Hustler Raptor SD Discharge Trouble

[turboawd]

Have you tried high lift blades?
I find that gator blades clog the deck more. They are made to keep the grass under the deck.

Did you put them on backwards? Lol

 

[Carscw]

Did you put them on backwards? Lol

The gator blade is a mulching blade.
The back wings throw the grass towards the center of the blade so the grass will stay under the deck. And get cut 4 to 5 times. This is the reason the grass cut clumped up under the deck. They are not high lift blades they are mulching blades. The reason they do not clog the shoot up as much as regular blades. Is because they do not discharge the grass as fast or as much.

 

[turboawd]

The gator blade is a mulching blade.
The back wings throw the grass towards the center of the blade so the grass will stay under the deck. And get cut 4 to 5 times. This is the reason the grass cut clumped up under the deck. They are not high lift blades they are mulching blades. The reason they do not clog the shoot up as much as regular blades. Is because they do not discharge the grass as fast or as much.

I usually cut deep grass lots, and bought all the blades hustler offers, including their high lift. The Oregon blades shoot the grass out the best and clog the least.

 

[kraky]

Although the Gator blades are advertised to be a mulching blade of sorts under my raptor SD they performed like a high-performance discharge blade. The velocity and distance of the grass being thrown was increased considerably over standard blades.... and during fall leaf grinding 15 to 20 ft throwout was not uncommon.
I have a shallow drainage area between my house and the guy to the north which is always pretty wet during the Spring rainy season... one trick I learned is to hit that first.... when do the dryer areas last. I can tell from the sound of the deck in the wet area.... yes I'm getting some build up but by the time I'm done doing the dry areas it seems like the deck is cleaned itself back out due to friction.

 

[Carscw]

I use the gator blades in the fall and winter.
I don't run them year round because they only last 5 weeks at $60 a set.
My low lift blades last 8 weeks at $38 a set.

 

[kraky]

Wow... you may be running a pretty sandy soil? Up here in northern Wisconsin the soil is heavy clay... the Gator blades are so hard that unless I hit something theyre just as sharp in fall as they were when I put them on in spring. 40 miles from here the the soil conditions are totally different and sandy. People from that area would bring in blades for Replacements and it looked like somebody had been grinding at the bottom of the airfoil.... sometimes the sand had even eaten through the blade at the base of the airfoil. And when people brought in their mowers for service from that area the mechanics would just smile at how spotlessly clean those Decks were.... we sold those people the lowest lift blades possible and they work perfectly.
The same blades here in my area were a total failure.

 

[RhettWS]

Later in the day when the grass dried down some, she said it worked fine, but who can, or wants to wait until 5 PM everyday to cut grass????

I hear you on that. I cut when I can cut mostly. Most of the time dry, but often wet. Just the humidity here makes the grass pretty wet even without rain.

I will try to take some measurements on my mower this weekend if not before and I'll pass those along. Blade height under the deck, pulley size, etc. and so forth. I leveled my deck once just to check it out and it is almost dead level. If it is off, it is not by much but I will check again.

Another factor might be grass species, etc.. There is an exceptionally long thread started by Mooch91 that you should read if you have not already done so. He has Kentucky blue grass and he had several problems with the cut quality. I think with some adjustment it finally looked pretty dang good but he finally decided to trade up to a Fastrak. My grass is mixed, bermuda and bahiagrass with a sprinkling of other species. Others might be able to chime in on which grass types are harder to cut.

Maybe that Yankee grass is just tougher since its arse gets frozen off each winter. :laughing:

 

[kraky]

Actually you nailed it on the head about our grass in Spring. The first six weeks of cutting around here our grass is like glue. In my immediate area there is no deck that will stay spotlessly clean the first 6 weeks. Once you get past those six weeks unless it gets really rainy almost any deck will stay clean. Come October when the leaves start to fall we have to grind them several times..... it does a phenomenal job of scraping our decks out for free.... then come next spring we start the cycle all over with the sticky season!
I think the fact that conditions are different all over the country between the types of grasses and soils are probably the root of a lot of arguments or shall I say debates that we have here on the Forum about blades and decks!

 

[577jersey]

Toro ss5000 $3000
Better cut quality.
Better drives.
Better deck blast threw tall wet grass.

What drives are in that toro?? 3100??
If so,,$3k is a great deal man,,dont know how they do it...My SD is awesome so far,,i cut crazy sloped lawns and some cow paths,,i just take it real easy over the ruff stuff.
It does need better tires,the discharge opening needs too meet my angle grinder,,and other than a few bolts upgraded or spun around the other way,,its been a great machine to me,,hope too keep it for at least 1000 hours..than i will look into that Toro for sure,,a fabbed deck is a must for me though,,I just cant deal with the stamped design..looks so cheesey to me....

 

[kraky]

That Toro runs the light ezt Transmissions that Hydro Gear makes. They are self contained with no filters or oil changes... but they do have a pretty good record for staying together as I think carscw can attest.