Contractors Taking to 'Steering Wheel' Approach

Cub Cadet's Tank SZ Steering wheel Zero turn mower is designed for large-acreage homeowners who feel more comfortable with a steering wheel than the traditional lap bars found on zero-turn mowers. The SZ is also catching on with municipalities and landscape contractors.

At GIE+EXPO 2011, Allen Baird, product manager for Cub Cadet Commercial, told greenindustrypros.com that the company has been pleasantly surprised by contractor response. There are four primary reasons for that response:

• Enhanced traction and turf protection
• Enhanced performance on slopes
• Shorter learning curve
• Reduced parts count.

“The mower features a rail-frame deck design, as opposed to the more typical tube-frame you’ll find,” Baird points out. This design has allowed Cub Cadet to reduce the number of parts in the deck—primarily things like bolts, fasteners and brackets—by 25%. “There are now 45 fewer deck parts than in the previous model,” Baird adds.

The SZ falls within the $6,000 to $9,000 price range, and is roughly $700 higher than its sister model, the LZ (with traditional lap bars).