Sounds like a Presidential ad. After two years with my Rapture SD60 I had to make a change. I mow about 3 acres of grass, half of it with somewhat sloped ground but most with 15% plus slopes and hills leading to my lake. The SD 60 was great on flat surfaces and small slopes but anything close to 15% and your are kinda screwed for traction. (going downhill).it has to be the light weight of the machine. Going up a hill the same hill is almost no problem. I was turfing the crap out of my grass just trying to go down the hill slow. The other problem I was having was a discharge problem. Wow, that deck just sucks. After every mowing I spent 30 minutes or more scraping the stuck on grass from under the deck. It would really stick under the lips of the front deck and just build up from there. I went to the dealer and had them demo me out a Fastrak mower. Much better mower. Well I returned it and went by dealer to upgrades to Fastrak mower. ( that is what I should have bought in the first place) But then I seen this strange looking mower with a steering wheel...so I drove it around the lot and I said, I want to try this one for a week (he didn't seem happy, I think he wanted to close the deal and move on). Well I was completely surprised by the cub cadet pro z 100s. This thing was built like a tank. I tried to make this mower screw up. I went to my biggest incline. Well or 25%. (I know what the book says about anything over 15% incline). I had my seat belt on and bar up. I turned the mower in a complete circle in the middle of the hill and no lose of traction and no turfing at all. Really surprised me. After that I tried to turf my grass. Nope never happened. Anyway I just wanted to pass my experience onto other people. I will be moving to cub cadet forum.
Good luck everyone.
I saw a YouTube video of a Cub Cadet with a steering wheel working some side Hills and was pretty shocked at how it hung on to them..... it had me scratching my head as to why it was better than a unit with sticks.
Yes, here you go. This thing is built like a lawn mower tank, and I mowed for two hours and don't think I even used a gallon of gas. The seat is as good or better than the X-One. There is absolutely no turfing and I love the cruse control.
2800 trade in price. I might of got a little more off Craig's list but when you add back the sales tax savings, so it's pretty much a waste of my time to deal with it.
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The farmer across from me has a steering wheel Cub commercial 60", He said to the dealer if it will stick on slopes it is sold. He loves that baby, as he mows his many steep slopes.
Just curious.... how do these steering wheel machines link the Turning of the steering wheel with the moving of the valve on the hydro on the back axle?
Is there a mechanical linkage going down the steering column.... or some kind of hydraulic valve up by the steering wheel?
Yes. I finally got the chance to get a real good look under the mower. Very simple linkage from the front steering wheels to the rear 3400 hydros. I read online they have the patent on this steering technology. I just can't believe how well it holds the hills. Very well designed and heavy duty spindle covers. Here are a few more pictures.
Yes I have 2 customers with the smaller domestic versions.
That cross linking is fine now that they are new but will be "interesting" when it starts to get worn.
A month or so ago we had a poster with steering problems that turned out to be crud stuck in the steering gears .
On the ones I service the space under the floor plate seems to accumulate a lot of mowing debris and the fan gears that turn the casters can get twigs wedged in there as was the case with one I serviced .
While not being one to bypass safety devices we did unplug the reverse micro switch so his now mows in reverse.
Both of my customers are happy as the proverbial pig in poo with their Cubs however we will just have to wait to see how well they age.
Mowing across a slope as steep as that with a vertical shaft mower will end up in tears.
The oil pan is wide and shallow.
At slopes that big the intake ends up being higher than the oil level.
I shouldn't need to tell you the ultimate consequences of that.
Slidding side ways is not the only reason why you should not mow across steep slopes.
Usually when Hills are filmed they looked less severe than they really are... that cub cadet was doing things I couldn't with my Fast Track.... looked like it was part mtn goat.
