You could hook an overhead hoist chain to a anti-scalp wheel bracket and suspend the entire mower with no damage or deformation of anything. Seems almost excessive, but better too much than too little.

Great performer, no remorse. Fun to operate. Comfortable on my bumpy lawn. Easy on the eyes if you like yellow things.

 

[cpayne5]

I have a 154S that I wrote about here.
lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/43464-Pro-Z-100-s?p=272688&viewfull=1#post272688
(I have fewer than 5 posts and am not allowed to post "real" links...)

It's been great so far.

 

[rperk]

I was asked to demo the 500 Z because of some steep hills we mow (32* at the steepest point).
I bought it two days later. It's been a great mower but the dealer has no experience working on it.

Pros- very comfortable ride - cut's good (but not as good as my JD & Scag)-
Holds hills and able to drive into and out of steep ditch lines where JD & Scag want. (the reason I bought it)
14 gal fuel tank- 27hp Kawasaki-

Cons - deck does not do well with wet conditions, clumps-
very minimal information in owners Manual for repairs/adjustments
Not as fast as a ztr around buildings
Service not good- took dealer almost a month to figure out and replace power steering problems (electronic control box )
Deck is hard to adjust (again the manual is not precise with info and does not match up with what we have)
I have had steering problems as far as the sync between the steering and the hydros that the dealers can not recreate
I finally figured most of it out myself through trial & error.

Other than all that it's a very good mower, just make sure you have a dealer that can work on it.

 

[Jetblast]

Other than all that it's a very good mower, just make sure you have a dealer that can work on it.

Thanks for your feedback. My dealer, one of the largest selling CC dealers in Ohio, couldn't even assemble mine properly. The steering wheel was mounted crooked, they left a compression washer out of the seatback angle adjustment knob so the bolt kept loosening, the spindle covers were loose and about to fall off, the oil was below the add mark, they knocked a fingernail sized chunk of powder coat off the towing yoke when mounting it, and the deck wasn't level. I also asked them to inflate the tires to 12 psi rear and 20 psi front per the manual, and I got 8 psi on all four, which is a nice way to roll a front tire off the rim. They gave me the parts I needed but I had to DIY the labor because they're never touching it again. Therefore, I assume I'm on my own with all repairs, unless another local Cub Cadet dealer has a better service department. No problems for me yet, and hopefully that remains true until I can order a professional shop manual, as they call them. Luckily the exploded parts diagrams on the CC parts website are quite good, and using them I think I can get through most things until the professional shop manual becomes available. I'm starting to wonder if even the dealers have them yet.

I added the striping kit from the 700 and 900 series to mine because it was scalping over my leach field. For some reason that also improved the cut throughout the lawn.

I thought it was very easy to level the deck using my cheapie plastic deck leveling gauge, however you're right about the owner's manual being completely wrong. It seems to describe the procedure for an entirely different model. It's wrong about a few other things as well, like how the hour meter works.

I love the mower, but I do not love the incompetent dealer I bought it from or the user manual.

 

[rperk]

You're right about the deck, we went at it again to level it and tried a different approach.
One problem I had was trying to get the correct angle to the deck. The right rear adjustment
would only allow me to get up to 3 inches in height while trying to set the deck up to cut at 3.
I wanted the rear to be at 3 1/8 to 3 1/4. Had to modify the right hanger to get what I wanted.

Still having issues with the steering, turn left and the left front tire will slide forward before finally
making a turn.

I also have the stripping kit, lol not much stripping going on but it does stop the scalping issues

 

[Jetblast]

You're right about the deck, we went at it again to level it and tried a different approach.
One problem I had was trying to get the correct angle to the deck. The right rear adjustment
would only allow me to get up to 3 inches in height while trying to set the deck up to cut at 3.
I wanted the rear to be at 3 1/8 to 3 1/4. Had to modify the right hanger to get what I wanted.

Still having issues with the steering, turn left and the left front tire will slide forward before finally
making a turn.

I also have the stripping kit, lol not much stripping going on but it does stop the scalping issues

Glad you got the deck leveling sorted out.

About your steering issue, did you check to see that the gears and cables under the hinged floorboard are responding properly? If the front wheels are snowplowing before the left hydro backs off to assist left turns, I'd look to see that the cable to the left hydro starts moving the moment the actual front wheels (not the steering wheel) begin to turn. I just checked mine again and it's instantaneous, no slop or slack at all. You can test it without firing up the mower.

