Hey UGA,

Thanks for the post. There are a couple of things that probably allow Hustler to bump their speed on the Super Z. They use the same Hydro-Gear pumps that most other manufacturers use, but they go to a different wheel motor on the Super Z only. Hustler runs White CE 18 wheel motors on their Super Z, and the top speed is 15 mph. On the standard Hustler Z, however, the top speed is 9 mph.

On the Super Z, they also add an oil cooler with a cooling fan. My guess is that they needed the added cooling capacity to keep their oil temp down.

In your post, you wrote, "I realize that there are many accounts that the speed will never be used but there are also many that are long and flat enough to habdle the speed." Here's my question - The terrain will allow a person to drive that fast, but will the deck be able to handle the volume of grass trying to pass through it? Will the quality of cut be acceptable after you make a pass at 15 mph?

If you're just trying to knock grass down and aren't concerned with the quality of cut, speed is great, but there's a limit to how much grass the deck can effectively cut. Does Hustler get some quality of cut complaints? I'm almost certain they do. I bet one of the first questions they ask them is, "How fast are you cutting?" This question is probably followed by, "How much grass are you trying to cut off?"

Speed is good when - 1. Bush-Hogging 2. Transporting the unit from Point A to Point B. If you're trying to get an excellent quality of cut, you have to work within the limitations of the deck and how much grass it can handle. Let me know what you think here, and we'll see what the other LS.com members have to say.

Talk to you later,

Dustin
Exmark Customer Support

 

I have a very good friend who has the Super Z. His comments on the speed are: "Its great especially when you are in leave season and shuttling to and from the truck. Otherwise its just too fast to cut at top speed."

I think everyone understands that you can only go so fast when cutting, then a lot of things start to fail when you cross that line.
Fail to cut ALL the grass.
Fail to make a straight stripe or line due to going too fast.
Fail to realize you are going too fast, then have to skid to slow down for your next turn. And so on...

I have never thought there was an issue of speed. I could care less how fast your mower is. You cannot cut grass at the top speed. I have not seen any mfg advertise being able to cut at top speed. They ALL list top speed as "Transport Speed". I wonder why? Because its there to get you from her to there, not to cut grass at warp speed.

And if they claim it CAN cut at top speed and you believe them, then go ahead and waste all your money. Its only a selling gimmick.

I am glad to see the people at Exmark sticking to what they do best (building the very best cutting machines available), and not getting side tracked with all this stupid hipe about top speed. No, they are not speed demons, but super quality cutting machines!

 

And to add to what Gator said:

Since when is 10 MPH slow?

 

Well, all of you have basically confirmed what I was suspecting all along based only on my experience with my mower. I currently have a 52" 22hp Surfer that only when I'm cutting one of my lawns that is very flat and smooth and I'm only cutting 3-4" of grass can I mow at top speed. And as long as the blades are fresh there will be very few stringers. I realize now that this is definitely not the norm as most of my lawns I wouldn't dare go that fast for the obvious reasons; especially since if I am speeding along and hit a bump to cause the deck to jump up I will have to stop and back up over this area to make sure it is cut which is counter productive considering when I roll along at a good pace and slow down for terrain changes, I can just keep rolling along. Thanks again for the info. One day I'll have a Lazer.

 

I for one would like to see more speed.

Maybe a special edition with smaller wheel motors, or faster pumps.

I have a 6.5 acre lawn that I mow. It is mainly a weedy yard, but smooth as glass. He wants it cut low, so I scalp it at 2.5" for him. This helps get all the dandilions as well. I can mow this entire lawn at full speed. Partially due to the extra low cut height, and partially due to the fact that the lawn isn't all that thick and lush. Sure wish I had another 3-4 mph to play with here.

Plus transport would be faster.

I would think a hydro-cooler would be a good move on a model like this.

I say you should relay this to your engineering dept. I would for sure buy one!

And youd keep all the former DC owners that bought Lazers happier. This is the one big thing I miss about my DC!

I think its time to "Crank it up a notch!"

 

TLS:

I think our Engineering Department would be lying if they told you that they've never heard of LS.com! Besides, they like to double check from time-to-time to make sure we provide you guys with the most accurate information. They take special interest when end users are suggesting changes or improvements to our existing product.

Thanks for the post.

Dustin

 

One thing I will say about a hydro cooler...it's one more place to leak. On my Yazoo/Kees we noticed a large buildup of oily dirt on the back of the mower one day. Checked the hydro fluid tank and had lost about 3 quarts of oil. It was coming from the cooler which sits between the two pumps on the frame bulkhead. One of the cooling fins had worn through a coil. Luckily we didn't seem to do any damage to any lawns and since the Y/K holds 2 gallons of oil, we replaced the cooler and it is back in service.

If going faster requires a hydro cooler due to different wheel motors, I would think a scenario like this would need to be addressed, especially on a mower that circulates such a small amount of oil.

 

If Hustler uses the same pumps but different wheel motors to make it go faster, Wouldn't that put more pressure on pumps and make them not last as long. Also, going faster may ruin your equipment. What if you go 15 mph and hit something. You may bend your deck or do other damage. I know my guys hit something in fall and didn't see water valve under leaves and bend part of the deck. Now if they were going 15 mph, who knows what would of happened. 10 mph is fine for me.

 

Just send me a turbo to test out on my HP. You know, HP does mean high performance.

 

i wouldn't say that all mowers won't cut at top speed, the LZ 60" i demoed would cut wide open as long as it wasn't ultra high. i don't know that they would cut at any higher speed, plus the extra risk of damage at that speed increases.

as far as the cooler, i don't know if they'd need one running that mobil 1 synthetic in their hydro's.

 

I have both exmark and hustler equipment and I have demo'd just about every model from these companies so here is my take on the speed and cut quaility of these mowers. I will start by saying that I believe that hustler and exmark are the best 2 mowers availible to the LCO and both are great mowers but the hustler super z will make you more money on a daily basis if you are doing anything bigger then a 1/2 acre account, if you only do 1/2 acre or smaller accounts then you can't go wrong with either of these mowers. I cut over 500 acres per week and I used each mower for a week at a time to see which one I wanted to buy and the difference was huge between them, the money that I saved in payroll for the week that I ran the super z was in the hundreds. The argument that you can't cut at 15 mph might be true in the spring (more like 10 in heavy growth) but all summer long (June,July,August and most of September) you can run a super z at full speed without missing a beat and in them four months alone you are going to make alot more money. I only do high end accounts that demand the best so I won't go fast unless the cut is perfect and with the super z I can go faster then the exmark with the same quality of cut. The speed is nice when you know that you can use it and when you can't you shouldn't try to so what is the harm with giving the operator the choice to go faster rather then the manufacturer, you guys give us 28 horse power engines even though we don't need that much power in the dead of summer, the reason you give us such big motors is we do need that much horsepower in the spring and fall. I think that exmark makes a great mower but until they give me the choice to go faster (make more money) I will be buying the mower (hustler) that cuts as good at a faster pace.

 

Originally posted by Keith

If going faster requires a hydro cooler due to different wheel motors, I would think a scenario like this would need to be addressed, especially on a mower that circulates such a small amount of oil.

Actually most Hydro ZTR's circulate the same amount of fluid. Whatever fills the pumps, hoses and wheel motors. And whatever rate the pumps circulate it at. The reason a faster mower (smaller cc wheel motors) would need a cooler, is that the wheel motor really isn't efficient until it reaches a certain wheel speed. Before that it is slipping (just like a torque converter in a car transmission) and this causes heat.

Also, eXmark would properly "engineer" such a cooler, unlike some other mower manufacturers that just throw stuff together.