New Guy: Bad Boy Pup

ChillyB

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Aug 3, 2022
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Kohler 30hp, 52" deck, first zero turn. So far I love this thing. What a step up from a garden tractor.

Been searching for reviews, common problems, etc but mostly find apparent bot articles. Any known issues I should handle? Havent found any cracks. Has 425 hours, very clean, looks garage kept. Going to give it fluids and filters as soon as the parts and oils get here.

Also, was this considered a commercial or homeowner? I suspect homeowner but thing is a tank and components all seem top shelf. Other than being a li'l fella it seems lime commercial durability.
 

lugbolt

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Sep 26, 2019
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they considered them "commercial", but at the time when I first got into the bad boy business, if you used it commercially, it had zero warranty. A lot of commercial guys registered them in their personal name to get around that. But what would happen was they'd show up a few months later with a "warranty" issue, we'd do it, file it with Bad Boy, and Bad Boy would kick it back saying they're using it commercially, based on the number of hours they put on it in that amount of time. Talk about making some customers mad. And dealers because they had to call customers after they picked their stuff up AND they'd have to eat some of them.

they overbuilt them, in some ways. In other ways they missed the boat.

They don't turn all that great, the center of gravity is too high and the front casters use tapered roller bearings, which tend to have a lot more drag and reduce their tendency to change directions (turn). The steering is a little odd, kind of jerky, hard to control and I never was able to get one to mow a straight line without fighting the controls. All of this is in comparison to the Kubota modern models, which absolutely blow the bad boy away.

I also don't like the electric deck lift. It will drop on it's own. Sometimes they get rusty and quit working. Hopefully they rust into a mowing height, when they do it also stops them from dropping on it's own. It was a selling feature and that's about it. Many think they're hydraulic but they're not, they use an electric linear actuator.

nonetheless the Pup's weren't bad mowers. Adjust the valves on the engine before you get too far into it. Nobody seems to wanna do it and it makes a big difference. Toss in a set of plugs, clean the cooling fins, oil & filter, and change the oil and filters on the transmissions. Also the transmission belt has a manually adjustable tensioner which needs adjusting once in a while. No big deal, two 3/4" wrenches is all ya need. The book outlines how to do it. 52" deck also has an adjustable tensioner on the deck, a slotted hole of which you loosen the bolt and slide the anchor bolt back as I remember. Kind of a stupid cheesy design which was easily solved by using a smaller wire spring and a fixed anchor. There's more to it but you get the idea.
 

slomo

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Jul 14, 2019
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Residential grade around here (Oklahoma). None of the lawn crews run them.

SCAGS, Snapper Pros and Toro's preferred around here.
 

Hammermechanicman

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I call them high end residential mowers. On par with the JD homeowner Z mowers. I don't know any commercial guys who use them around here.
 
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