Buying Advice KUBOTA vs SCAG

[macmikey]

Good afternoon all. I'm about a week away from making a final decision but after the last two weeks of research, my head is about to explode. I'm hoping to find anyone who can give me first hand experience with either the Kubota ZD1011 54" Zero Turn Mower (Diesel) or the SCAG Tiger Cat II 52" Gas burner. Both seem to have very good ratings (for the most part) and the Kubota dealer has been in business since 1946 (3rd generation). They actually sell both the Kubota and the SCAG. The Diesel Kubota is $3K more. The mower will be used for personal use only but I have a large portion of pasture that I want to cut and keep somewhat manicured once I build our "final home". I have a 55hp Mahindra that I use for the bulk of the pasture but my current residential JD riding mower is on its last leg. And with the Hog problem we have in Texas, the area I will be cutting will totally destroy (in my opinion) your average residential mower. Lots of ruts and gophers. So excluding the price, I would like this to be my last Riding Mower purchase. Any advice given would be greatly appreciated. Thx.

Hi,

We use 2 Scag Cheetahs with 61" decks and I love them. Fast, excellent cut and easier, I think, to maintain. I also use a Kubota ZD326 on one property and it is an amazing machine. But... the greasing, as mentioned, is a bit much. Also, the PTO clutch on this one is a bit of a mess. Overheats and recently cracked and now leaks effectively making the machine useless.

I like the Scags and ExMark zero turns and would buy either in an instant.

Mike

 

[Gunhead58]

Thx for feedback.

 

[Gunhead58]

Good morning from Texas. I've been very hesitant to even post based on my comments/questions and concerns from July 2017. Yep, a year ago when I was about to pull the trigger on a new mower. As things go, I decided to wait it out until my old 17 year old residential JD mower bit the dust. Well, JD passed away this weekend. The burial is tomorrow. So, after beating myself up and going back through all of my notes and the replies you guys graciously sent back, I "will be" purchasing a new SCAG Tiger Cat II this week. I have one local SCAG dealer that priced the 52" with Kawasaki engine at $8600 and the other dealer (70 miles away) priced the same at $8500. Out of curiosity, I also priced the 61' with the Kohler EFI engine and both priced me at $9,299. With $ not being my main concern ($10 K is my max budget), I'm more interested in any feedback I can receive about the Kawasaki vs. Kohler engine. As a reminder, this will be for personal use. I do not nor do I want to own a professional lawn care business. That being said, I will be cutting anywhere from 8-10 acres at our country farm and it by no means is Pristine. As you might expect, we have lots of wildlife and yes wild hogs. Don't get me started on that subject. I've been cutting it with my 55hp Mahindra and as we all know, it looks like its been cut with a Brush hog. So, if you guys would be so kind to send me any feedback you may have personal knowledge of these two engines, I will certainly consider your input when I make a decision this week. Thanks again. I appreciate it. Thx.

 

[cpurvis]

For that much mowing and already owning a 55 hp Mahindra, I'd have bought a 6 or 7 foot Woods finish mower.

Regarding Kawasaki vs Kohler, I would not pay extra for a Kohler.

 

[jekjr]

Good morning from Texas. I've been very hesitant to even post based on my comments/questions and concerns from July 2017. Yep, a year ago when I was about to pull the trigger on a new mower. As things go, I decided to wait it out until my old 17 year old residential JD mower bit the dust. Well, JD passed away this weekend. The burial is tomorrow. So, after beating myself up and going back through all of my notes and the replies you guys graciously sent back, I "will be" purchasing a new SCAG Tiger Cat II this week. I have one local SCAG dealer that priced the 52" with Kawasaki engine at $8600 and the other dealer (70 miles away) priced the same at $8500. Out of curiosity, I also priced the 61' with the Kohler EFI engine and both priced me at $9,299. With $ not being my main concern ($10 K is my max budget), I'm more interested in any feedback I can receive about the Kawasaki vs. Kohler engine. As a reminder, this will be for personal use. I do not nor do I want to own a professional lawn care business. That being said, I will be cutting anywhere from 8-10 acres at our country farm and it by no means is Pristine. As you might expect, we have lots of wildlife and yes wild hogs. Don't get me started on that subject. I've been cutting it with my 55hp Mahindra and as we all know, it looks like its been cut with a Brush hog. So, if you guys would be so kind to send me any feedback you may have personal knowledge of these two engines, I will certainly consider your input when I make a decision this week. Thanks again. I appreciate it. Thx.