Odds are that cable is loose or out of adjustment, because I can't think of any other reason that left hydro wouldn't back off. Mine has no such issue, so neither should yours. Since you have the warranty and all, at least you can tell the dealer what you suspect. This new mower may confound a lot of dealer mechanics for some time, so any assist you can provide may save time and labor. If the cable IS tight and is telling the left hydro to back off, then the next step would be to go to the hydro itself and see why it's not responding properly to the cable input.

Based on the price of the steering electronic control module, I'm horrified that yours had to be replaced. Luckily yours was under warranty and the dealer makes money on it either way, but do you think it really needed that? Or were they slinging parts at it without a clear idea what is wrong?

 

[rperk]

Glad you got the deck leveling sorted out.

About your steering issue, did you check to see that the gears and cables under the hinged floorboard are responding properly? If the front wheels are snowplowing before the left hydro backs off to assist left turns, I'd look to see that the cable to the left hydro starts moving the moment the actual front wheels (not the steering wheel) begin to turn. I just checked mine again and it's instantaneous, no slop or slack at all. You can test it without firing up the mower.

Odds are that cable is loose or out of adjustment, because I can't think of any other reason that left hydro wouldn't back off. Mine has no such issue, so neither should yours. Since you have the warranty and all, at least you can tell the dealer what you suspect. This new mower may confound a lot of dealer mechanics for some time, so any assist you can provide may save time and labor. If the cable IS tight and is telling the left hydro to back off, then the next step would be to go to the hydro itself and see why it's not responding properly to the cable input.

Based on the price of the steering electronic control module, I'm horrified that yours had to be replaced. Luckily yours was under warranty and the dealer makes money on it either way, but do you think it really needed that? Or were they slinging parts at it without a clear idea what is wrong?

I've adjusted the cables because they had a lot of slop, enough that I could lift one of the cables from off the sprocket(?)
Finally found a dealer that seemed to understand over the phone about the snowplowing problem. He brought up that he would check the pumps to make sure it's putting out what it should. I will be taking it to him after next week to check it out. After talking with him I tried the unit on a steep embankment, going to the right and trying to turn uphill to the left
the unit barely made the turn and at times would not move until I brought the steering back around. It was the exact opposite going the other way, it would turn up hill with no problem and had power to spare.

As for the steering electronic control module, when I first took it in, they kept it for 3 weeks and couls not get the system to malfunction, the steering was working. That is untill
the day I went to pick it up and when I cranked it up, (with the shop Manager looking on) BAM- no power steering. Anyways they called CC for help and they told them to replace the
electric motor. Did not fix the problem, so they told them to replace the electronic control module, that was a month and a half ago and now the steering gets hard at times.

Hopefully the new dealer will be able to fix these problems.

 

[BlazNT]

I would be looking for a loose ground.

 

[Jetblast]

I've adjusted the cables because they had a lot of slop, enough that I could lift one of the cables from off the sprocket(?)
Finally found a dealer that seemed to understand over the phone about the snowplowing problem. He brought up that he would check the pumps to make sure it's putting out what it should. I will be taking it to him after next week to check it out. After talking with him I tried the unit on a steep embankment, going to the right and trying to turn uphill to the left
the unit barely made the turn and at times would not move until I brought the steering back around. It was the exact opposite going the other way, it would turn up hill with no problem and had power to spare.

As for the steering electronic control module, when I first took it in, they kept it for 3 weeks and couls not get the system to malfunction, the steering was working. That is untill
the day I went to pick it up and when I cranked it up, (with the shop Manager looking on) BAM- no power steering. Anyways they called CC for help and they told them to replace the
electric motor. Did not fix the problem, so they told them to replace the electronic control module, that was a month and a half ago and now the steering gets hard at times.

Hopefully the new dealer will be able to fix these problems.

The solution is to only turn right while mowing! What a terrible pain, huh? Brand new mower and all...

I wonder how they fouled up your power steering? Big smoking gun, it having been in their possession. My steering never gets hard at times, just in case they try to convince you that's normal.

If I can ask a favor, once it's sorted out, could you come back here and say what the problem and fix was? That'll be good data for everyone with a Pro Z "S."

 

[rperk]

Yep I'll be sure and do that once we get it all figured out. There is very little info on these machines, so any thing that we can add will help someone else.