Longevity of Scag Mowers

[SKT_33]

Hi everyone, I have been doing my research for a while and I believe I have settled on the 61" Scag Tiger Cat II. I believe it will be overkill for my 3 acres and maybe picking up a couple side jobs here and there. But I want a mower that will last and has enough power and speed to get the job done. My question is how long will a mower like this last? I know it comes down to taking care of the mower, doing the regular maintenance and keeping everything clean and greased up when needed. But on average how many hours would a mower like this last?

 

[Sweats]

I'm on my third season of mowing about five acres weekly with a TC2, 61" deck, 29HP Kohler EFI. The mower has just over 180 hours on it, and it runs and cuts the same as it did when I bought it (really well). The biggest argument you'll likely see on this site about this particular set up is that either the Kohler is a piece of junk or it's not. There are a couple of seriously brand loyal members here (and that's not always a bad thing).

After reading that I'd made a huge mistake by buying the mower with the Kohler, I spent a ton of time all over the net looking to substantiate the claim. I steered clear of the extreme opinions and in the end, found that Kohler is just fine. Kawasaki's fine too. So is B&S. Everything else about the mower seems to get pretty even praise across the board, and I've yet to see a wave or even a ripple of knocks on Scag's longevity. Good luck.

 

[SKT_33]

Thank you for the reply! The dealer I looked at had a 52" Tiger Cat II and I noticed the front bar (sorry not sure what that piece is called) where the front Caster wheels are on is much more narrow and not as wide as the Turf Tiger, Chettah or Patriot. I wasnt sure if that is the way Tiger Cat's are or if it was that way because it was the 52" deck. Just seems the front wheels on the 61"s are wider and closer to the deck and on this machine they were further away from the deck and not as wide. Any thoughts on that? Are the caster wheels on your Tiger Cat 61" wider or more narrow and away from the deck?

 

[mcdonell]

My opinion is you can rest easy the TCII is a great mower. My son has one and I have a Cheetah. The TCII is often the choice of commercial operators.

My dealer told me my 61" was overkill for my 3 acres but I bought it anyway. I really don't like to mow but the Scag has made it less of a chore. My yard looks great. I have had the mower 4 years and I am glad I bought it.

 

[Romore]

That is a commercial machine designed to be operated every day and commercial operators don't baby their equipment. With reasonable care it might well outlast you.

 

[SKT_33]

thank you all for your replies. I think I am going to go with the TC II 61" Kawasaki EFI engine.

 

[Darryl G]

2,000+ hours is a reasonable estimate, with replacement of common wear parts of course - tires, belts, pulleys, bushings/bearings etc.

 

[jekjr]

I have two neighbors who have the older versions of Scag that were bought in the 1980's that they run every week and do an excellent job. I have a 2014 Tiger Cat II that has over 2000 hours on it and the hour meter is broke. running commercially in south Alabama cutting primarily Bahia Grass on 14 day rotations abused is not a strong enough word for what it has been subjected to. it runs now every week cutting the few yards that I have kept because I have slowed down as I get older. I was running 3 Tiger Cats and a Tiger Cat II and we were blowing over more than 100 properties every 2 weeks from 15 acres down. You can buy other mowers but in my opinion if you are going to cut grass a Tiger Cat Scag is as good as it gets. Anything more is prestige. Anything less is a waste of money. I know where there are Tiger Cubs running that are over 20 years old also.

 

[EricC]

It's a commercial mower and should last a long long time. 3 acres I wouldn't worry about overkill, it's your money I like to cut grass, for an hour to 1.5 hours a week. That's it. I bought something that could do the 2 acres and hill in that time and am especially happy every time I mow and get done comfortably. A lighter duty mower could handle, but probably for not as long and will have more problems than a commercial one. Of course nothing is a guarantee, commercial mowers break too. But I could have kept cutting our current area with my RaptorSD and it would have been doable, though the hill would have been an issue, but I opted for a slightly bigger deck on a much more substantial machine and the comfort and speed was worth it.

 

[Its Me]

I have one of the Scags (Turf Tiger 61") with 1,700 hours and are just developing a head gasket leak, going to remove the heads and give the a slight cut on the milling machine and go back together, still don't smoke and its a B&S engine, I have two Cubs with 500 hours and are still doing great and one with Turf Tiger that has the 72" deck with 400 hours that has been terrible abused my the previous owner but getting it in shape, must have got in a wreck to have twisted a 72" deck, ????? then I have one I call the Black Cat (Turf Tiger 61" cut) with the Liquid water cooled Kawasaki, that is a piece of junk, got it from a fellow with only 200 hours, it had been in a shop several times changing the head gaskets (water getting in the cylinders) I shaved the head with a 5 thousands cut and found a casting problem on the inside of where the gasket would be, next cut the same depth found a hole on the other side of where the gasket would be, so makes sense when the engine heated up the holes would allow water to communicate into the cylinder, then took a 3 thousand cut and they were both gone, changed the water pump, it ran fine for a few cutting the started having a real bad miss, changed the plugs, finally contacted Kawasaki and the young tech told me it was the coils, really showed good fire for me but went a head and changed them, same results, called him back he said it was the electric fuel pump, wrong again, hear some street talk that they had several bad fuel pumps and still selling them, it does have the fuel injection, for now put it aside with other repairs going on, I think I am going to trash that motor later and put a Diesel three cylinder off a kaboto from a G1900, with a cutting torch, welder, Lathe , Milling Machine everything is possible.