Buying Advice SCAG Tiger Cat II vs KUBOTA ZD

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.
 

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.
 

55TBird

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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 took my Turf Tiger II in for service and they gave me a Tiger Cat II with a 61" deck to use as a loaner. It is an awesome mower and I liked it a lot. It is very similar to my Turf Tiger with the primary difference being horse power. The Tiger Cat had a 23 hp Kawasaki engine as I recall and my Turf Tiger has the 35 hp Briggs Vanguard engine. The only time I noticed the power difference was getting near the top of a 21˚ hill.

I've never owned a Kubota but I will say that you would love the Tiger Cat.

However....if you can afford the extra 3 thousand bucks, you might consider the Turf Tiger II....especially if you are mowing really rough ground. The Turf Tiger has a double steel frame, a shaft drive and 16cc hydraulic gear pumps vs. 12cc. Plus more hp.

But both the Turf Tiger and Tiger Cat have the same deck and seat suspension. The quality of the cut was the same and the comfort was the same. Our friend jekjr would recommend the Tiger Cat over the Turf Tiger because you can do the same job for 3K less and it is hard to argue with that. And he is a pro so he has the hours to support that. But if you can afford a Turf Tiger II, I'd give it a look. I absolutely love mine.
 

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55TBird

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Oh, one more thing. Where I live...I'd say at least 80% of the professional mowing service trailers I see are carrying Scags. That was the reason I chose a Scag.
 

Gunhead58

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Thank you very much. I'll keep everyone posted on what I decide. Thx again.
 

jekjr

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Oh, one more thing. Where I live...I'd say at least 80% of the professional mowing service trailers I see are carrying Scags. That was the reason I chose a Scag.

I thought about you guys this morning. We cut some Bahia Grass that was three weeks since it was cut. It has rained an incredibly lot so three week old Bahia grass that has been rained on several times a week for three weeks is one tough mess to cut with anything. My two Tiger Cats cut it slick. I wish I had been able to take time and stop and take some pictures for y'all to see.

I guarantee you that we would have had to double cut every inch of it with Kubota mowers. Some of it possibly a third time to make it as smooth as the Scags cut it in one pass.
 

Sweats

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Here's two more cents from a guy who only has experience with a Scag. I bought a Tiger Cat II with a 61" deck and a Kohler 29hp EFI in May and have put just over 40 hours on it since. I routinely mow about four acres. My terrain is a little hilly and VERY bumpy. I mean bumpy to the point where I mow 3-5 mph most of the time; otherwise, I'm mowing slower still. I also have all sorts of obstacles to contend with. The Scag replaces the services of a John Deere 300C with a 48" deck and a 24hp B&S motor, and a 32hp John Deere 3203 compact utility tractor pulling a 72" Bush Hog finish mower. With my prior combination, my wife and I would get out there and take about 3 1/2 hours to mow the four acres. It takes almost exactly the same amount of time with the Tiger Cat alone but it's much more comfortable. I attribute the comfort entirely to the suspension seat. As far as the overall experience, I haven't had anything even remotley negative occur with the Scag - not one thing. It runs great, has plenty of power, drives easily, and it cuts beautifully.

55Tbird loves his Turf Tiger and would have you try one. I'll tell you, if I had the money, I'd probablly have gone that direction for the frame and weight alone but when my wife set our initial budget at $5,000, well, you get the picture. Still, the Tiger Cat has felt so far like it's going to be just fine for the long haul.

Finally, a note on diesels vs gas, and the a thought on your dealer. I've read plenty of testimony on the merits of diesel motors. However, I worked with a guy a couple of years ago who was just starting a mowing business. The business grew quickly and he soon bought a pair of diesels to go with his two gas mowers (all John Deere in this story). About a year later, he traded in the diesels and went with gas only. He has eight mowers now and all are gas. I'm not sure why he didn't go the diesel route but am now more curious than ever. I know you're getting close to making your decision, so I'll try to get in touch with the guy soon, for what it's worth. As far as your dealer is concerned, you'd mentioned he was a Kubota dealer but you suggested (and I'm paraphrasing here) he might be leaning every so slightly in the Scag direction. I have to wonder, if he, being a Kubota dealer, liked the Kubota more, might he not lean a little (lot) more heavily in that direction? I wonder if his affiliation with Kubota influences his stance, openly at least. I'd like to know what he'd say after a couple of beers (and this in no way a judgement on the man's character). Just a thought. Anyway, happy hunting and good luck to you!
 

Gunhead58

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Great info. Thank you. I will consider all.
 

jekjr

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Welllll Have you bought it yet and what did you buy?
 
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