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Hi everyone, I have been doing my research for a while and I believe I have settled on the 61" Scag Tiger Cat II. I believe it will be overkill for my 3 acres and maybe picking up a couple side jobs here and there. But I want a mower that will last and has enough power and speed to get the job done. My question is how long will a mower like this last? I know it comes down to taking care of the mower, doing the regular maintenance and keeping everything clean and greased up when needed. But on average how many hours would a mower like this last?

I'm on my third season of mowing about five acres weekly with a TC2, 61" deck, 29HP Kohler EFI. The mower has just over 180 hours on it, and it runs and cuts the same as it did when I bought it (really well). The biggest argument you'll likely see on this site about this particular set up is that either the Kohler is a piece of junk or it's not. There are a couple of seriously brand loyal members here (and that's not always a bad thing).

After reading that I'd made a huge mistake by buying the mower with the Kohler, I spent a ton of time all over the net looking to substantiate the claim. I steered clear of the extreme opinions and in the end, found that Kohler is just fine. Kawasaki's fine too. So is B&S. Everything else about the mower seems to get pretty even praise across the board, and I've yet to see a wave or even a ripple of knocks on Scag's longevity. Good luck.

Thank you for the reply! The dealer I looked at had a 52" Tiger Cat II and I noticed the front bar (sorry not sure what that piece is called) where the front Caster wheels are on is much more narrow and not as wide as the Turf Tiger, Chettah or Patriot. I wasnt sure if that is the way Tiger Cat's are or if it was that way because it was the 52" deck. Just seems the front wheels on the 61"s are wider and closer to the deck and on this machine they were further away from the deck and not as wide. Any thoughts on that? Are the caster wheels on your Tiger Cat 61" wider or more narrow and away from the deck?

My opinion is you can rest easy the TCII is a great mower. My son has one and I have a Cheetah. The TCII is often the choice of commercial operators.

My dealer told me my 61" was overkill for my 3 acres but I bought it anyway. I really don't like to mow but the Scag has made it less of a chore. My yard looks great. I have had the mower 4 years and I am glad I bought it.

That is a commercial machine designed to be operated every day and commercial operators don't baby their equipment. With reasonable care it might well outlast you.

thank you all for your replies. I think I am going to go with the TC II 61" Kawasaki EFI engine.

2,000+ hours is a reasonable estimate, with replacement of common wear parts of course - tires, belts, pulleys, bushings/bearings etc.

I have two neighbors who have the older versions of Scag that were bought in the 1980's that they run every week and do an excellent job. I have a 2014 Tiger Cat II that has over 2000 hours on it and the hour meter is broke. running commercially in south Alabama cutting primarily Bahia Grass on 14 day rotations abused is not a strong enough word for what it has been subjected to. it runs now every week cutting the few yards that I have kept because I have slowed down as I get older. I was running 3 Tiger Cats and a Tiger Cat II and we were blowing over more than 100 properties every 2 weeks from 15 acres down. You can buy other mowers but in my opinion if you are going to cut grass a Tiger Cat Scag is as good as it gets. Anything more is prestige. Anything less is a waste of money. I know where there are Tiger Cubs running that are over 20 years old also.

It's a commercial mower and should last a long long time. 3 acres I wouldn't worry about overkill, it's your money I like to cut grass, for an hour to 1.5 hours a week. That's it. I bought something that could do the 2 acres and hill in that time and am especially happy every time I mow and get done comfortably. A lighter duty mower could handle, but probably for not as long and will have more problems than a commercial one. Of course nothing is a guarantee, commercial mowers break too. But I could have kept cutting our current area with my RaptorSD and it would have been doable, though the hill would have been an issue, but I opted for a slightly bigger deck on a much more substantial machine and the comfort and speed was worth it.

I have one of the Scags (Turf Tiger 61") with 1,700 hours and are just developing a head gasket leak, going to remove the heads and give the a slight cut on the milling machine and go back together, still don't smoke and its a B&S engine, I have two Cubs with 500 hours and are still doing great and one with Turf Tiger that has the 72" deck with 400 hours that has been terrible abused my the previous owner but getting it in shape, must have got in a wreck to have twisted a 72" deck, ????? then I have one I call the Black Cat (Turf Tiger 61" cut) with the Liquid water cooled Kawasaki, that is a piece of junk, got it from a fellow with only 200 hours, it had been in a shop several times changing the head gaskets (water getting in the cylinders) I shaved the head with a 5 thousands cut and found a casting problem on the inside of where the gasket would be, next cut the same depth found a hole on the other side of where the gasket would be, so makes sense when the engine heated up the holes would allow water to communicate into the cylinder, then took a 3 thousand cut and they were both gone, changed the water pump, it ran fine for a few cutting the started having a real bad miss, changed the plugs, finally contacted Kawasaki and the young tech told me it was the coils, really showed good fire for me but went a head and changed them, same results, called him back he said it was the electric fuel pump, wrong again, hear some street talk that they had several bad fuel pumps and still selling them, it does have the fuel injection, for now put it aside with other repairs going on, I think I am going to trash that motor later and put a Diesel three cylinder off a kaboto from a G1900, with a cutting torch, welder, Lathe , Milling Machine everything is possible.

