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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.

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.

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.

rperk said:

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

Click to expand...

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.

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

rperk said:

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

Click to expand...

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?

Jetblast said:

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?

Click to expand...

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.

I would be looking for a loose ground.

rperk said:

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.

Click to expand...

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."

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.

It's almost two years since I started this thread, so here's an update. The lovefest remains strong and everything I said is still true. It has performed flawlessly and is a pleasure to use, however I did have to make some mods to make it my dream machine.

1. It really needed the rear anti-scalp/striping rollers of the 700 and 900, because I was having scalping problems over my leach field. Solved.

2. I wanted the bigger front wheels that come on the 700 and 900 Pro Z S for better wet steering traction, so I added those. That required re-leveling the deck, but that's it. All associated parts, including the front forks, are the same. Honestly can't tell much difference with that mod, but it was cheap and easy and the bigger wheels look nice. I give this upgrade a five out of ten just for the fact that I can confidently run a couple of pounds less air pressure due to the larger tire bead area.

3. Because my yard is so bumpy, I thought the EVC elastomeric vibration control seat isolation of the 700s and 900s would help. This is not the vertical suspension in the seat itself, but the rubber pieces the seat is mounted to. They allow for a couple inches of lateral seat movement over bumpy areas, and holy cow that made a huge difference. It was not subtle. It was huge. This was the most expensive and difficult to install upgrade, and had as big of a payoff as the rear deck rollers.

After these three mods, I'm still under the cost of a 700 and have retained the relative fuel economy of my 850cc engine, which has more than enough power to handle my slopes and goes as fast as my yard allows. That said, if you have bumps and don't want to fiddle with buying parts and installing them, I'd start with eyes on the 700 and skip the 500. Even more so if you can use the extra speed of the costlier machines.

The steering wheel knob didn't last long. Turns out with a bit of practice I can whip the wheel around with the heel of my hand just as well, and the knob was otherwise getting in the way.

I live in SW Ohio where there are ponds, ditches, fences, and slopes everywhere, and a lot of rain. I'm surprised I'm not seeing Pro Z S mowers on more lawn company trailers. They live for this environment.

Oh man I totally forgot about this thread. I'll post some updates later.

All of the customers with them, love them.
Only 2 systemic problems I see.

1) washing the deck will cause water ingression into the spindle bearings shortening the life no end
2) debris gets under the foot boards and jambs up the steering linkages.
Remember this is OZ, the land of the falling gum tree branches.

Well to answer the ??? about my steering problem..... Turns out the factory left off some spacers on the front axle mounting bolt
which allowed the axle to have way to much play in all directions. Even when steering was set properly the axle took it away.

Just so you know, If for any reason, wear in the frame area where the axle bolts on WILL require a new frame. There is NO bushings
in the frame and axle. They replaced the axle to start with and had same play in it. Then they sent in a new frame and had dealer
move everything over to new one. Nothing worked right after that. They bought it back through another dealer and I got a new one.
Also had to replace right side drive motor/pump before all this happened.

Now with all this happening with the first one, I still love these machines for what they can do vs a reg zturn.

My 2nd unit still has a slight problem with leveling and that right rear hanger. I set the deck adjuster to 3.50 to achieve a 3 in cut
and a 3 1/4 in the rear.
I bought the dealer kit for timing the steering because, hey I know what the problem is and no matter what I tell the dealer, he's
only guessing.

Now for the BIG problem with this unit, it's the Kawasaki Engine that is giving me problems. Cranks and runs fine 1st thing in the
mornings, turn it off and crank it back up, it loses power. It will clear up if I let it run at around 2500 rpm for a few mins but will repeat
the process if shut off or if it gets under a real heavy load of thick grass.
150 Hours on it and both coils replaced, both gas tanks pulled and cleaned, valves adjusted and seafoam run thru the fuel system.
Dealer still trying to figure out problem with help from Kawi.

More updates later

bertsmobile1 said:

All of the customers with them, love them.
Only 2 systemic problems I see.

1) washing the deck will cause water ingression into the spindle bearings shortening the life no end
2) debris gets under the foot boards and jambs up the steering linkages.
Remember this is OZ, the land of the falling gum tree branches.

Click to expand...

Yep forgot to say, #2 had to replace spindle on left side at 90 hours. As for debris, just keep it blowed out.

Holy cow, what a ride you've been on. Sorry to hear of all the trouble, that really stinks. As soon as I read this I went out and jerked my front axle around from every direction but it's tight. If that had happened out of warranty I'd have been tempted to weld it to the frame and be done with it. My last ZTR didn't have a pivoting axle and I prefer that. I guess it's a matter of whether you have more bumps or dips, and I have more dips. That pivot point should have bushings and it's ridiculous that it doesn't.

Your engine trouble is puzzling as heck. You've done everything I'd think would fix it. I can't imagine what's going on there, but I'd love to hear what it was if you get to the bottom of it before setting the mower ablaze and off a cliff.

Can you say more about the dealer timing kit for the steering? I'm going to need that too, since my dealer can't be trusted to work on mine. Maybe a part number, and did you order it online? I figured out how to subscribe to this thread so I'll get notified by email with any reply. Thanks.

rperk said:

Well to answer the ??? about my steering problem..... Turns out the factory left off some spacers on the front axle mounting bolt
which allowed the axle to have way to much play in all directions. Even when steering was set properly the axle took it away.

Just so you know, If for any reason, wear in the frame area where the axle bolts on WILL require a new frame. There is NO bushings
in the frame and axle. They replaced the axle to start with and had same play in it. Then they sent in a new frame and had dealer
move everything over to new one. Nothing worked right after that. They bought it back through another dealer and I got a new one.
Also had to replace right side drive motor/pump before all this happened.

Now with all this happening with the first one, I still love these machines for what they can do vs a reg zturn.

My 2nd unit still has a slight problem with leveling and that right rear hanger. I set the deck adjuster to 3.50 to achieve a 3 in cut
and a 3 1/4 in the rear.
I bought the dealer kit for timing the steering because, hey I know what the problem is and no matter what I tell the dealer, he's
only guessing.

Now for the BIG problem with this unit, it's the Kawasaki Engine that is giving me problems. Cranks and runs fine 1st thing in the
mornings, turn it off and crank it back up, it loses power. It will clear up if I let it run at around 2500 rpm for a few mins but will repeat
the process if shut off or if it gets under a real heavy load of thick grass.
150 Hours on it and both coils replaced, both gas tanks pulled and cleaned, valves adjusted and seafoam run thru the fuel system.
Dealer still trying to figure out problem with help from Kawi.

More updates later

Click to expand...

Just an update on my 2nd 500 S. The engine problem turned out to be trash in the carb.
Still having problems with the steering but not as bad as the 1st.
Yes I would still buy another.

rperk said:

Just an update on my 2nd 500 S. The engine problem turned out to be trash in the carb.
Still having problems with the steering but not as bad as the 1st.
Yes I would still buy another.

Click to expand...

Would you happen to have a part number for the steering timing kit? Or maybe just some ordering info? Thanks.

No I don't, I had the service manager that was working on my first one, to order it for me.