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.
