Cub Cadet Z-Force S Commercial 48 vs Z-Force S 54

Big Jon... I had to laugh!! Your comment about lapbars vs the steering wheel on the "S" ... that exactly how i feel about using the "joystick" on my 1st Snapper ZTR and now my country clipper ZTR. I watched a guy mowing the yard across the street he stopped every time he wanted to take a drink of water. I tipped my glass to him as I made a pass w/o stopping.

txzrider said:

Big Jon... I had to laugh!! Your comment about lapbars vs the steering wheel on the "S" ... that exactly how i feel about using the "joystick" on my 1st Snapper ZTR and now my country clipper ZTR. I watched a guy mowing the yard across the street he stopped every time he wanted to take a drink of water. I tipped my glass to him as I made a pass w/o stopping.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way! I would have considered the Snapper or Clipper with the joy stick, but there are no close dealers to us. The thing that really pushed me over the edge on the Cub "S" was that my wife also test rode the Cub and told me "Don't even consider anything else" Ha! That really made it easy...:thumbsup:

Big Jon said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way! I would have considered the Snapper or Clipper with the joy stick, but there are no close dealers to us. The thing that really pushed me over the edge on the Cub "S" was that my wife also test rode the Cub and told me "Don't even consider anything else" Ha! That really made it easy...:thumbsup:

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nuff said about that.:confused2:

RatRacer said:

nuff said about that.:confused2:

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Just being polite RR...

Big Jon said:

Just being polite RR...

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Trust me, I can relate.....:laughing:

I own a Z force S 54. It has had problems since day 1. It initially smoked severly. It took 3 trips to the dealer and loss of half the engine oil before they were convinced there was a problem. That problem eas finally fixed. Since then it has had a problem with the transmission drive belt jumping the pulleys and getting cut. I am at 100 hours of operation in 2 years and have had 6 drive belts installed. I would prefer to just get my money back.

Welcome JW.
I can sympathize with your plight, as I understand that earlier models had developmental engineering issues. Be strong, and protest hard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Wow, I sure hope mine will be better than that. Like RR stated, "the squeaky wheel get the grease." The belt thing should have been sorted out after the second one went belly up. :thumbdown: Maybe it's time to contact Cub Corp...

Mine is a 2011 model. I am told the RZT's have a similar drive system. I am trying to figure out how much I am being jerked around. The dealer has disabled the rod that causes the tension to go slack in the transmission drive belt. They say they have done this now on several RZT's. They also said that until about two years ago activating the brake did not cause the transmission belt to go slack. They siad that all of the commercial model mowers maintain tension in the hydro drive belt all the time. My concern is with the hand brake set if you put your foot on the forward or reverse pedal you can hear the hydro's strain. They insist that the rod is locked and there is only a slight amount of movement that causes the straining sound. I have not gotten underneath the mower to study the rods to confirm this. If this info is incorrect and someone got on the mower with the hand brake set and pushed the forward pedal all the way down what damage would occur. The dealer says a Cub Rep is suppossed to be in next week and they will contact me so that I can bring the mower out and talk to them. If that doesn't happen I will probably go ahead and contact Cub direct. The shame of this is that 4 times I have had to use my 27 year old John Deere 420 to go and retrieve the mower from the bottom of my yard. Most of my neighbors have seen this. Not good advertisement for Cub.

jworkman said:

Mine is a 2011 model. I am told the RZT's have a similar drive system. I am trying to figure out how much I am being jerked around. The dealer has disabled the rod that causes the tension to go slack in the transmission drive belt. They say they have done this now on several RZT's. They also said that until about two years ago activating the brake did not cause the transmission belt to go slack. They siad that all of the commercial model mowers maintain tension in the hydro drive belt all the time. My concern is with the hand brake set if you put your foot on the forward or reverse pedal you can hear the hydro's strain. They insist that the rod is locked and there is only a slight amount of movement that causes the straining sound. I have not gotten underneath the mower to study the rods to confirm this. If this info is incorrect and someone got on the mower with the hand brake set and pushed the forward pedal all the way down what damage would occur. The dealer says a Cub Rep is suppossed to be in next week and they will contact me so that I can bring the mower out and talk to them. If that doesn't happen I will probably go ahead and contact Cub direct. The shame of this is that 4 times I have had to use my 27 year old John Deere 420 to go and retrieve the mower from the bottom of my yard. Most of my neighbors have seen this. Not good advertisement for Cub.

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Pictures speak louder than words. Hope you had Kodak moments during these times, since that kind of PR wins customers.
If true , and provable with viable affidavits, it ain't defamatory on product quality. Squeak, squeak, squeak.......