Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[turboawd]

so i got a 54" raptor sd. cut some tall grass today 12", and had quite a bit of wet grass stuck under the deck.
i'm thinking of swapping the stock blades for something with more lift.

the grass seems to clump in the upper corners of the deck. i wonder if something can be placed there to fill the corner or make it a 45 degree inside corner.

here is a quick sketch. see red lines.

 

[flightco]

so i got a 54" raptor sd. cut some tall grass today 12", and had quite a bit of wet grass stuck under the deck.
i'm thinking of swapping the stock blades for something with more lift.

the grass seems to clump in the upper corners of the deck. i wonder if something can be placed there to fill the corner or make it a 45 degree inside corner.

here is a quick sketch. see red lines.

I really don't get it, you just said you cut 12 inches of wet grass, which means you cut 6 to 7 inches of wet grass and you wonder why it was stuck under the deck; what do you think wet grass is going to do? You don't need more lift, you need to cut your grass more often.

 

[turboawd]

I really don't get it, you just said you cut 12 inches of wet grass, which means you cut 6 to 7 inches of wet grass and you wonder why it was stuck under the deck; what do you think wet grass is going to do? You don't need more lift, you need to cut your grass more often.

these are empty lots. so they dont get cut frequent. the grass was dry. didnt rain. grass was just wet from the moisture in the grass.

 

[PVHIII]

these are empty lots. so they dont get cut frequent. the grass was dry. didnt rain. grass was just wet from the moisture in the grass.

You have the wrong mower for the job.

 

[PVHIII]

the cub cadet blew a motor after after only 150 hours of cutting. not buying another.



did you have the raptor sd? what exactly bent? those long pins that the deck hangs on?

No...standard Raptor..hanging brackets bent.

 

[turboawd]

You have the wrong mower for the job.

should i have gotten some goats instead?

 

[PVHIII]

should i have gotten some goats instead?

That's basically what you have now...it eats till it's belly gets full...;-)

 

[PVHIII]

Two elements determine the discharge and even dispersing of clippings for a clean cut but only one is thought to be the problem by owners of mowers and that one element is the blades. Change to this blade or that blade is usually the suggestion with disappointing results.

The second element is deck design and the engineering relationship of the blade to the deck. There are just some mowers that will never do the job you want to see no matter what blade is installed.

I'm sure this isn't what anyone that spends thousands for their pretty mower wants to read or hear but it is fact.

You Sir...are right on the money with this post..very well said and very true.

 

[PVHIII]

All,

I love my Raptor SD 54, but I've been a little disappointed in the cut quality. I stepped up from a 36" Snapper Pro walk-behind that would vacuum and cut the lawn and make it look like a carpet when done.

The Raptor is doing a good job, just not excellent. It doesn't seem to get that vacuum effect like the Snapper did. For example, I used to run over twigs and sticks on the Snapper, and it would pick them up, chop them a bit, and spit them out. I've noticed that the Hustler rarely, if ever, lifts a twig or stick from the lawn. Same with stones - the edge of my property has a row of stones that I used to have to be careful with when using the Snapper (as it would lift them and discharge them). I can run over the stone edge with the Hustler with no worries of it lifting them up. With the Raptor, it generally seems as if the grass will lay down a bit while being cut instead of being lifted.

Seems as if I could get some more vacuum under the deck that I'd be able to get a better cut with the Raptor SD. At least that's my thought of what could improve the situation. I don't see anything else wrong with the mower (deck is level, blades are sharp), except for a little bit of clutch rattle when engaging the blades (but I don't suspect this would cause the cut issue).

Any recommendations on specific blades that can accomplish this? I know there are 5 blades listed in the Hustler parts manual (including what looks like Gator blades and high lift blades), but it's very hard to get a clear idea of what blade will work best to accomplish what I'm looking for. Some say the gators are the way to go, others say go high lift, but not a lot of reasons as to why to choose one over the other. I'd prefer some real-world experience as to which would be best to improve the cut quality. I don't want to keep buying blades (at 3 of them) to experiment.

Thanks!!!

Still waitin on that Fast Trak demo...keep us posted.. Thanks!

 

[mooch91]

Still waitin on that Fast Trak demo...keep us posted.. Thanks!

Still waiting too, the holiday weekend did not allow me to reserve with the dealer this weekend.

I'll share an update on the cut I made yesterday. Six days since my last cut due to a short vacation again this time. It was long, for sure, but by no means a pasture at this point.

I measure that I was cutting at about 5 1/2 inches of length:

Or to put it another way, taking off about 2 - 2 1/2 inches:

I cleaned the deck beforehand and put the high-lift blades back on. About 1/3 of a 5-gallon bucket worth of scrap came off:

Some pics during and after pass number one:

I then raised the deck by 1/2 inch and did a second (and in some cases a third) pass across the whole lawn to try to disperse the clippings, in progress shot:

Ended up like this:

Couldn't get them to completely disappear, I was just blowing them back and forth after a while, but the stripes looked nice:

Healthy amount of deck blowout happening with the high-lift blades and the deck raised by 1/2 inch: