Buying Advice KUBOTA vs SCAG

Gunhead58

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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.
 

Mr. Ed

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I volunteer at a church that has a big Kubota diesel ZT mower, but not sure if it's exactly the same model as yours. It is a beast, and not just powerful but also very comfortable and stable on slopes. Awesome machine. I also have a Kubota BX1860 with a similar deck and grease requirements. Both cut very well in pretty much all conditions. No complaints about that.

My only complaint with the Kubotas is that there are a lot of zerk fittings: 3 on the mower driveshaft that are really hard to service, 4 or 5 on the deck (no problems), and 4 more the front axles and spindles that are easy, and one under the front axle pivot that we sometimes forget (out of sight, out of mind). On the plus side, grease is our friend, and grease is a lot cheaper than replacement parts. The downside is that it's a royal PITA to grease the driveshaft zerks. I have no idea how that compares with the Scag you're considering.

Hope this helps a little.
 

Gunhead58

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Thanks Ed. Appreciate the feedback. I'm leaning toward the KUBOTA.
 

jekjr

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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.

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.
 

Gunhead58

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Very good testimonial and I appreciate it. Thank you very much for the great feedback.
 

jekjr

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I volunteer at a church that has a big Kubota diesel ZT mower, but not sure if it's exactly the same model as yours. It is a beast, and not just powerful but also very comfortable and stable on slopes. Awesome machine. I also have a Kubota BX1860 with a similar deck and grease requirements. Both cut very well in pretty much all conditions. No complaints about that.

My only complaint with the Kubotas is that there are a lot of zerk fittings: 3 on the mower driveshaft that are really hard to service, 4 or 5 on the deck (no problems), and 4 more the front axles and spindles that are easy, and one under the front axle pivot that we sometimes forget (out of sight, out of mind). On the plus side, grease is our friend, and grease is a lot cheaper than replacement parts. The downside is that it's a royal PITA to grease the driveshaft zerks. I have no idea how that compares with the Scag you're considering.

Hope this helps a little.

I agree with Mr Ed on the grease fittings on the Kubota. The shaft drive deck has a drive shaft. Also there is a drive shaft on the engine to transmission if memory serves me correctly. I know there there are two drive shafts on the ones I have dealt with. They are a pain to grease.

The deck belt on the Kubota mowers lasts about 400 hours or less or that has been my experience and it is a 2 grove power band. The deck belt on all of my Scans has been running around 5 hundred hours. The Kubota deck belt is aggravating to change. The deck belt on the Scat Tiger Cat is done in just a few minutes. It is also cheaper to buy.


There is also a drive belt that runs the drive pumps on the Scag that the Kubota does not have. It has to be changed at about 500 hours as well or is recommended to be changed at that interval.
 

cpurvis

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I would go with the diesel. No gas engine headaches with carburetor or ignition systems because it doesn't have any. That water-cooled Kubota engine is ten times more durable than any air-cooled gas engine you can buy.

The grease zerks are something that's only difficult until you've done it a few times and figure out the best way. U-joint zerks, on driveshafts, don't need much greasing unless they are running at sharp angles. If the two shafts the u-joint connects are in line with each other, the u-joint bearings aren't being worked at all.

Skag looks to me like a good mower, and they make a diesel powered model as well. I've never heard of the diesel engine they use but I'm sure it's OK. But given the choice of a diesel Kubota versus probably a Briggs-powered Skag for the same money, I'd take the Kubota and never look back.

edit: Ooooo, I missed the part about the Kubota being $3k more. That changes things. You'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth that difference. To be fair, though, you're comparing two different animals. You need to compare the diesel Skag to the diesel Kubota.
 

jekjr

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I would go with the diesel. No gas engine headaches with carburetor or ignition systems because it doesn't have any. That water-cooled Kubota engine is ten times more durable than any air-cooled gas engine you can buy.

The grease zerks are something that's only difficult until you've done it a few times and figure out the best way. U-joint zerks, on driveshafts, don't need much greasing unless they are running at sharp angles. If the two shafts the u-joint connects are in line with each other, the u-joint bearings aren't being worked at all.

Skag looks to me like a good mower, and they make a diesel powered model as well. I've never heard of the diesel engine they use but I'm sure it's OK. But given the choice of a diesel Kubota versus probably a Briggs-powered Skag for the same money, I'd take the Kubota and never look back.

edit: Ooooo, I missed the part about the Kubota being $3k more. That changes things. You'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth that difference. To be fair, though, you're comparing two different animals. You need to compare the diesel Skag to the diesel Kubota.

Yep all of that sounds great. HOWEVER. IF you cut tall grass like Bahia that grows in the south. You will double cut it with the Kubota where as the Scag will cut it with one pass if you keep sharp blades on it. The Scag with dull blades on it will cut as good as the Kubota with new ones on it. The Velocity Deck on a Scag is incredible.

I honestly think you can buy a Turf Tiger with a Kubota if you want it.

I am not sure where y'all live nor the prices there but a Tiger Cat goes for normally about $8500.

When it comes to cutting grass my experience is the Kubota won't touch it.

If you buy the 52" Tiger Cat with the Kawasaki engine you will have one tough machine.

Yesterday we cut and weedeated one property that was over 14 acres with about 2 1/2 acres of it in a cemetery. and three houses on it, plus 5 other yards. Two of those yards were over an acre and two more were about 3/4 acre. We used 3 mowers on the 14 acres but for a large part of time two of them sat while the operators ran weedeaters. Then we used two Tiger Cats for the other 5.

We would have not been able to cut that grass with Kubota. We would have run out of time. Much of it would have to have been double cut. The Tiger Cats cut it in one pass. We made one blade change mid day.
 

Gunhead58

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I truly appreciate all the feedback. The local dealer (which sells KUBOTA and SCAG) has been unbiased the entire time of our discussions. If any, he may have leaned toward the SCAG a little. He has offered for me to come to his business and take both mowers out back for a "ride and cut" experience of my own. I plan on doing that tomorrow. Another important factor to me (besides all the obvious) is the comfort. I'm no young lad and at 6'2 250lbs, comfortable seating can be a challenge sometimes. From what I remember, I think one or the other has a seat upgrade but there goes another $500-$600. Thanks again for all the comments. I'll let you know what I decide. Thx.
 
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