John Deere EZtrak Z445

Terrible cut. Does not mulch, flattens grass – I bought a Z445 riding mower four years ago and have had problems with it's performance since new. It cuts the lawn horribly. Never a clean cut. I ordered it with the mulching kit and it leaves a mess every time. Row after row of unmulched grass forms along the side of the strip I just cut. It looks like cornrows after each pass! My entire 2 acre lawn is always covered in rows and clumps of grass piles!

I go over it several times and it just disperses the mess to another side of the mower.

I have told this to the selling dealer and all they do is suggest blades. I have gone through several sets of mulching blades, and the current set that I bought at the local John Deere dealer is awful.

It has left a mess just like always since they were put on near the end of last season.

I even only cut 50% of the width of the deck! The other 50% I often keep on the previously mowed section to help this pathetic machine try to cut and mulch!

Also- the front wheels are big and heavy, they flatten the grass down before the blades can cut it. So when the grass does pop back up a few minutes later, you are left with strips of uncut grass all over the lawn!

Is there no help for this?

Am I just stuck with a horribly performing and very expensive machine?

So good! Hoping the new models are same quality! – Had this mower since 2014 and done 500hrs without single issue. Never even threw a belt and still has originals from new. Mowed nice lawns to overgrown jungles and powered through them all. Originally from day 1 I had the john deere mulch kit installed and it was ok but save your cash and just make a cover yourself to put over end of deck. I just used a piece of stainless with some zipp ties(stainless zipp ties work best but also plastic ones or even whipper snipper cord if your desperate) The mulch kit is to bulky and slows you down to much when mowing thick grass. Most of the time could mow at full speed unless very thick which would be the case with all mowers. At the start i was servicing every 50 hrs as reccommended but went out to 100 and even 120 i think once so not sure if thats going to cause any issues down track but i wouldnt think so. Have just sold it to a guy for $2900 so will be looking around and most likely getting a brand new Deere for christmas. Completing service on these mowers is simple and anyone should be able to do it if i can. Put it up on ramps, get filter wrench or strap and a oil container and you good to go. Very comfy for long mowing sessions but would love to try some suspension seating if it was cheaper. Fuel tank could be little bigger so ill see how the new model goes Z525 i think is about the equivalent model. But basically very happy with the John Deere and will be looking to get another. Worst thing i could say if i was to nitpick would be after a while grass catchs on top of deck and can be annoying when wet gets heavy so go ahead and get a deere!

Good – The Ez-Track series has many versions and John Deere are very cagey about giving specific features for individual models in their brochures, so shop with care and ask dealer a lot of questions. That said, the Ez-Track Z445 is a domestic mower with many excellent commercial features. I looked at most of the competition before I bought and at $7,000 neat ($1,000 discount) it was by far the best buy. A comparable Husqvarna, Hustler or Bad Boy would have cost in the $9,000 range. A Toro more. So perhaps not surprisingly, the dealer wasn't very helpful or willing to go out of his way at all to assist. Among competitors, has the best features, build and finish at this price point. Z445 has dedicated Parker wheel motors, not the cheaper hydrostats. This is a big deal for responsive power transfer and reliability, (Z225 has hydrostats). Good engine protection with wrap around steel frame. (Bumper shown in brochures is optional extra.) Electric PTO clutch for blade engagement. Flip up foot well for good deck access. Drop down blade spindles for easy maintenance. Big, 22 inch drive wheels. Seat with armrests, handy to help body stability when mowing slopes on the lean. Powerful 23 hp B&S Extended Life engine. Has an engine hour meter, essential for correct scheduled maintenance, but missing from many domestic machines. Easy, assisted deck height setting, with robust support pin. Start key is shrouded, to keep out water and dust, (good thinking JD!). Useful gimmick is a hose connector wash point for cleaning under deck. Worst feature is the awkward (dangerous?) park brake setup. Brake must be OFF, before you can start using the hand control levers or engine will stall. It's off position is way down on the floor, forcing you to bend down and forward. On anything but dead flat ground the machine will begin to roll forward (or back!) before you can sit back up and grab the hand controls and unfold them out to use the engine to arrest the roll. This can be deadly when unloading machine from a ute or trailer, or in the event of an emergency stop on hillsides. Other main weakness is the thin pressed deck (vs heavier duty welded "manufactured" deck) and the way it is suspended. It tends to be rigid and will not "flow" over uneven areas like mowers with fully suspended decks. This causes some gouges and scalping and deck will probably become warped over time. Front rollers are another optional extra, as are ROPS. Mowing sidewards on steeper slopes, it doesn't have the low centre of gravity and feeling of stability of a bigger commercial machine, such as the Hustler SuperZ range. At the best of times, zero turns are not good at heading straight downhill and my Z445 is very twitchy. Only one fuel tank and transparent window is on the INSIDE, so it's hard to fill without spilling. Blade PTO switch is slightly recessed in the control panel and behind the left elbow, so takes some fiddling to shut off and can't be done fast in an emergency.

The John Deere EZtrak 445 is a good mate for the John Deere L108 automatic – This EZtrak is indeed easy to handle. It's fast too! As we have a very large homestead garden with hundreds of trees, mowing would take up most of a week-end. Then the whipper-snipper had to come out for an other few days to finish it all off around the trees, shrubs and garden beds. ALL HAS BEEN REDUCED TO ONE SINGLE DAY!! We bought the Z445 with a 54" deck (with wash ports for easy cleaning) and 25HP (18.6kW), 41.2cu" (675cc), 2 cyl. This model has a Kawasaki Engine with a 13.2L gas tank and is belt driven. The cutting maximum is 137cm. The back of the seat is higher than it's smaller brothers (only the Z445 & Z465) and gives a good support. The travel speed is 13.7km/h and 5.6km/h in reverse; twin levers.

The deep deck (Z445 & Z465) is made from 9-gauge steel, which minimises the number of welds, gives a smooth underside and also gives a very good airflow with less debris to build up. The deck mounting system is heavy duty and differs from the smaller Z400 mowers. Our Z445 has rollers installed under the deck, a rear bumper & hitch and front foot extensions and rubber mats. A 15 gal. sprayer was installed as an extra.

We really love this mowers' performance and it is an ideal companion for the automatic John Deere L108, which now only does work around smaller home gardens, directly adjacent to the homestead with lesser trees. Time saver in 5 acres of parkland gardens. Only the Z445 & Z465 have a high back seat with armrests. Has not missed a beat yet!!