Hustler 48" Raptor SD

[Big-Al]

I've mowed with my Raptor sd 54 twice. 2nd time the grass was damp because of a weeks worth of rain. I had absolutely no issues not even clumping. But I don't put my deck real low. I think you might be mowing a little low. AL

 

[micro]

I'll try raising the discharge chute and putting on a set of the gator blades. I'm not doing anything different than the last 40 years of mowing with many other brands of mowers; I still believe it's a bad deck design, along with a discharge opening that is just too small, but we'll see. I always wait for the grass to dry out, if we have a rain, which doesn't happen much in KS this time of year, and never wait for it to get too high, as some have suggested. The only time I mow below 3 or 4 inches is late in the fall, when I'm cleaning up leaves.

I did put on some gator blades and raised the discharge chute up as suggested; also I verified the height I was cutting...that stupid lettering instead of actual measurements WAS part of the problem, as the conversion chart I was given was 1/2" off! I modified my settings, too, and just finished mowing...still quite a bit of deck buildup, and with the discharge chute raised up enough to not block clippings, it does much better. However, with the deck top cut out as it is, a lot of the drier grass clippings just end up on the operator.
I don't really care, as I've now traded it off; just not worth the hassle, but maybe the above will help someone else.

 

[Shughes717]

I did put on some gator blades and raised the discharge chute up as suggested; also I verified the height I was cutting...that stupid lettering instead of actual measurements WAS part of the problem, as the conversion chart I was given was 1/2" off! I modified my settings, too, and just finished mowing...still quite a bit of deck buildup, and with the discharge chute raised up enough to not block clippings, it does much better. However, with the deck top cut out as it is, a lot of the drier grass clippings just end up on the operator.
I don't really care, as I've now traded it off; just not worth the hassle, but maybe the above will help someone else.

What did you trade it for? Any issues with the new mower?

 

[micro]

Well, I think I'll just remain quiet about what I've traded it for until I put some hours on it and get a feel for how it's going to work for me. Everyone seems to be prejudiced about their favorite brand, and loves to talk trash on all others; I'm just not in the mood to hear it at this point. Choices in my area are very limited, unless you want to buy from places that have no service after the sale, and there are many like that. I did choose to go with a regular dealer about 70 miles away, as I've had experience with them, and they were more than willing to listen to my problem and made me a deal I couldn't very well pass on. I'll update later on this fall.

 

[DJlawnboy]

Well, I think I'll just remain quiet about what I've traded it for until I put some hours on it and get a feel for how it's going to work for me. Everyone seems to be prejudiced about their favorite brand, and loves to talk trash on all others; I'm just not in the mood to hear it at this point. Choices in my area are very limited, unless you want to buy from places that have no service after the sale, and there are many like that. I did choose to go with a regular dealer about 70 miles away, as I've had experience with them, and they were more than willing to listen to my problem and made me a deal I couldn't very well pass on. I'll update later on this fall.

This guy gets it. The brand loyalty thing on here is absurd. I just went with the best price mower in my range because your basically buying the same mower from every company...different logos. It's all about best bang for buck.

 

[micro]

Just an update on my Raptor problems...I finally gave up on it, and couldn't afford the upgrade to a Hustler that wouldn't have (hopefully) the problems I was having. So...I traded it in, at a loss, of course, on a Bad Boy ZT Elite, early last summer. It's turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made, and I'm very happy with it. No discharge problems, and it's further cut my mowing time by an hour.
My neighbor has had a Bad Boy for several years, with no issues, so I decided to go with it. It's an awesome mower and is built much tougher than what I have had.
On the Raptor issue...turns out (learned this after I'd traded) that the factory had installed the wrong pulleys on the deck, so the blades were spinning much too slow, leading to the discharge problems I was having. Oh well, no regrets on trading it off.

 

[mooch91]

On the Raptor issue...turns out (learned this after I'd traded) that the factory had installed the wrong pulleys on the deck, so the blades were spinning much too slow, leading to the discharge problems I was having. Oh well, no regrets on trading it off.

How'd you find this out? Any info you can share for others to help identify the issue you had?

Never know, if it happened to one, could be affecting others.

Thanks.

 

[micro]

How'd you find this out? Any info you can share for others to help identify the issue you had?

Never know, if it happened to one, could be affecting others.

Thanks.

From the dealer where I had bought it. According to him, there had been several different mowers that had the wrong pulley sizes installed by mistake, so it wasn't just on mine alone.
In retrospect, I maybe should have picked up on that possibility, as the mower never had that "sound" to it that is typical of the high blade-tip speed mowers.

 

[gasjr4wd]

Keeping the thread alive... I just got the bagger unit for my Raptor SD 54" and... OMG, what a joke. Can they make the bags any smaller?!? I got the mower the end of the season and used it twice I think. We have a bunch of pine needles and a few trees with leaves... so I figured why not get a bagger for the new mower. Well, I get to go about 50-60', turn around and have to empty the bags. Oh, and it really fills just the one bag. The one side gets about half full. If I try two swipes, it clogs the tubes. These gotta be the smallest bags I've ever seen.