You get a Kawasaki you got a 3000 hour motor or more. You buy the Kohler it will be pumping oil after 1000 or so hours. Hands down the Kawasaki is the better engine. If you had to pay more for the Kawasaki you will be better off in the long run.

 

[jekjr]

For that much mowing and already owning a 55 hp Mahindra, I'd have bought a 6 or 7 foot Woods finish mower.

Regarding Kawasaki vs Kohler, I would not pay extra for a Kohler.

I have a Kubota with a cab on it and use it to pull a 6' finish mower a good bit because to having AC. It does a decent job. However, a zero turn will cut much faster than a finish mower behind a tractor.

 

[damlizard@hotmail.com]

I can't tell you about the ZD1011 but I used to run a ZD326. I thought it was the cat's meow. Then I had to buy another mower because my business had grown to need another one. I was prepared to buy another 326. I demonstrated a Tiger Cat Scag with the 52" deck. I was blown away at the difference in the cut. I bought my first Tiger Cat in July of 2014. I traded the Kubota 326 Diesel for the second one in April of 2015. I bought my third one in April of 2016.

The Kubota is a good mower but it will not cut tall stemmed grass with the Scag Tiger Cat with the 52" deck. I ran the 326 in the same yards with the Tiger Cat. As far as I am concerned they are not on the same planet.

Blade changes are a breeze on the Scag. We change blades two and some times three times a day this time of year. With the Kubota it takes about twice as long and with the Scag you do not have to get underneath it like you do the Kubota. Use a cordless impact wrench and tighten them from the top side.

If you run them till they are out of warranty and for some freak reason lost an engine to a catastrophic failure the Kawasaki gas engine will be a fraction of the price that the Kubota will be to replace.

If you have to change a belt on the deck. The Kubota is a pretty good job to replace. On the Scag Tiger Cat it is just a few minutes and the only tools needed are a 1/2" Drive ratchet and an extension to hold the tensioner back to get it on.

If you for some reason mess up a blade bolt. On the Kubota you have got to remove the entire spindle because it threads in from the bottom. On the Scag the bolt goes all the way through and all you have to do is take a wafer blade on a 4" side grinder and cut it off and put a new one in and you are running again in minutes verses hours of down time.

My oldest Scag has over 1500 hours on it. My second one has around 1000 hours on it and my newest one has about 500 hours on it and they have all been abused terribly and they are like a Timex watch used to be. They take a licking and come back ticking.

I see people every day running the Kubota mowers and I still have a ZG222 Kubota that we use to pick uo leaves. The Kubota mowers are not junk BUT they will not cut stemmed grass with the Scag. We cut bahia grass in one pass with the Scags that the Kubota mowers will have to go over twice to get the same results.

Like I said I have three and we cut a lot of grass with them. Personally running commercially if they gave me a brand new Kubota and said it is yours you just have to run it, you can't sell it. I would give it back to them and buy a Scag if I needed a new mower.

If there was another mower sold locally that would out cut a Scag Tiger Cat I would be running them.

I traded a 326 Diesel with 800 hours in that resold used for more than I paid for the Tiger Cat new. I was glad to get rid of it.

I can say the 326 was a pretty trouble free mower as far as major problems. There are however a lot of things on it that could be very expensive after the warranty goes out verses the simpler design of the Tiger Cats.

I have a friend that has a Tiger Cub Scag that is over 20 years old and it still runs like a top also. He has never had any major problems with it. he cuts probably an acre to acre and a half with it.

Hope that helps.

Hey there, I am thinking of a Tiger cat 2 with a kawi. I have heard horror stories of problems with the TC 2. I am in Florida and We are cutting the same grass, have you had any issues with your TC2?