I'm new to this, but just wanted to put in my opinion...I traded in a 6-year old Hustler 42" Sport a few months back on a new Raptor 48" SD. Big mistake! The Sport was a fine mower, but I needed a little bigger deck, and thought I was making an upgrade. This thing plugs the deck up constantly, whether the grass is wet (much worse then) or dry. The biggest problem was the reinforcing bar across the bottom of the discharge opening; it's now been cut off, but the problem remains. I can't mow more than 15 minutes without having to stop and dig grass out from under the deck. I've tried raising the discharge chute up, but this deck is cut away into the TOP somewhat, and it doesn't really help that much. The left-hand blade area clogs first, then the middle, then the right-hand side. It's a real mess, and when done mowing (about 3 and 1/2 hours), I have to jack it up and ALWAYS remove around two 5-gallon buckets of clippings. I've contacted Hustler about their lousy deck design, but the only response I've gotten from them was "It's what it is". Now I'm trying to work a deal to trade it for either another Hustler (Fastrak SD 42") or something else. The previous Sport 42" I had NEVER had this issue, so I'm thinking the 2-blade deck is the way to go...however; my neighbor has a Bad Boy 60" that he's had for years, and never has this issue. After looking over the Bad Boy mowers, I see that their discharge opening is much bigger than on any Hustler, so I'm leaning that direction.
I would like to know if anyone else has had this problem with this mower, and what you've done to resolve it. It's frustrating to put up with, and makes me dread mowing at all.
I would like to know if anyone else has had this problem with this mower, and what you've done to resolve it. It's frustrating to put up with, and makes me dread mowing at all.