Hello everyone I am new to the forum. I purchased a brand new Raptor SD 54 yesterday, which they were supposed to deliver tomorrow. They did not have one on the property, but was in the crate at their warehouse at another location. I purchased from a pretty big Hustler dealer and they were great to deal with. I will not name the dealership, so far they have been great. I previously owned a Bobcat with a Kawasaki and was pretty satisfied with it. I did a ton of research on the Raptor SD and I have a neighbor who bought one from big box store and he has been very satisfied. I spoke to the owner yesterday and told him I really liked Kawasaki and I was a little concerned with the Kohler 7000, since I don't know anything about them. He assured me they are good motors and that they have not had any warranty problems and they sell a ton of Hustlers. Today, I go by to put my down payment, I financed part of it for the 0% deal through Sheffield. The owner sees me and says "hey, you want to see you mower? Its in the back". So we walk back, everything looks great, he fires the mower up, goes over a few things and tells me they will deliver it tomorrow. He then says take it for a quick spin, so I drive it around the parking lot, turn and drive back in the rear bay, no more than about 100 ft. I pull up to him, open the arms to the side and turn the key off. When I did, the engine began making some type of noise that almost sounded electronic, similar to an buzzing alarm. Owner says "that is not right" and calls over a mechanic. Mechanic begins tapping on the starter with his hand and cycles the key off and on a couple of times. Owner tells him to try to crank it and when he does, the mower cranks, shuts off, and then makes a harsh metal to metal sound and suddenly stopped the engine, almost like it seized up. They said they have never seen this before. Owner assures me they will get another new mower from their warehouse and are still delivering it tomorrow. He had me take a picture of the serial number with my cell phone so that tomorrow when I take delivery I would have peace of mind knowing that I was getting a different mower. Hopefully this is an isolated incident. I am very concerned now, but have also heard that the Kohler is a good motor. I will be receiving my new mower tomorrow afternoon and will probably mow some with it, I will post an update.
New Hustler Raptor SD 54, hope I didn't make a mistake....Please read entire post...
- Thread starter agg5910
- Start date
nh lawn guy
Forum Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2016
- Threads
- 0
- Messages
- 1
I love the Raptor SD with Kohler 7000 series. I have logged a number of hours in the seat so far of the 54" model and have had no problems. Sounds like you are dealing with a stand up dealer I would not stress about them or the new mower enjoy you bought a good one. We got ours at Perkins in Exeter , NH they were great to deal with.
michigan_Rapter sd
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2016
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 86
my rapter sd has been great
I don't think there's a manufacturer out there that doesn't use the Kohler 7000 in one form or another. Over the past few years there's got to be hundreds of thousands of them out there. Although some stories rise to the top once in awhile about problems I can only think it's a tiny tiny percentage of the sales. If something is not put together right at the factory it's usually shows up in the first hour or two of operation. It sure sounds like you've got a good dealer to count on if something else pops up but we hope that we get nothing but glowing reports!
I am thinking that they forgot to put oil in it. I don't know if the engines come from Hustler with oil in them or if the dealer puts it in. But it only ran a few minutes and then locked up....
I am very excited to get the mower tomorrow....I intend on going over it very well to verify all the bolts are tight, engine has oil, etc....hopefully all will go well. Thanks for info guys....
I am very excited to get the mower tomorrow....I intend on going over it very well to verify all the bolts are tight, engine has oil, etc....hopefully all will go well. Thanks for info guys....
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Threads
- 65
- Messages
- 24,995
I will tend to agree with you on that.
Not being a dealer in the USA I have no idea if they ship local with oil.
Down here most are shipped either empty or with really thin running in oil that the dealer is supposed to change.
It would not be the first time a salesman took a mower off the workshop floor before the predelivery was completed.
Not being a dealer in the USA I have no idea if they ship local with oil.
Down here most are shipped either empty or with really thin running in oil that the dealer is supposed to change.
It would not be the first time a salesman took a mower off the workshop floor before the predelivery was completed.
Well, I got the mower today and was more than pleased. Only took me 30 mins to mow. I bought this mower for $3599 and I believe that was the best deal for the money. I looked at the Gravely ZT XL, but it would have been $1,000 more..... Time will tell with the Kohler engine...
The RSD is a great mower,,little slippery on slopes but nothing grooving out the tires wont fix.
I got a buddy with 150 hours on the 7000 series,,no problems at all.
Take it easy over rough terrain and that mower will last you years to come!!
I got a buddy with 150 hours on the 7000 series,,no problems at all.
Take it easy over rough terrain and that mower will last you years to come!!