A few modifications to my new Raptor SD

I haven't even had the mower for a full month yet, and I've already started modifying it.

1) I'm pretty anal-retentive about cleaning up the mower after each use. I do most of the quick cleanup with the air hose to blow off the clippings and dust. The plastic spindle covers on my old JD rider had some gaps along the bottom and I could blow the crud out pretty easily. The covers on my new Raptor SD 60 are tight to the deck, and much longer so a lot of garbage can build up under there. There are two bolts holding each one down, but I wanted to convert the covers into tool-less removal for easier cleaning. I picked up four 1/4-20 stainless steel round head bolts and four stainless wing nuts. The bolts are 1-1/4 long because that's all they had in stock that was stainless. I think a 3/4" bolt would have been perfect. Anyway, I threaded them up from below after putting a dab of blue threadlocker on them. I used them during cleanup after mowing this afternoon, and it's pretty handy. Here are a few pics:



2) I have the awful clutch rattling that was apparently part of a recall last fall. It is fine when the deck is not running, but is horrible when the clutch is engaged. I verified that it was the clutch by putting a bucket of stones on the seat to keep the switch depressed and then looked under it in the rear and saw the metal on metal vibration. I could stop the rattle by holding the clutch in place with a wooden dowel. The dealer that sold me the mower last month looked up my serial number and said it did not fall into the range of recalled mowers. So apparently Hustler thinks this issue is resolved, but it most certainly is not. I'm pretty irritated with that. For now, I silenced the clutch rattle with a piece of 5/32" vacuum tubing. It's the thinnest wall rubber line I could find at my nearby hardware store. I cut a section a little over an inch long and then split it up one side not quite all the way through. It is a fairly snug fit in there, but I put on a zip tie to hopefully keep it in place. I did that this morning, and it stayed on through 3 hours of mowing today. It sounds so much nicer now. Here's a pic of the tubing I added:



Other than the stupid clutch rattle, I am very happy with my new mower.

Nice mod. Love anything that makes upkeep easier. Well done. Hopefully Hustler will take care of that clutch rattle for you.

I like the wing-nut covers mod. my covers each have 3 self tappers in each, I just aim the blower in each & lots exits quickly. But have been thinking of some kinda mod to just snap in place or snap loose.

If you wanted a gap, like your JD, you could just add nuts on the bolts, then add covers & wing nuts.


"I'm pretty anal-retentive about cleaning up the mower after each use" Same here, I like to wax her up on occasion as well.

Cool mods. :thumbsup:

Thanks.

My first attempt at an easy cleanout was to drill a couple air nozzle holes in each cover. In that third pic, you can just barely see one of them in the rib further inboard from the bolt tab. That worked a little, but there was still a big pile of grass clippings caught at the end behind the pulley. This works much better.

bradmc said:

Thanks.

My first attempt at an easy cleanout was to drill a couple air nozzle holes in each cover. In that third pic, you can just barely see one of them in the rib further inboard from the bolt tab. That worked a little, but there was still a big pile of grass clippings caught at the end behind the pulley. This works much better.

Click to expand...

I missed seeing the hole. However after mowing today & having 'your idea' stuck in my head, I think I'm gonna do the same wing nut mod to my Z. :thumbsup: (You didn't patent it did ya ? )

Thank You Sir.

i'd worry that the winguts might vibrate loose perhaps?

turboawd said:

i'd worry that the winguts might vibrate loose perhaps?

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I suppose they could over the course of many, many hours if they were never checked. I will have them off and back on after every mowing, so I'm not worried about them working loose. And with mine, since I couldn't find shorter bolts in stock, they'd have to work their way up quite a bit of thread to come off.

I have seen quite a few with this death rattle. Look and see if the drive pulley is metal in color or black. The metal colored one is a drive pulley and a stub shaft for the clutch to slide on. The problem we have seen is the stub shaft was out of round and would cause the clutch to move a lot. A good dealer will install one that has been tested to be true. Hustler now has done away with the stub shaft idea and went back to the clutch riding on the crankshaft.

bradmc said:

1) I'm pretty anal-retentive about cleaning up the mower after each use. I do most of the quick cleanup with the air hose to blow off the clippings and dust. The plastic spindle covers on my old JD rider had some gaps along the bottom and I could blow the crud out pretty easily. The covers on my new Raptor SD 60 are tight to the deck, and much longer so a lot of garbage can build up under there. There are two bolts holding each one down, but I wanted to convert the covers into tool-less removal for easier cleaning. I picked up four 1/4-20 stainless steel round head bolts and four stainless wing nuts. The bolts are 1-1/4 long because that's all they had in stock that was stainless. I think a 3/4" bolt would have been perfect. Anyway, I threaded them up from below after putting a dab of blue threadlocker on them. I used them during cleanup after mowing this afternoon, and it's pretty handy. Here are a few pics:

Click to expand...

Went to do your mod, which I like and makes a lot of sense.

I discovered the only threads were in the deck itself. There are no nut or metal weldments backing it up. Because the deck is on the thin side, it only has about 2 threads to engage the screws.

So I reconsidered.

Here's how I did mine: I replaced the 4 1/4-20 self-tapping machine screws with 4 1/4-20 nylon machine screws. Nylon is so light and soft it will not damage the 2 threads, nor will it vibrate out like steel. The nylon screws are socket head, so I keep a hex key in 1 of the rectangular storage pockets. I glued (shoe goo) a very small but very strong magnet under the storage pocket, so the hex key will stay put.

Not quite as neat and fast as wing nuts, but I don't have to worry about those 2 little threads stripping.

PS: Thread locker needs 3-4 threads to lock effectively. I found that the grass clippings and dirt on the screw threads that project under the deck do enough locking.

Awesome thread,Im going to try a piece of Teflon on the clutch.
I also came up with a mod for my pulley covers,I notched out the ends and no grass gets stuck in there at all now,plus a quick shot with my blower at the end of the day really helps too.
Here is a video of the mod.

Tom