Husqvarna MZ54S (54") 25HP Zero Turn Lawn Mower

My first zero turn, took some getting used to steering it but have adapted and find this mower to be the best I have ever owned. Lots of power even in tall grass!

After finally taking delivery of our mower we drove it up and down the driveway a couple times just to get the feel of how it operates. Started right up, ran smooth, so I thought we were ready to roll. As soon as I headed onto the lawn and engaged the blades we heard a loud WHAM, WHAM, WHAM. My first thought was, oh no I've hit a rock or worse. I stopped the blades and we looked underneath to find nothing amiss. I then moved the mower forward about 10' just to make sure if there was something underneath I was far enough away... engage blades = WHAM, WHAM, WHAM.

Raised up the front end of the mower to find that a weld joint had come loose and the W shaped shield that's part of the mowing deck was hitting the blades. One blade was completely locked up and the other was making the loud banging as it was literally cutting through the shield.

FYI, when you have an issue with Husqvarna you have to engage the services of the local repair center (even if you buy from Home Depot or Lowes)... fortunately we have a trailer and a truck so we hauled it across town and it's been there since. As of today (6 days later) they've not even looked at it...

We had a budget of $4,000 and did a ton of research on mowers. We ended up with this model because of the good reviews, even though we were a little concerned about the a stamped deck versus a commercial deck. We've had a Husky lawn tractor that has a stamped deck for years with no issues so we decided to take the plunge. Word to the wise: spend the extra $800 and do yourself a favor. Either their decks just stink or someone wasn't paying attention during production either way, it's been a huge hassle and we don't know when we'll have a mower!

OK, first let me tell you about Mowers Direct. Transaction was fast and easy and so was the shipping. I did order the lift gate and you need one for sure if you don't have a loading dock. The crate is big and it's heavy. The crate is pretty easy to get into if you have a BIG hammer and a pry bar. You can push it out the front eventually. That said, getting rid of the crate is another story. There are a lot of nails and after trying to save the lumber, I gave up quickly and got the sawsall out. It was work even with that, but the trash man took everything, luckily. No damage in shipping at all, not even to the crate.

The MZ54S is great. If you research it, it's hard to figure out what motor comes in it. Let me clear that up here. It comes with the Endurance Commercial which is the same as the Commercial Turf engine on the Briggs web site. It has the nice looking and great functioning circular air cleaner and the oil cooler on the side. The engine is strong and contrary to some of the many reviews I read, it starts easily every single time, hot or cold. The grease fittings on the spindles were NOT loose like many other reviews. The thing does NOT tear up the lawn like many other reviews either. It can a little bit if you don’t learn to turn it right, but it’s not the mowers fault. One thing to be aware of though is that it will spin one wheel in the most unexpected places. The frame is so ridged that if the ground, cement or whatever is tilted in such a way where one of the back tires comes off the ground a little you will think the steering isn’t working. It won’t go. Be careful if it suddenly catches. You’ll see what I mean. It’s not the mowers fault but it is something to be aware of for sure.

The design is simple which I like. The engine area is clean and open. The controls are great. The stamped deck is great. Unless you are loading and unloading the mower on a trailer or running up curbs, this deck will last forever. The rounded corners are also better for air flow under the deck. Another thing that is really, really nice is that the top of the deck doesn’t get much if any grass packed up there. It has air holes around the spindles and it seems to blow it away I guess. That is really nice even though I blow everything off of the mower each time I use it on my acre of almost all grass with a bunch of trees and stuff to mow around. My old tractor style mower I had could cut it in a little over an hour but this thing gets closer to everything and still does it just over a half an hour! What a great bonus! The tracking takes a little bit of adjustment to get right but the adjusters are right there for easy access. Can you tell that I really, really like this thing?

There are a couple of things that could be better but they are minor. The main thing is the oil filter. I have not changed the oil yet but the filter is sitting above the large metal plate that the engine is bolted to. It looks like it is going to be messy up there when you take the filter off. I wish they would have modified the plate to have an opening under the filter. Minor like I said, but it would be nice. Also the four bolts that hold the control panel down were apparently loose and I didn’t notice until 2 of them fell out and were lost. It stays on fine with 2 bolts but I’m just saying… the only other thing I can think of is that it came with the negative battery cable disconnected, of course, but it didn’t come with the nut to hook it up. I found one that would work but you know what I’m saying. It also didn’t come with one of those hose quick connectors for the deck either. Again all of these things are very minor, at least to me except for that oil filter thing lol.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It comes with a trailer hitch welded on the back contrary to most everything I read. You don’t need the hitch thing you will see under accessories that I almost bought..

As you can probably tell, I love this thing and feel that I made a great choice for the money. I hope that this review helps someone else in some way! Thanks Husqvarna and Mowers Direct!!

Lots of research and finally settled on this. Arrived crated the $50 lift gate option is a must unless you live in a commercial shipping center...which i assume no one does. This tractor weighs 850 lbs. Once sitting in my driveway I took off plastic and realized that to uncrate this mower was going to be a big job. I ended up using a chain saw. It took around 20 minutes to get it uncrated. It would take an hour with no chain saw. Installed the seat which is self explanatory and hooked up the negative contact to the battery and it fired right up.

On my first try it took me about 2.5 hours to mow 3 acres with a good number of trees and bushes. Once i get used to it I think the time will be down around 2 to 2.25 hours. This mower is very heavy and although listed as mid-grade looks and feels more like a commercial grade mower.

Read the manual and find a less used portion of your yard to practice turning. Tight turns can can put deep skid marks in your lawn. The manual suggest mowing from the outside in instead of back and forth. I see why now the ends of your yard would end up being a mud whole with all the turning.

Easy deck adjustment and mows the grass evenly. It is a bit loud ear pro is a must.

Impressed so far with the MZ54S. I have been wanting a zero turn for several years now and finally broke down and took the plunge.

I have 3 acres to mow and this 54" does the job very well and does it much more efficiently than my old lawn tractor. It has more than enough power to handle the job.

I chose Husqvarna because I have some other smaller lawn tools from Husqvarna and they have not disappointed. The cost comparison between makes/models made me lean towards the MZ54S, along with several reviews on previous year models.

Shipping was efficient and had no problems.

So for now, I recommend the MZ54S.