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My raptor SD has been nothing but trouble since it was new in 2014 . It has less than 200 hrs on it and has been taken very good care of.Today I put the 3rd drive belt on and has had two deck belt in less than 100 hrs. after 125 hrs I replaced all 3 spindles ,and the hydrostate or transmission bracket bolts broke and back wheels colapsed had to lift it and pull it to my shop. I bought grade a bolts ,bolted the hdros back together. before someone says I have a ruff or bumpy yard let me say no I do not. I also did not buy this mower from Lowes .It was bought from a genuine hustler dealer in douglas ga. This hustler dealer went out of business in 2016 like many others, I have decided shame on hustler for building a great name with the super z ,then suckering good hard working people into buying the cheap made raptor SD,oh I almost forgot after I mowed grass the first time in 2015 I carried it back to the dealer because of the deck being so loud I think because of the spindles but they said no . like I said earlier spindles should last longer than 125 hrs. PS. my previous mower was a 16 year old DIXON 42 in. with a 15 hp kohler engine still running and much quieter than the SD hustler. The only good thing on this mower is the kawasaki engine. I hear hustler will put a heavy duty bracket on the hydrostates if it is still under warranty. no s--t.

Welcome.

There's quite a bit on this site about the Raptors and their issues. I suggest that you do a search. You may find some solutions to your issues.

You will need to either buy oe make your own heavy duty brackets.
Search this forum as previously mentioned there have been a couple of owners in your position and made their own.
In order to save weight they made the frame just that tiny bit too light.
Most owners who did the upgrade have never been back so we could assume problem solved.
From memory they put the boltss in the other way and the bolts themselves were longer ones cut short so there was solid shaft across the shear faces.

So far the three Raptors that I have serviced hasn't had frame breakage issues but I had to replace several hydro mounting bolts because they were lost as Hustler didn't use lock nuts. Other that I had customers where the Hydro fans would curl up and hit the frame cause drive belts to break. Also the tiny 2" flat idler tends to go bad rather quickly too on drive path..

I have about 180 hours on my SD54 and added the braces after I had a plastic fender break.
Do you have both of these braces installed?
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Three days ago I broke the hydro belt. Went to an authorized dealer and got a new one. I then threw the belt off three times after replacing. (The belt was routed correctly, I triple checked) Today I took a closer look. Looks like I almost ripped the left rear bracket completely off.


But it seems I have the updated bracket already:



Any thoughts? I don’t see anything else bent, but I’m taking a deeper look tomorrow.

P.S. I bought this used with 62 hours on it from the previous owner of my house last year.

I am having similar issues. My Raptor SD was purchased from a hustler dealer 5min from my house that went out of business. It started throwing deck belts immediately. I found a fix for that (a wider belt). Now I'm going thru hydro drive belts. I'll check for loose bolts but truthfully I'm ready to get a new Mower. I cant get 1 cut without it breaking

Check your bolts to make sure they are tight.
The real key is to have the 2 brackets installed correctly. The problem is the hydro's are so powerful they are always trying to twist the mower.
After installing the 2 brackets in my picture. No problems.

If your throwing belts something is not aligned which points to these brackets. I have 212 hours on the original mower belt. Never thrown once.
I did replace the cogged hydro belt and do check it as mine had some of the cogs missing. It's not easy to see until you get under the mower.
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Hopefully this video with help those in need of assistance.....

So far I haven't seen that issue with broken mounting brackets but probably in time. What I usually see there is missing mounting screws.

Okay here is a known issue that I have here with the Hustler Raptors. The left hand hydro fan gets deform from heat and curls up hitting both the side frame and getting into the belt path. Replacing the fan usually solves the problem. The hand hand hydro doesn't seem to have the same issue as the left hand one does.

Another issue is the bearing in the 2 inch idler tends to go bad and hang up snapping belts too.

Also on some earlier units they used plain nuts on the transaxle mounting screws and they loose and lost allowing the transaxle to twist and throw belts.

clubairth said:

Check your bolts to make sure they are tight.
The real key is to have the 2 brackets installed correctly. The problem is the hydro's are so powerful they are always trying to twist the mower.
After installing the 2 brackets in my picture. No problems.

If your throwing belts something is not aligned which points to these brackets. I have 212 hours on the original mower belt. Never thrown once.
I did replace the cogged hydro belt and do check it as mine had some of the cogs missing. It's not easy to see until you get under the mower.
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That was my problem, the hydro brackets were bent. Once I stepped back an looked at the mower I could see it. I ordered the hydro bracket upgrade kit and new belts but decided it was time to upgrade. I purchased a kubota z724x 48" commercial mower and its like heaven. 11mph and its a comfortable cut. Being in the hustler made my legs go to sleep.

