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I have a Hustler Raptor SD 48" that is about 5 years old. The mower has been a solid mower with a Kawi motor other than the discharge and grass buildup under the deck. I had the dealer intstall the OEM discharge kit a couple years ago which he said would be free but then charged me and and it still sucks at discharging grass. I think the engineers at Hustler just really missed it on the deck design of these Raptor SD's. I have tried a number of different blades. I left the Gator blades on from last fall munching leaves and after two mows this spring (deck was clean) the thing had a ton of buildup so I just scrapped the deck again (a plastic grocery bag full of grass) and put the high lift blades back on. I emailed Hustler and they said take it to a dealer and have the RPM's checked which I asked the dealer to do that when they installed the discharge shoot but knowing the dealer they probably never bothered with it. Has anyone else seen the RPM's too low and raising it helped the discharge? What is the RPM suppose to be at? I can take it to my dad's to check it. I guess as far as blades the high lift leave the least buildup in the spring and fall and Gators in the summer to munch up those dead pieces that just lay on top of the grass. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I just feel like putting this thing on craigslist and starting over again with an X-Mark or Scag. You shouldn't have to scrape the deck every other time you mow a one acre yard in the spring right??? Thanks!

I mow 3 acres with a 54" Raptor SD that I bought used from the previous owner of our house about 3 years ago. My discharge used to clog while mowing and between mowing large clumps of grass would drop on my garage floor. Cleaning the deck was a messy and smelly job so I asked the dealer about those wash-out ports you hook a hose to, but he said not to worry about it, when customers brought their mowers in for service they were always caked with grass.

Then I started reading about different blades on this forum and someone recommended these XHT Hi-Lift blades:
I ordered these last season and I won't say they have solved all my problems but my discharge has not clogged or a clump of grass dropped onto my garage floor since I installed those blades. An added plus is these are good people to deal with located in the U.S.A.

Some guys are enlarging the discharge area by cutting, but I haven't had to resort to that after buying the Hi-Lift blades. Good luck and let us know what works best for you.

Eliot Ness said:

I mow 3 acres with a 54" Raptor SD that I bought used from the previous owner of our house about 3 years ago. My discharge used to clog while mowing and between mowing large clumps of grass would drop on my garage floor. Cleaning the deck was a messy and smelly job so I asked the dealer about those wash-out ports you hook a hose to, but he said not to worry about it, when customers brought their mowers in for service they were always caked with grass.

Then I started reading about different blades on this forum and someone recommended these XHT Hi-Lift blades:

Pardon Our Interruption...

I ordered these last season and I won't say they have solved all my problems but my discharge has not clogged or a clump of grass dropped onto my garage floor since I installed those blades. An added plus is these are good people to deal with located in the U.S.A.

Some guys are enlarging the discharge area by cutting, but I haven't had to resort to that after buying the Hi-Lift blades. Good luck and let us know what works best for you.

Click to expand...

Exactly
There is no such thing as a deck &/or blade combination that will be right for every lawn.
Way back, the salesman would ask you things like , "what type of grass do you grow" so they could point you to be best mower for your yard.

Eliot Ness said:

I mow 3 acres with a 54" Raptor SD that I bought used from the previous owner of our house about 3 years ago. My discharge used to clog while mowing and between mowing large clumps of grass would drop on my garage floor. Cleaning the deck was a messy and smelly job so I asked the dealer about those wash-out ports you hook a hose to, but he said not to worry about it, when customers brought their mowers in for service they were always caked with grass.

Then I started reading about different blades on this forum and someone recommended these XHT Hi-Lift blades:

Pardon Our Interruption...

I ordered these last season and I won't say they have solved all my problems but my discharge has not clogged or a clump of grass dropped onto my garage floor since I installed those blades. An added plus is these are good people to deal with located in the U.S.A.

Some guys are enlarging the discharge area by cutting, but I haven't had to resort to that after buying the Hi-Lift blades. Good luck and let us know what works best for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply . I also bought those XHT high lift blades last summer and just put them back on as I realized the Gator blades were adding to the grass buildup under the deck. They definitely do a much better job blowing the grass out of the deck rather than it building up.

I read that the RPM should be 3600 for the Kawi FR691V motor so I'll have to have that checked. I'm hoping mine needs to be turned up and that will help. Other than the discharge and deck buildup the Raptor SD has been a good mower and running the XHT high lift blades definitely helps!