I have a question for all you HUSTLER Gurus out there. I have 60” X1i that I use for my part time lawn business. It has the FX730 23.5 hp engine. It’s a great mower but my only compliant is sometimes during the summer time, on my thickest lawns the mower bogs down and I have to double cut. My question is, If I change the engine on it to the FX850 or FX1000, should that significantly reduce the engine bogging down and the need to double cut? I don’t wanna have to sell my X1i and buy a super Z. The bogging down and occasional needing to double cut is the only problem with my mower. I don’t need anything else upgraded. I use the Gator G6 blades. Thanks in advance for the advice!
The problem is the G6 gators.
If you cut too much volume the grass overwhelms the capacity of the deck.
Make sure you are running the mower WFO ( for blade speed & air velocity ) and cut slower in the thick patches.
The problem is the G6 gators.
If you cut too much volume the grass overwhelms the capacity of the deck.
Make sure you are running the mower WFO ( for blade speed & air velocity ) and cut slower in the thick patches.
Thank you. I thought the G6 blades were some of the best on the market, making cutting thick grass easier, not harder. My RPMs are always at the highest setting. So, if I put the stock blades back on, this should reduce the bogging down? What about the clippings? I know with the G6 blades the clippings are minimal. Thanks again.
My dealer told me that If I decided to do an engine swap, the 31 hp FX921 would give me gobs of power at all times, never bogging the engine down, and always having plenty of horsepower to spare. And that it would be overkill, like having the power of a SuperZ for the prince of an X1i plus the engine swap.
If I did this, I realize that I wouldn't have the other upgraded components of a SuperZ, but with the quality of the X1i I've not had any problems what so ever with anything, other than engine bogging down occasionally. I never even make it to the 9mph top speed the X1i will do, so I'd never use the 14 mph+ of the SuperZ. I am seriously considering this. A "sleeper" mower if you will. Like putting a Viper engine in a Toyota Camry
The problem is the G6 gators.
If you cut too much volume the grass overwhelms the capacity of the deck.
Make sure you are running the mower WFO ( for blade speed & air velocity ) and cut slower in the thick patches.
Yep, the "problem" with gators in really thick grass is that they cut and recut and mulch the crap out of the cuttings before sending them out the side. Each of those cuts is more work for the engine. Try with your factory blades and you will be able to cut thicker grass at a faster pace with less engine load, but the clippings out the side will be pretty much whole blades of grass, not little atomized pieces. The whole thing is a trade off. Sure you could add more power to the equation, but I'm guessing you will then start to have problems with the ability of the deck to handle the volume of material attempting to go through it.
I love my Gator G5's on my RSD 54. I don't have any issues with bogging down in the fescue and rye here in Kentucky, but I do have clumping issues if I try to overfeed the deck and blade combination. The gators just whip the clippings into a green smoothie if they can't be ejected fast enough. So when needed I either slow down, or take half passes at normal speed.
