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  Graham Wright June 8, 2017 at 11:34am

  Did you eventually buy these Adam?

  I'm thinking of buying the same 2 mowers to replace my (mostly residential) mowers for next year, and wonder what you thought to them?
  • PRO

    Adam Pilgrim > Graham Wright June 8, 2017 at 8:35pm

    Graham, in the end we purchased a Kubota W821 pro in both wheeled and roller form in March 2016.

    This was mainly due to a better initial purchase price being offered by the local Kubota dealer.

    Wheeled machine first: had the lesser use of the two - mainly longer grass discharge, cut and collect/ mulching on one site.

    The mulch kit is quite fiddly (no idea if it is the same on Cobra/Kaaz), consisting of two blades mounted one over the other with small spacers inbetween, longer blade bolts, a rubber block, a metal spring and the mulch plug proper. You CANNOT collect with the mulch kit fitted as the blades have no wing and it will not throw the grass into the box. Best, in my opinion left configured as either a mulch or discharge/collect mower. VERY irritating constantly trying to change between the two.

    Seems underpowered in longer grass that my Honda HR216 used to breeze through though and clogs the discharge chute irritatingly easily.

    2016 grass conditions din't really allow mulching very often, but the kit worked reasonably well in decent conditions.

    The W821 roller has received moderate to heavy use (its my 'frontline mower') and has been a bit of a chequered issue. Mid to late 2016 it had been in and out of the dealer several times, has had three clutch cables under warranty, the gearbox/roller needle roller bearings have collapsed once and chewed up the roller shaft (warranty repair) and the recoil rope plastic pulley shattered early 2017. My issues were compounded by the fact the dealer wasn't (in my opinion) treating the warranty repairs as a priority and several times I have been without a machine for weeks on end. Seems Kubota Parts availability can be slow/poor - three to four weeks for a plastic recoil pulley anyone?? (Wrong part number shown on Microfiche, engine and machine code not recognised,  hence wrong part supplied on more than one occasion - total and utter nightmare all round!).

    I will not publicly name the dealer network I bought through but sufficient to say I escalated the issues all the way through to direct communications with Kubota UK.....

    Oh and both the grass bags have now fallen apart too....
    • PRO

      Richard Gadsby > Adam Pilgrim June 8, 2017 at 9:23pm

      That's a shame.
      I went to the lawnflite for the roller last season and it's been faultless apart from wet pick up which is rubbish unless it's not very long to begin with! That would probably be fixed /improved with the high lift blade that's sat on the shelf waiting to be fitted!
      What kind of hours are you putting on them each week Adam?
      The lawnflites get about 10 hours each (got another this year) a week. So not massive use which could be a difference between our different mowers I am right in presuming that the kubota is the Katz deck?
      • PRO

        Adam Pilgrim > Richard Gadsby June 8, 2017 at 9:36pm

        Richard - yes the Kubota is a version of the Kaaz but handles and a few other parts are diffferent.

        Regarding use - some days the roller mower will do 10 hours a day running - weekly oil changes etc so they are hard worked but looked after.

        I think the experience from the dealer kind of soured the deal a bit as the actual machine is good, its just the spares and backup that wasn't!
        • PRO

          Richard Gadsby > Adam Pilgrim June 8, 2017 at 9:43pm

          At that use if you get 2 seasons it's good enough I suppose any more will be a bonus. I was running mine at 20 a week last year hence the new one to spread the work a bit. Hopefully it will pay off in keeping them for maybe 4 years at this rate?
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      Graham Wright > Adam Pilgrim June 9, 2017 at 11:51am

      Hmm, is the clogging an issue on the 4 wheeler? I do tend to cut quite a bit of long grass.

      Maybe I'll take a look at the weibang commercial 4 wheelers.