From Kubota To Scag......First Impressions

Boocoodinkydow

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I’m a residential user racking up about 50 hours per year. We spend much of the summer at the vacation home and the Bama lawn is usually much overdue when it does get cut.

I bought a new 2011 Kubota ZG222. I couldn’t fault it from a reliability aspect. Outside of scheduled maintenance and blade replacements the only thing I ever did was replace the battery and deck belt once each. But it did have some nagging quirks that bothered me.

The parking brake switch was virtually inaccessible and despite keeping the area blown out it often jammed and took some coercion to crank.

Unless I used premium gas it would diesel at shut off. I sensed that the engine was probably running hotter than it should have and I feel an oil cooler would have been a good additive.

The hood never latched tightly and constantly rattled. Annoying despite using ear protection.

Way too many zirk fittings and many were challenging to get to.

My biggest complaint was the fact it just didn’t like our infamous Bahia grass. Most of my grass is centipede but inevitably Bahia has a tendency to be invasive and if it’s much over ankle high I have to make 2-3 passes before getting a clean cut.

Time for something new!

I narrowed my choices down to a new Kubota Z700 series or the Scag Tiger Cat 2. Earlier in the season when shopping the Kubata dealer, the salesman owned up to the fact that the ZG models had some issues with stemmed grass but tried to convince me that improvements had been made. The dealership changed hands about a month ago and when I revisited last week the new salesman averred he’d had no complaints. I’m gonna call BS on that one. Looking at the new models, I didn’t see any noticeable differences in the new mower deck and felt there was probably not much improvement on cut quality of stemmed grass. When the salesman tried to pass a demo model off as new, that sealed the deal for the competition.

On to the Scag dealership. I opted for the Tiger Cat 2 with the 61” deck and 26 hp Kawi with EFI.

While the suspension seat on the Scag is a vast improvement over my old Kubota, I’ll have to give the nod to the new Kubota Z700 series in the comfort category. Initially, the ergonomic relationship among the seat, armrests, steering controls and footrests seemed awkward on the Scag. Fiddling with seat position and time in the saddle took care of this and I quickly found my comfort zone.

Comparisons to my old Kubota as well as the new series left me with a feeling that the Kubotas are more “refined” than the Scag. Engineering on the Scag seems simplistic yet rugged. And I state this in a positive context rather than negative. I’m in hopes that the simplicity of construction translates to ease of maintenance. The Kubata could be challenging at times. Many of the moving parts on my new mower appear to be off the shelf items that could be more economically procured or easily fabricated.

Shortly after delivery, I got a fright. Having barely completed my first lap, the mower suddenly came to a stop and it appeared that the “check engine” light was on. In a panic I started looking for the cause. It seemed my dealer had put just enough gas in it to load and unload it from the trailer. The light was just the sun light shining through it. Note to dealer: “I just spent $9000 with you. Is it gonna break you to spring for a couple of gallons of gas?!?!”

The cut quality of the Scag in Bahia is impeccable at nearly any speed. I’m impressed! With the increased ground speed, wider cut swath and not having to make multiple passes on tough grass, my cut time is going to be reduced significantly. It appears gas consumption is also going to be cut almost in half.

Really liking my new mower but I have a couple of gripes. First, it’s impossible for me to operate the deck lift unless I move the right control arm to the neutral position. Legs just too long. I’ve gotten used to being able to lift the deck on the fly to jump a small stump occasionally. Gonna really miss this if I can’t rectify it. I think I can raise the steering control arm by fabricating new piece of longer square bar stock that connects the handle to the mechanism.

The other complaint is the fact that during slower maneuvering in sparsely grassed areas, dust and debris discharge from the front of the mower deck is insane! Disappointing!!

When the honeymoon period expires, I may query my decision to abandon the Kubata line but right now I’m ecstatic with the Scag in spite of the couple of shortcomings. Looking forward to a long and happy association.
 

mcdonell

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Welcome to the site and thanks for writing the excellent review.

I have a 2014 Scag Cheetah 61V with the Kawasaki motor. I am a homeowner and also only log about 50 hours per year. My neighbor has a Turf Tiger Diesel with 61V. We both have all kinds of grass on our acreage and we never have to go over the same area twice. I mow at 2 3/4 inches and he mows at 3 1/2.

I hope my mower is the last one I ever have to buy. I change the oil and air filters twice as often as Scag requires. I change the blades once a year. I buy all the blades and my neighbor changes both our mowers at the same time. I use Royal Purple 40 wt. oil and regular gas. Maintenance is so easy. My Kawasaki only holds about 2 quarts of oil so I keep a close eye on it. It never uses any oil though.

My son has a 2017 tiger cat 2 with a 54" and Kawasaki motor. It has served him well.

Good luck with yours. I bet you will be happy with it.
 

Mad Mackie

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Look in your owners manual under custom cut baffle. This baffle can be adjusted to the cut height range that you usually mow in. Adjusting this baffle to the appropriate cut height will minimize blow out. Bear in mind that the Scag Velocity cutter decks produce a tremendous amount of air flow and there will be blowout. You also may try adjusting the seat farther to the rear to allow better leg clearance to the deck lift pedal.
 

cpurvis

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I change the oil and air filters twice as often as Scag requires.

Strange as it may seem, you're not doing your engine any favors by doing this. The dirtiest air your engine will get is with a brand new filter and a brand new oil filter passes bigger particles than one that has already been in use. Both of these filters do their best filtering at the end of their life, not at the beginning.
 

Luffydog

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Maybe they but the particles breakdown and pass Thur the filters into carb valves and rings and Trouble starts. Better to keep it clean also fresh air keeps engine from burning fuel and get hot just Less wear and tear on the engine.
 

Boocoodinkydow

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Thanx for the pointers, everyone.

I remember perusing an online owners manual while awaiting delivery and stumbled across the adjustable discharge baffle. I’ll definitely revisit this and do a little experimentation. Thanx Mad Mackie.

Appreciate the welcome, McDonnell. Your experience is encouraging. I, too, hope for long life from my mower.

I am a firm believer that clean oil and filters are the life of any engine. I’ve made a habit of changing oil, filters and blades at the beginning of mowing season without regards to hours.

A couple of additional observations. This mower is significantly louder than my old mower; to the point my wife made note of it from inside the house. I sense this may be being generated as much from the mower deck as from the engine. Not a big deal. I always mow with earbuds with noise isolating tips. Still love the tunes from my youth!

In spite of the much heftier weight of the Scag, it appears it’s going to be kinder to my turf when making turns.

I find the steering controls offer a crisper response than my Kubota did. Something I’m sure that experience will cure but presently control is sometimes slightly erratic for me.

Thanx again all.
 

JGGMC

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be sure to use ear protection.
 

jekjr

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I am a commercial operator. I had a ZG 222 and a ZD 326 in 2014. I needed a third mower and I was about to pull the trigger on another 326. I demonstrated a Scag and was literally shocked at the difference. If there is anything built that will out cut a Velocity Deck on Bahia grass I would love to see it. I cut both of my Kubota mowers loose and wound up with 4 Scags. I always have used Tiger Cats. Personally I could not see the need to spend the extra money to go to the Turf Tigers or Cheetas. I have the 2014 still running with 2000+ hours on it with probably 90%+ of that being in Bahia grass cut on 14 day intervals. It has been assaulted and that is honestly not a strong enough word for what it has been through. I have spent little on it in repairs other than maintenance and things destroyed through abuse. If I could find better mowers I would out cut them I would be running them. My saying is “ if you want prestige get a Kubota, if you want to cut grass get a Scag.”
 

BTBO

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Welcome to the site and thanks for writing the excellent review.

I have a 2014 Scag Cheetah 61V with the Kawasaki motor. I am a homeowner and also only log about 50 hours per year. My neighbor has a Turf Tiger Diesel with 61V. We both have all kinds of grass on our acreage and we never have to go over the same area twice. I mow at 2 3/4 inches and he mows at 3 1/2.

I hope my mower is the last one I ever have to buy. I change the oil and air filters twice as often as Scag requires. I change the blades once a year. I buy all the blades and my neighbor changes both our mowers at the same time. I use Royal Purple 40 wt. oil and regular gas. Maintenance is so easy. My Kawasaki only holds about 2 quarts of oil so I keep a close eye on it. It never uses any oil though.

My son has a 2017 tiger cat 2 with a 54" and Kawasaki motor. It has served him well.

Good luck with yours. I bet you will be happy with it.

I too am a firm believer in changing the engine oil and filter more often than Scag recommends. I bought a Liberty Z 48" w/Kawasaki FR651V 21 HP. The Kawa manual only says to change the oil every 100 hrs--nothing about a break in period. I contacted Kawasaki Engines and was told due to advancements in engineering and manufacturing, that a break in is not necessary. So with less than 7 hrs on it, I drained and filled with Mobil 1 20W50 along with using the Mobil 1 102A filter. The filter is compatible to the stock Kawa filter with a slightly larger capacity, as confirmed by the tech dept at Mobil 1. It has a 99.2% single pass efficiency. Even better is the Bosch Distance Plus D3330 filter with a single pass efficiency of 99.9%.
 

Mad Mackie

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Scag operators manual for Liberty Z, engine oil/filter change intervals;
8 hours, change engine oil and filter.
Change engine oil after 50 hours or annually.
Change engine oil and filter after 100 hours.
Kawasaki FR651V, FR691V, FR730V Owners Manual/General-purpose Engine Owner's Manual:
The important words are 'General-purpose'!! This refers the operator to the specific machine operators/owners manual recommendations.
No break-in info.
100 hour engine oil change interval.
200 hour engine oil filter change interval.
Kawasaki sells engines, Scag sells some of the best Zero Turn Mowers available, think about this!
Take it from an old mech, you can change engine oil too often and you can change air filters too often! Air filters are a condition change item with the owners manual recommending the maximum time before change.
New engines are delivered to equipment manufacturers dry with no oil. Who knows what they put in the engines, just a hint, some mowers use 20W50 dino oil in the hydraulic systems so this oil is very available on the assembly lines, just a hint!!!
 
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