I know a lot of people who own Scag mowers and they all seem to be pleased with them. I own a 2004 Tiger Cub 48” cut with a 19hp Kawasaki engine. I bought this mower off of Craigslist around 2008. I had just inherited my grandparents property in Crockett, TX and only had a small John Deer riding mower. So like I said I found this mower in College Station it belonged to a gentleman who owned a small lawn care service. He was asking $2800 for the mower. I fired it up and tooled around on it a bit and decided to offer him $2500. He took me up on my offer and off I went. I used it to mow my 1/2 acre at my home in BarbersHill TX and at the time I would go about every 1 1/2 months to my place in Crockett (3 1/2 acres of usually 1 1/2ft tall bahaia grass) and would go straight to my dads place in Marquez TX to mow another 2 1/2 acres of grass. I forgot to tell you when I bought this mower the hour meter was broke on 1054hrs and also I took it straight to my local Scag dealer to have serviced. When I showed up to get the mower after service was complete I was informed that the engine was knocking and it would have to be replaced. The cost was $1600 at the time for a new engine and I decided I would just run the engine to failure and get a new engine at that time. I’ve since moved to a house with a much smaller yard and my dad has sold his place in Marquez TX. But I still use that mower about 6 times a year to cut that stubborn old bahaia grass. I put the thick castor front wheels on it right off the bat because of all the flats the grass burrs where giving me and I had to end up changing one of the pulleys because the bearings finally wore out. I think I’ve only changed the belts twice and I had to change a hydraulic hose that had been rubbing and wore a hole in it. I changed the starter once and I guess I’ve bough 3 or 4 batteries over the years but I’ve never even checked the oil one time since the one and only service I had done. I’ve probably only cleaned the cannister style air filter twice. Usually have to change the blades about every other year except for the year I put them on backwards. I just had to flip them and got a whole extra year. Needless to say I have been very happy with my Scag. Still waiting for that engine to seize up so I can get me a new one. I can’t wait. 12 years of extreme abuse and this mower just won’t die. I hope I haven’t jinxed myself.

to be honest man.........run it as long as you can, but ACTUALLY take care of it, and don't TRY to destroy the motor like you are now, because that money for a new engine you might need for something else down the road, and you might wish you never got that engine.....

just my 2 sense

You know after writing all that I thought about it and decided I’m gonna bring it home and clean it up. There’s a few dry rotted hoses and probably just a good tune up. Time for a new battery as well. I still don’t have power where I store it so batteries don’t last long. I may even change the oil.

Get yourself a little solar charger.
They are everywhere and $ 50 should get you a really good one.
Starting on a 1/2 flat battery will damage the starter & the solenoid and is not particularly good for the battery either.

Giving up on the oil so soon? It's only got 12 years on it...

and actually, personally when the engine DOES go, id just rebuild it if you have the knowledge, but its cheaper then a brand spankin new engine

SKT_33 said:

thank you all for your replies. I think I am going to go with the TC II 61" Kawasaki EFI engine.

Click to expand...

I have a 2010 Turf Tiger 61" mower with 2300 hours on it. Same motor..drives,as when bought.
Kawasaki 29FI with liquid cool.
Mower mows 20 acres weekly..couldn't ask for a better mower.
BULLETPROOF MOWER

Here is a 1993 SW that has been used residentially since new and has about 800 hours on it.

During its life its needed two spindles, three sets of belts, 2 sets of caster bushings, 2 fuel pumps, 2 sets of tires, numerous sprark plugs/air filters/oil changes, etc.

If any quality machine is taken care of it will last a long time.













IMO the #1 killer is rust in the deck so keeping it clean on top and underneath is key. All the rest is easily replaced.

Hello. I use Hunter Harrier 41 Pro Autodrive Patrol Lawnmower, it is durable, but not one of the cheap ones. I have heard about your lawn mower, I also want to buy it and test it at my work. I think that such a lawn mower is very convenient and does not take up much space, and it is not difficult to take care of it. I work as a gardener and in addition to the mower, it is important to plant seeds that are suitable for your soil, for example from this site from which I order https://www.lawnmowerforum.com/threads/longevity-of-scag-mowers.55155/. Otherwise, the lawn will look like my neighbors', very dry and sluggish. I offered my help, but they constantly refuse. I hope your lawn will not be the same as my neighbors'.

Hello. I use a Hunter Harrier 41 Pro Autodrive gasoline lawn mower, it is durable, but not cheap. I have heard about your lawn mower, I also want to buy it and test it at my work. I think that such a lawn mower is very convenient and does not take up much space, and it is not difficult to take care of it. I work as a gardener, and in addition to the mower, it is important to plant seeds that are suitable for your soil, for example, from the site from which I order. Otherwise, the lawn will look the same as my neighbors', very dry and sluggish. I offered my help, but they constantly refuse. I hope that your lawn will not be the same as my neighbors'.





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