Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[PVHIII]

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.

I would go ahead with your Fast Trak demo...you will not have these problems with the Fast Trak....when you spend as much on a mower as you did that Raptor SD you shouldn't have to "baby" it to get the result you want...I think that's a very poor deck design on the Raptor and Raptor SD...you may be mowing a lil too fast and cutting more off at once than you should but sometimes I know that I want to now faster than I should and cut more off at once than I should so I want a mower that can handle it and I have one in the Fast Trak SD..I just can't wait for you to demo that Fast Trak!

 

[PVHIII]

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.

That's the main reason I went with the 48" instead of the 54"...POWER...I feel like mine would be under powered if I had the 54"...I have plenty of horse's for the 48".

 

[PVHIII]

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.

I don't think.your crazy lol..your probably right about his mowing speed and amount of cut...however there's NO WAY all his problems with that mower are a result of operator error..for that much $$$ that mower should be able to handle a lil operator error...JMO

 

[PVHIII]

Here is the vid, hope it works:

My Fast Trak doesn't discharge like that...IMO this is just another flaw with this deck... All your questions will be answered when you get that demo or maybe I should say..all your problems solved.

 

[mooch91]

It's hard to take a video and control the mower at the same time, so forgive the fact that I wasn't controlling speed. I can assure you - I was crawling with the mower for a few passes today as well. It definitely improved but still wasn't resolving the issue.

 

[Ric]

It's hard to take a video and control the mower at the same time, so forgive the fact that I wasn't controlling speed. I can assure you - I was crawling with the mower for a few passes today as well. It definitely improved but still wasn't resolving the issue.

Ok a couple of questions. You said you did this last cut at a seven day interval. How tall was the grass before you cut it? and what setting did you have the mower set at?

 

[mooch91]

Ok a couple of questions. You said you did this last cut at a seven day interval. How tall was the grass before you cut it? and what setting did you have the mower set at?

It was at 5+ inches and I cut to 3.

I know mowing every 2-3 days will be best, but it's a tough frequency to keep up with. And I've sent some pics showing that I will still get heavy clippings and clumps in part of the yard when I do mow at this frequency.

You keep mentioning "get the lawn in to control" - it's "in control" every time I cut it, as I leave it at 3" each and every time I'm done. Frequent cuts have not slowed it down (the last couple of 7-day intervals were exception to the fast rate I've been cutting all summer). So unless there is some way to stunt its growth, this is what I've got.

 

[PVHIII]

It was at 5+ inches and I cut to 3.

I know mowing every 2-3 days will be best, but it's a tough frequency to keep up with. And I've sent some pics showing that I will still get heavy clippings and clumps in part of the yard when I do mow at this frequency.

You keep mentioning "get the lawn in to control" - it's "in control" every time I cut it, as I leave it at 3" each and every time I'm done. Frequent cuts have not slowed it down (the last couple of 7-day intervals were exception to the fast rate I've been cutting all summer). So unless there is some way to stunt its growth, this is what I've got.

OK....I've I got a question lol....who wants to spend roughly $4,500 on a mower that when you get a little behind on your mowing schedule you have to deal with this?

 

[Ric]

It was at 5+ inches and I cut to 3.

I know mowing every 2-3 days will be best, but it's a tough frequency to keep up with. And I've sent some pics showing that I will still get heavy clippings and clumps in part of the yard when I do mow at this frequency.

You keep mentioning "get the lawn in to control" - it's "in control" every time I cut it, as I leave it at 3" each and every time I'm done. Frequent cuts have not slowed it down (the last couple of 7-day intervals were exception to the fast rate I've been cutting all summer). So unless there is some way to stunt its growth, this is what I've got.

If you have 5+ inches of grass and your cutting at three??? 5+ means 6 or better inches in places I assume, That means with the weight of the mower your putting 4 inches or more of grass in a deck that's 4.5 inches in depth. If that's what is happening your leaving no room for the deck to create any vacuum and work and without air flow the grass can't be discharged so you end up with a clumping issue which effects your cut.

 

[Ric]

OK....I've I got a question lol....who wants to spend roughly $4,500 on a mower that when you get a little behind on your mowing schedule you have to deal with this?

Nobody wants to spend roughly $4,500 on a mower that doesn't work but that fact is there sold to the unsuspecting public everyday. It's all about sales and money for these manufacturers, that's why they sell spec'd mowers to retailers.