RSD exhaust burning lawn?

[Kremeneon]

No rattle, it's pretty solid. Doubt it works, however.
Radiant heat from the hot muffler does not appear to be the cause of the scorching. It appears to be the flywheel fan causing most of the damage, not the muffler. The air blowing downward from the engine is very hot. Pictures of muffler shield I have seen do not appear they would solve the problem.

I believe the radiant heat is exactly the problem. yes the engine puts out hot air, but that would slowly cook the grass, not kill it immediately from being stopped for 10 seconds.

I installed the heat shield last night, I use my hitch a lot so I reversed the bend on the tab that secures on the hitch plate and ran it vertically behind the bumper and secured with a nut and bolt on each side on the vertical surface so as to leave the hitch free.

 

[mhavanti]

Krem,

The grass doesn't catch on fire, it dehydrates it to the point of causing light (bleached looking) spots in the grass where you may have to go around something fairly small diameter and the amount of time it requires to cut closely to the object.

I've been having this problem since I purchased the RSD60 in '14. It hasn't improved because it is real and it isn't going away on it's own.

I included the video of the grass burning problem.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDIfmYV4nvc

 

[gasjr4wd]

I didn't think this was really a 'thing' here until I finally cut mine without it raining the day after cutting. I normally plan my cuts the day before it rains... now I'm seeing little white/dead spots all over the place as it hasn't rained in a while. This is my first summer with the mower.
I may rethink things and add a fan or two when I do my shield or something.

 

[superformance]

Theres gotta be a way, not to turn off the mower and stop go real slow without burning the lawn. So someone still has a problem w the heat shield installed? I hear gravely and other model ZTs have this issue as well.

 

[mhavanti]

Its funny, my old '96 MTD muffler is about 5 inches from the bare dirt. Add 4 inches to the bare dirt and that only leaves an inch above the cut grass. It has never scorched the grass in all these 21 years. My little ole RSD did it the very first time I ran it around the yard. But then, the old MTD Yardman has a cover that surrounds the top, front and bottom of the muffler with about a half an inch clearance and that is all that's required to divert the heat back and upward away from the grass.

 

[Kremeneon]

I mowed last night after installing the shield one day before.

After stopping at the gate I go through from front to back yard I left it parked on the grass, running for three minutes. Normally I'm though there in about 10 seconds and that is enough to scorch most times. I'll find out in another day or two if the shield works.

I did put my hand underneath with the engine fully hot but freshly idled down, just nice warm air, previously the heat off the muffler would curl my arm hair.

After mowing there were no clippings accumulated on the shield. Happy so far.

 

[mhavanti]

Krem,

That's great to hear. I've got to get a heat shield made and on the ole RSD60.

Thanks for the update,

Max

 

[MikeRSD54]

I didn't think this was really a 'thing' here until I finally cut mine without it raining the day after cutting. I normally plan my cuts the day before it rains... now I'm seeing little white/dead spots all over the place as it hasn't rained in a while. This is my first summer with the mower.
I may rethink things and add a fan or two when I do my shield or something.

Same here. I had remembered reading about this, and not thinking much of it.....but now that have brown spots dotting my lawn I will be contacting Hustler this coming week to see if I can perhaps get this covered under warranty.

 

[mhavanti]

Mike,

If you call or contact them in any way, make sure you document and share with the forum.

Your dealer plays a large roll in whether you are covered from all my research. If your dealer is service oriented, the factory seems to help. If not, forget any help in my experience.

 

[MikeRSD54]

Mike,

If you call or contact them in any way, make sure you document and share with the forum.

Your dealer plays a large roll in whether you are covered from all my research. If your dealer is service oriented, the factory seems to help. If not, forget any help in my experience.

Absolutely.... Planning on contacting them tomorrow. The dealer I bought it from is about 10 minutes away but I believe I'll try to contact Hustler directly. I will let you guys know either way.

If they do not cover it, I'm not sure if I will purchase one from them or not. It's going to have to have a shield, both for the grass underneath and for the hydraulics too. I am parting out a few mowers right now and I have one from JD 180 series that will work, with some slight modification. Just something about having to go that route on a new mower doesn't set well with me though...a shield should be standard, IMO.