New Owner Raptor SD 54" - Immediate trouble

Guys and gals,

If you have a bolt loosen up, simply remove the bolt or nut, add a drop of blue "Lock-Tite" to the starting threads and you'll not have a problem anytime soon.

Also, consider you're riding a stick horse and each bump the stick horse comes across, it multiplies it through the non-sprung chassis. If I tie your feet to the back of my truck bumper and drag you around my yard which I spent twenty grand on to do the landscaping and sprinklers. I asked for glass smooth and my yard is far from smooth, let alone glass smooth. Now, back to dragging you around the yard. If your head is making contact with my Non-Glass Smooth yard, it will have the shyte slapped out of it no matter the speed I drag you around and over this yard.

How long before you have a brain fart? Will your eyes pop out of the sockets? Do you think there may be a concussion? I can tell you that lawnmowers do have bolt failures, springs breaking and it does NOT make any difference the manufacturer. Read thru all the forums, every brand has had many posts about these problems. It is simply because you're riding it on rough surfaces. Your fault, not the design of the mower. Mowers historically don't have sprung suspensions.

I still maintain, run'em like you stole'em, fix'em if you break'em. And, you are going to break them.

Jersey, I believe you'll get your thousand hours and wouldn't be at all surprised you'll get three thousand with maintenance and a little love.

Everyone have a great weekend.

mhavanti said:

Guys and gals,

If you have a bolt loosen up, simply remove the bolt or nut, add a drop of blue "Lock-Tite" to the starting threads and you'll not have a problem anytime soon.

Also, consider you're riding a stick horse and each bump the stick horse comes across, it multiplies it through the non-sprung chassis. If I tie your feet to the back of my truck bumper and drag you around my yard which I spent twenty grand on to do the landscaping and sprinklers. I asked for glass smooth and my yard is far from smooth, let alone glass smooth. Now, back to dragging you around the yard. If your head is making contact with my Non-Glass Smooth yard, it will have the shyte slapped out of it no matter the speed I drag you around and over this yard.

How long before you have a brain fart? Will your eyes pop out of the sockets? Do you think there may be a concussion? I can tell you that lawnmowers do have bolt failures, springs breaking and it does NOT make any difference the manufacturer. Read thru all the forums, every brand has had many posts about these problems. It is simply because you're riding it on rough surfaces. Your fault, not the design of the mower. Mowers historically don't have sprung suspensions.

I still maintain, run'em like you stole'em, fix'em if you break'em. And, you are going to break them.

Jersey, I believe you'll get your thousand hours and wouldn't be at all surprised you'll get three thousand with maintenance and a little love.

Everyone have a great weekend.

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Great post brother!!!
Hey I may just keep this mower just too see how many hours i can get out of it,,either way my next zero turn is going to be a Bobcat CRZ..they are really nice mowers,,check them out.

That's funny because the Bobcat was my third choice behind the Hustler and Big Dog. The worst part of those things may be if it runs out of gas in tall grass, it may never be found again with all that green paint. lol

There is only one thing I like about the BobCat so far over the RSD and that is the oil drain hose that is destined to fail after a few years. Other than that and if a person replaces the hose and keeps an eye on the connectors where it meets the block, it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't like the open bearings in the front spindles because sealed bearings are safer in wet areas like Florida and Arkansas. Lack of being able to tension (preload) the spindle bearings when you replace them is a failure built in down the road. Shouldn't be a huge problem overall. I'm just an old engineer and machinist that can't handle a lot of slack that will relate to longevity.

Maybe we can get BobCat to give you and I one each to run the crap out of and do a two year review for them!!!

mhavanti said:

That's funny because the Bobcat was my third choice behind the Hustler and Big Dog. The worst part of those things may be if it runs out of gas in tall grass, it may never be found again with all that green paint. lol

There is only one thing I like about the BobCat so far over the RSD and that is the oil drain hose that is destined to fail after a few years. Other than that and if a person replaces the hose and keeps an eye on the connectors where it meets the block, it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't like the open bearings in the front spindles because sealed bearings are safer in wet areas like Florida and Arkansas. Lack of being able to tension (preload) the spindle bearings when you replace them is a failure built in down the road. Shouldn't be a huge problem overall. I'm just an old engineer and machinist that can't handle a lot of slack that will relate to longevity.

Maybe we can get BobCat to give you and I one each to run the crap out of and do a two year review for them!!!

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Oh yeah,,well im glad you speak highly of the RSD!
I was thinking I made a mistake buying the mower so fast and not waiting...but so far its been a great mower and I beat on it pretty good..60 hours in one month and only had a spring fail..everything else on my mower is tight and solid so far so good so well keep hammering it till the end of the season and let ya know

What I might add is if you are using a RSD as much as I am,,wouldn’t hurt to keep a spare hydro belt,couple of tensioner springs,deck belt,and a couple quick snap connectors for the deck hangers on hand just in case..other than that good to go!

