New Owner Raptor SD 54" - Immediate trouble

Purchased a Raptor SD yesterday and it was delivered this morning. Cut out of work a little early….couldn't wait
to get home and try it out. Second pass around the yard and the belly mower disengaged. Couldn't get the blades
spinning again so drove it up on the driveway to take a look. Noticed the belt was off the back pulley on the belly mower.
Pulled the guards off on each side of the belly and the pulley on the left side was completely off the bolt. Appears there was a
washer between the pulley and the nut that completely sheered off into multiple pieces and the inner pulley hole was all
torn up. Anyone else have any problems like this? Very frustrating to make 2 laps on a $4k mower and it craps out already.
This was my first time driving a ZT but I can't imagine anything that I would've done could've caused this. Dealer is coming
get it in the morning to make it good and do the repairs but it's certainly disheartening. My grass was a couple weeks since
a cut and the yard is a little bumpy but everything I've read about these mowers has been positive and well built.
Man, I hope this is just a fluke.

First sorry for the problems. Next statement. You have not been reading enough of the reviews. Lots of problems with that mower. Question. What is the OD of the pulley?

Wow not a broke sd.
Do a search on here and read about other problems with this mower.

Sounds like an issue with an assembly line worker.... maybe a defective part.
One guy here has hit a metal stake so hard he stalled his raptor sd and didn't do any damage. I've got a buddy that bought a $9,000 Gravely that had a problem just like this... they forgot to put some bolts in at the factory.... it happens. Hopefully your dealer has you flying soon!

I'm in agreement with Kraky. Yes there are a few problems with this mower. I have never seen this one and I suspect it is a factory issue. There is another thread about he bolts holding the drive units in place working loose. Dutifully, I checked mine and mine where not loose and where actually inserted in the correct direction, not upside down. I have to guess the bolt issue was also a factory line issue for some number of units.

Good luck! Overall I am pleased with my mower considering what I paid for it.

i've never seen a washer crack into pieces. that is weird.

I'm going with a fluke mine has been stellar since buying it earlier this summer - first thing I did was take it to our neighborhood park that hadn't been mowed in a while to stress test it and it chewed thru everything

Ladies and Gents,

If I may, Hustler, doesn't manufacture the fastners utilized in the assembly of their machinery, just as the infamous Toro CARSAC is so fond of. Needless to say, there isnt' one manufacturer in the world that manufactures their product from cradle to grave.

Same for their employees. If the company has been open longer than a week, most likely one or more employees didn't show up for work before the end of the week once the physical or mental labor began.

Shyte is going to happen to your equipment whether you bought it or built it. I operated a machine shop building race products. Our products were each and every one QC'd by myself before my signature was stamped into the product. Whether it was a crankshaft, a porting job on someone else's heads, a transmission clutch pack. It was time consuming and became very hard to keep up with QC and be at the track for promotions, speak to customers that wanted to speak to me for a quote or just a meeting with the staff for photo ops, etc.

Our products failed from time to time as all racing is many times harder on parts than a normal low RPM run down to the produce stand with the grocery getter. However, when a part failed, I wanted to know what the situation was during the time of failure so I could make it better, stronger and produce a product that would withstand more pressures, become less fatigue stressed than other's products.

If an alignment problem is present, you'll lose a belt, if a washer breaks, you'll usually find the washer had a fischer in the metal from the donor sheet metal it was stamped. Bolts can loosen if the threads one the bolt are at a 1/4 degree difference in pitch than the nut it is mated with.

My point is, a Toro could have come with that washer and it wouldn't have been a problem, however, if that washer was provided to Hustler, there is a member that would rant on the name of the mower from now on. This all comes down to, Shyte Happens when it comes to parts and it isn't always the assembler's fault. It isn't always a fault of the design. It can simply be you heard a story on it in this age of instant communications and you wouldn't have before the internet and cell phones that doesn't cost you a long distance charge.

I maintain if you're not running them like you stole them and you're not running them hard enough. If you break it, fix it and its time for everyone to put their big boys pants on and provide help to those that needs it and stop running down products. Time to help improve each other's forum experiences.

I'm all in,

Later ladies and gents.

Max

Ahh its a good mower,,somebody forgot to torque that pulley bolt up properly at the factory.
Mine has been running like a top for 56 hours and a tensioner spring let loose,,replace it today and she ran all day long out in the 104+ heat.
Good mower you just need to keep an eye on the nuts and bolts.
Hopefully this mower will last me 1000 hours,,my next mower is going to be a Bobcat CRZ,,they are really nice solid mowers in the same price range.
I would have got a Bobcat instead but pulled the trigger too fast on my SD,,now i have to baby her

RhettWS said:

I'm in agreement with Kraky. Yes there are a few problems with this mower. I have never seen this one and I suspect it is a factory issue. There is another thread about he bolts holding the drive units in place working loose. Dutifully, I checked mine and mine where not loose and where actually inserted in the correct direction, not upside down. I have to guess the bolt issue was also a factory line issue for some number of units.

Good luck! Overall I am pleased with my mower considering what I paid for it.

Click to expand...

Hey bro,,how many hours do you have on your RSD?