Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[Ric]

Never ran one of those Toro's but that deck does get good reviews.Do you have a Hustler dealer in your area... and if so have you ever ran Hustler... Just wondering why you chose the Toro over the rest of the competition... My dealer's son and I are good friends so I'm in and out of their shop all the time so I am FAIRLY knowledgeable about these mowers... they carry Hustler and Grasshopper exclusively...I can ALMOST promise you he will be back on here shortly braggin about his new Fast Trak lol

Yeah we have a Hustler dealer here :laughing: The same one that sells Toro and Scag and Cub Cadet. My dealer sells what he calls the big three but if I were them I'd dump CC and put in Exmark.

I purchased my Toro from them. I think the reason I started with the Toro was because they were the only one out of the three makes that had a Stander which was what I wanted and it turned out to be a great mower for the business and again with the purchase of the Turf-Master, nobody but them offered the 30" mower except Exmark so when it came time for a ZTR the Z Master just made since.

The Z-Master like the stander has a shorter frame, there both compact mowers which for the business is a plus and I already knew the Turbo force deck would handle the wet grass without problem and the 5year 1200 hr warranty didn't hurt things either, I don't think any manufacturer offers or can beat the warranty.

 

[Ric]

Originally Posted by Ric
The Thing is if your a homeowner and using the mower for your personal use the Raptor sd with the FR and 2800 drives are all you would need, a commercial drive is really a waste of money for a homeowner.

That is your opinion, not mine.
I'm a homeowner that mows a 7acres lawn. I own a Hustler Super Z w/35 HP Kawasaki and the 72" deck.
I wanted the Super Z to cut my mowing time way down, and last me the next 15-20 years.
I owned A Hustler FasTrak 54" for 4 years. It was an excellent mower, but I wanted bigger, faster, more power..
I sold it and upsized to the Super Z and wouldn't want anything less.

Exactly what I'm gonna do in 2 more years...do you have the VX4 deck on your Z....and how do you like it?

The theory above just doesn't make any sense to me at all, bigger, faster, more power

PV I'd stick to what you have.

 

[DK35vince]

The theory above just doesn't make any sense to me at all, bigger, faster, more power

Wanting/expecting performance and longevity from your machine makes no sense ??

My neighbor has a Raptor SD. The difference between it and my Super Z as far as size, mowing speed, power, ride, and build is huge.
I certainly wouldn't want to mow my large yard with a Raptor every week.
The Super Z does my 7+ acre lawn with ease. Does it quickly/efficiently, and will do it for many, many years. Makes perfect sense.

 

[Ric]

Wanting/expecting performance and longevity from your machine makes no sense ??

My neighbor has a Raptor SD. The difference between it and my Super Z as far as mowing speed, power, ride, and build is huge.
I certainly wouldn't want to mow my large yard with a Raptor every week.
The Super Z does it with ease. Does it fast, and will do it for many, many years. Makes perfect sense.

Wanting/expecting performance and longevity from your machine makes perfect sense and you can get the same thing from the Raptor or the Fastrak if properly maintained along with the Super Z but The Raptor or Fastrak are more suited to a homeowner as for there intended use by Hustler. The build quality, power and ride of the Super z is better than the other machines as it should be for it's intended use. The problem with the Super Z for a homeowner is the fact the mower is never used for it's intended use so the 35HP engine and drive speeds are wasted, the only thing I can see is that the cost involved of owning and running the Z is a whole lot more money than a typical Homeowner needs to spend.

 

[DK35vince]

The problem with the Super Z for a homeowner is the fact the mower is never used for it's intended use so the 35HP engine and drive speeds are wasted,

We use all the power and speed my Super Z will give us every week when we mow. Nothing wasted here. We use it all.
One of my main complaints about my previous FastraK (23 HP Kawasaki, w/54" deck) was lack of power. Seemed we were always needing to slow down because were running out of power.
Upsizing to the Super Z 72" deck I didn't want to have an issue with barely enough power again. I went with the 35 HP Kawasaki.
Mowing at full speed with the 72" deck I'm sure glad I didn't go with any less power.

 

[Ric]

We use all the power and speed my Super Z will give us every week when we mow. Nothing wasted here. We use it all.
One of my main complaints about my previous FastraK (23 HP Kawasaki, w/54" deck) was lack of power. Seemed we had to often slow down because were running out of power.
Upsizing to the Super Z 72" deck I didn't want to have an issue with barely enough power again. I went with the 35 HP Kawasaki.
Mowing at full speed with the 72" deck I'm sure glad I didn't go with any less power.

As far as mowing speeds go, in reality the Super Z doesn't cut as fast as the Raptor SD. Just because you can run a higher MPH doesn't mean you can cut any faster. The Raptor is rated to cut 18900 fpm, the Super Z is rated at or for 18040 fpm from Hustler. Anything beyond that and you sacrifice cut quality. The top end speeds/mph is intended for transport not mowing. Actually and in reality the Super Z was not designed to cut ones lawn. They were designed for the big Commercial boys that run main roads or sub-divisions for HOA where they would be out 3 or 4 miles from a their trailers and have to get back in a sufficient amount of time.

 

[DK35vince]

As far as mowing speeds go, in reality the Super Z doesn't cut as fast as the Raptor SD. Just because you can run a higher MPH doesn't mean you can cut any faster. The Raptor is rated to cut 18900 fpm, the Super Z is rated at or for 18040 fpm from Hustler. Anything beyond that and you sacrifice cut quality. The top end speeds/mph is intended for transport not mowing. Actually and in reality the Super Z was not designed to cut ones lawn. They were designed for the big Commercial boys that run main roads or sub-divisions for HOA where they would be out 3 or 4 miles from a their trailers and have to get back in a sufficient amount of time.

After years of mowing our lawn we know where all the bumps are.
The rough areas we slow down, the smooth areas get mowed at full speed.

 

[mooch91]

Another pretty miserable cut at a 7-day interval today.

I did about 1/4 of the lawn Friday night before some heavy rain started yesterday. I came back and redid and finished it off today.

The area I didn't cut on Friday was obviously the worst (I took off a couple of inches of growth), but even the area cut on Friday had heavy clippings and some clumps. I triple cut some areas and still have a nice heavy dusting of clippings.

My wife is actually starting to get upset because my son is tracking healthy quantities of clippings in to the house.

One interesting thing I observed and now I think I know why multiple cuts don't seem to make the clippings go away - the discharge coming out of the side seems to be concentrated to the front end of the discharge chute. I would say that better than 80% of the clippings come out in a stream about 1-2" wide at the front end of the chute. They're definitely not discharging from the whole width of the chute. I don't know if this is the way all side discharge mowers work or if it's something unique to mine that's contributing to my problem. I'll see if I can post a video I took of the discharge while mowing.

 

[mooch91]

Here is the vid, hope it works:

 

[Ric]

Here is the video, hope it works:

I know your going to think I'm crazy but Right off hand the video is telling me two things, One with the build up of grass on the top deck your mowing way too much grass at a time. Two by the looks of the ground and the rate it's moving your mowing too fast.

As I said earlier in the thread you need to increase the frequency of cutting to no more than every three days until you get the lawn under control. Every 7 days is not going to be acceptable. I'd start at the top of my height settings and cut at a 3 day interval bringing it down a setting every cut until you get the lawn cutting to a 3"and 3 1/4" height and at that point re-cut the lawn when it gets to a 4" height at your 3" setting and you''ll solve your clumping issue and have a better looking lawn.

The mower you have is doing all it can do and no matter what changes you make it's not going to help.