Ten four on the CRZ for free,that would be a nice surprise to find in my driveway

Although 2 consistent posters will jump my behind for saying this... I still say the raptor SD is a heck of a value for around $3,800! Is it Flawless ....no.... but overall it's a good value. One of my buddies has a $9,000 Gravely. Shortly after delivery he found out but they had forgotten to put some pretty important bolts in the spindles... at about 200 hours his Governor went out on his engine... now at 350 hours he had a fuse bank meltdown. Poop does happen... even to the expensive machines!

kraky said:

Although 2 consistent posters will jump my behind for saying this... I still say the raptor SD is a heck of a value for around $3,800! Is it Flawless ....no.... but overall it's a good value. One of my buddies has a $9,000 Gravely. Shortly after delivery he found out but they had forgotten to put some pretty important bolts in the spindles... at about 200 hours his Governor went out on his engine... now at 350 hours he had a fuse bank meltdown. Poop does happen... even to the expensive machines!

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Thats ok,,let them jump on you for saying it,,Im hoping to get over 1000 hours out of mine then It will just speak for itself and they cant say anything:tongue:
BTW-The RSD payed for itself in about 50 hours and makes lots of $$ every week so Im happy,,heck 300 hours 3 years who really cares,could buy one every 3 years and still make out ahead of the game with what Im doing....,,thats a pretty good warranty,,I think Bobcat CRZ is 5 years though..even better.

The good news for my buddy is that the gravely dealer here in town had seen these problems before on his Gravely and was able to come up with quick efficient fixes.
Because of that my buddy is still happy with this purchase and very loyal to the dealer. Having a good dealer when something pops up is really a big part of the battle. When I read posts here that machine's are returned dripping gas and dealers admit they never fixed the problem it really makes you shake your head!

There is a fella that bought a RSD two weeks ago, has 96 hours on it. Already on this third oil change and coming up on his fourth. Probably already done it by now. At this rate, he'll have 875 hours approximately on it before the end of mowing season in Arkansas.

If you consider he is charging on an average of 65 dollars per hour as he has the high end neighborhood around the golf courses and doing very well in my opinion. $65 x 875 = $56,875 minus expenses and I'd go out on the limb and figure gasoline, oil changes, blades, belt or two, maybe a pair of rear tires, we're talking about $750 if he were to hire all of this done. He is on the high side of income in mid Arkansas.

I've already spoken to him about picking up 4 more of them, hire an operator for each and a secondary man for each mower to run the weed eaters, push mowers and blowers, he can turn his little RSD into a fleet of 5 mowers, pickups, trailors, 10 men, ten weed eaters, 5 blowers. If you consider each employee during the season will cost him approximately $10.50 and hour for about 1212 hours each. That comes down to $12,726 each and that comes to $63,530.

So, if he puts in 1212 hours per man for the 5 operators at 10.50 is 63.350, his trim guys at 8.50x1212= $10,302 eac x 5 = $51,150. Insurance, maintenance, parts and fuel. 12,500; 5 RSDs $17,500, 10 Weed Eaters $2,250

$393,900
- 63,530
- 51,150
- 12,500
- 17,500
- 2,250
$246,970 Approximate Net.

Jersey, I think he'll do alright if he'll become the business man I think he can become. This is better than most small businesses are doing today.

Plus, he can purchase all new equipment each year and now worry about all the wear and tear catching up with him. Excess the old machinery to his secondary (trim) men each year and put the new equipment under the men or women that takes care of and works them as hard as the machines can run. The owner can spend all his time smoozing the customers and keeping them happy, plus doing quality control to make sure he isn't losing the loyal customers.

Thats awesome bro!!!!
Yeah if you cut commercially for 1000 hours a season you can easily afford to just throw that machine out at the end of the year and get a new one..kinda like the push mower guys around here,,they buy 2 new TB 360 mowers a year for $369 each then cut 90 lawns a week for 25 weeks,,then just throw them out or give them away at the end....each mower makes sooooooo much $$ its unreal!!

You figure I put 2 seasons on my RSD in one month already..most home owners only put 25 hours a year on a machine.The way it looks I may only put 150-200 a year on mine cause its not my only mower,,I have a 48 Bobcat walker with a Velke that I love!!

Keep us posted on your buddy bro..sounds real interesting!!

Tom

The stand on mowers are all but gone in Arkansas. You just don't see them anymore. I thought the Hustler and Ferris motorcycle seat jobs looked interesting, but then, probably would be harder on the old broken back than a chair ride.

As an aside, three breaks are enough.

You should be able to keep that RSD busy 10 months of the year I'd think in Florida. You should do very well.