The hustler is forsale now?

I ended up selling the mower. Had a good friend come cut the yard while my mower was down. He had a new Kubota ZeroTurn. Few days later I was at FarmBelt Equipment getting myself a new Kubota.

Im 6'4" 330lbs. The hustler would put my legs to sleep. This new mower is so comfortable, strong and fast its mind boggling. Cut my cutting time down substantially

Good point and I will watch the fan blades for deforming from the heat.
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Finally got my hustler in for service for the year, the estimate included replacement of hydro brackets, battery bracket etc. WTH are these thick metal parts breaking?

They told me that the bolts come loose and the mower shakes itself apart. I have read that this is a known issue, but Hustler refused to issue any sort of recall. What suck is I am a year out of warranty despite the mower only having 120 hours on it. Metal parts shouldnt be breaking after 120 hours of use! Very unhappy spending close to $5000 on a mower running it 120 hours and then having to spend money to make this sort of repair!

Hustler Model 939207 - This machine has left me stranded too many times. Broken hydro braces / thrown belts. Lowes warranty said they would send a dealer to my home to repair. Local dealers will not honor that. Only 155 hours on this machine and I am looking to sell / trade. Emailed Hustler asking for new braces under warranty ( I offered to install ) ..They said sorry, we will not provide them. So that means I must transport the machine to a dealer ( rent a trailer ) to get $85 worth of braces installed under warranty. The trailer rental / down time / my time costs / would be more than that. These braces are junk. Easy to see why they fail. I will now tell everyone I know to steer clear of Hustler products. Toro Titan Max .... here I come. Hustler , you got me for $4500 and your machine is dead after 155 hours . You warranty to 300 hours, but your warranty terms suck. I guess that goes along with your product. DONE WITH YOU !!

Hustler Hater said:

Hustler Model 939207 - This machine has left me stranded too many times. Broken hydro braces / thrown belts. Lowes warranty said they would send a dealer to my home to repair. Local dealers will not honor that. Only 155 hours on this machine and I am looking to sell / trade. Emailed Hustler asking for new braces under warranty ( I offered to install ) ..They said sorry, we will not provide them. So that means I must transport the machine to a dealer ( rent a trailer ) to get $85 worth of braces installed under warranty. The trailer rental / down time / my time costs / would be more than that. These braces are junk. Easy to see why they fail. I will now tell everyone I know to steer clear of Hustler products. Toro Titan Max .... here I come. Hustler , you got me for $4500 and your machine is dead after 155 hours . You warranty to 300 hours, but your warranty terms suck. I guess that goes along with your product. DONE WITH YOU !!

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I do not want to sound preachy but you are the perfect example of being penny wise & pound foolish.
So you saved a few hundred dollars by buying from big box store who can sell cheap because they have no service department to pay for.
Then when you needed service and found you got treated like a lepper from the person who does plow a lot of his profits into running a service department.
The burning question is have you learned your lesson or will you scour the planet to find the cheapest Titan or will you buy it from your local dealer ?

Now the local Hustler dealer is being a bit narky .
He is supposed to do the warranty work and most will book in the machine
However if it has to be picked up, they will charge you for transport both ways and generally leave the mower sit there till their techs have nothing to do .
Some think this is because they are trying to punish the owner for buying from the big box but in reality with a low rates for warranty work, most workshops make a loss doing them.
Some workshops use the warranty work to try & establish a relation ship with the owners in the hope they will become future customers and thus the "loss" they make on the work comes from the advertisng & public relations budget .
Others just see warranty work as a burden on their profitability so the big box mower will sit there till the techs have no other work to do so become a loss mitigater .

I do unauthorised warranty work for one brand because I have a relationship with the dealer where I buy that brand parts from
I do all of the paperwork, which is quite substantial and they pay me the same way they get paid with credits towards my parts purchases.
Other than similar relationships that the brand know nothing about , no brand will supply warranty parts to non factory trained techs to fit .
and for good reasons as you have no reason not to be telling them a lie about your mower & on selling the warranty free replacement parts elsewhere.
Then there is the extra costs involved in sending parts to your home.
The dealer will have regular orderers so the warranty parts get included with that so there is no transport costs to the factory.