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I bought the hour meter from amazon.com. Amazon.com : 576179401 Genuine OEM Husqvarna Hourmeter : Patio, Lawn & Garden

It took me about 5 minutes and it fit in the available hole perfectly. I just snapped it in. And then I plugged in the two available wires.

It is an hour meter for a Husqvqrna but it fits exactly. The hour meter cost $18.63 plus shipping.

I've Raptor as well and now I'm using cheap E-bay hour meter.
Really like the clean look of yours and wondering how you actually installed it.
Could you show us the back connection of the hour meter?
Is it all pre-wired and plug & play or you have to be creative in order to make it work?
A little more details & wiring pic would be great to other novice Raptor owners like me.

It was real easy. Just remove the one hex bolt and lift up the dash panel. There is a slot already in the panel for the hour meter. Use a knife or razor blade to cut out the vinyl covering over the slot. Then you can snap in the hour meter. No screws required.

There are two wires with female sockets already in your mower, right beneath the dash panel. Just lift them up and plug them into your new hour meter.

I didn't have any instructions but it was simple enough I could figure it out once I looked at the hour meter and existing wiring.

Thank you sir... I will give it a try and see how it turns out.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the info, I bought the same hour meter and should be here later this week for my Raptor.

Just ordered this for my mother in law's Raptor thanks for the info.

I was trying to find the female connector that you were referring but couldn't find it anywhere.
Am I missing something?

John WD said:

It was real easy. Just remove the one hex bolt and lift up the dash panel. There is a slot already in the panel for the hour meter. Use a knife or razor blade to cut out the vinyl covering over the slot. Then you can snap in the hour meter. No screws required.

There are two wires with female sockets already in your mower, right beneath the dash panel. Just lift them up and plug them into your new hour meter.

I didn't have any instructions but it was simple enough I could figure it out once I looked at the hour meter and existing wiring.

Click to expand...

Kwelhand said:

I was trying to find the female connector that you were referring but couldn't find it anywhere.
Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem... No wires to hook it up.

OK, I'll go out to my garage and lift the dash plate up and try to take a picture.

John WD said:

OK, I'll go out to my garage and lift the dash plate up and try to take a picture.

Click to expand...

Thanks

Here is the picture. It is looking at the dash panel from the rear. The wires are tight so I couldn't lift the panel up very high. They existing wires were just under the panel when I removed the bolt and lifted it up. I didn't connect anything to that extra male connector on the hour meter. But the meter works great just like it is installed now. The connecting wires don't give much slack. I'll have to push the connectors back on tighter after I lower the panel back down.

My mower is a 2015 52" Hustler Raptor.


Hustler Hourmeter connectors by John Danley, on Flickr

Here are a couple more photos. There were bits of the panel that I trimmed sticking down that made the photo sort of confusing. So I removed those little pieces and took a couple more photos.

As you can see they don't give you much slack in the cables. I'll have to push all the plugs back on when I lower the panel back down.

DSC_7534 by John Danley, on Flickr

DSC_7533 by John Danley, on Flickr

John WD said:

Here are a couple more photos. There were bits of the panel that I trimmed sticking down that made the photo sort of confusing. So I removed those little pieces and took a couple more photos.

As you can see they don't give you much slack in the cables. I'll have to push all the plugs back on when I lower the panel back down.

DSC_7534 by John Danley, on Flickr

DSC_7533 by John Danley, on Flickr

Click to expand...

My Mom law's is a 2013 model or maybe 2014...but either way there are no extra wire's coming from the harness like you have there...guess I'll have to hit a a buddy or maybe my bro in law can hook it up...if not off to the dealer she will go.

John WD said:

Here are a couple more photos. There were bits of the panel that I trimmed sticking down that made the photo sort of confusing. So I removed those little pieces and took a couple more photos.

As you can see they don't give you much slack in the cables. I'll have to push all the plugs back on when I lower the panel back down.

DSC_7534 by John Danley, on Flickr

DSC_7533 by John Danley, on Flickr

Click to expand...

Thanks again for your assistance

The orange wire is just switched 12V, and the black is ground, easily picked up somewhere.

Kremeneon said:

The orange wire is just switched 12V, and the black is ground, easily picked up somewhere.

Click to expand...

Beat me to it....

It's just a signal wire as well so it can be a very light gauge wire

Thank you thank you!

I ordered the Husqvarna meter 576179401 online for $18.63 + $8 shipping.

Using your directions it was a breeze to install on my brand new 42" Hustler Raptor. I really like having an hour meter to determine maintenance intervals.

Isn't it great to benefit from the pioneering efforts of other people?

this is one of those features where, how much could hustler be saving by not installing it? even cheap box store machines have hour meters. they're better off cutting corners else where. lol

How in the world would an owner keep the proper maintenance on his machine without an hour meter? Wear a stopwatch?
Question : Does the new meter you installed continue to run if switch is turned on without starting engine ? Maybe another reason to remove key when not operating.

turboawd said:

this is one of those features where, how much could hustler be saving by not installing it? even cheap box store machines have hour meters. they're better off cutting corners else where. lol

Click to expand...

I love this particular argument when it comes to manufacturing. The answer is never that simple but the better question is, how much will Hustler make but not including this particular and other options.

To make a long story short, I believe the decision to leave the hour meter off, likely resulted in a million plus savings in annual manufacturing cost, while creating a need in the aftermarket arena. At the Raptors price point, I would be willing to bet that Hustler isn't making much per unit. They want a foot in the door in the entry level zero turn market which is highly competitive with many options. So they made the decisions to leave all, or most of the "nice to haves" off of the Raptor.

As for they "how do you know when to do maintenance" question, how many mowers, or anything with an engine have you owned that have an hour meter? My pushmower doesn't have them, nor does my brother in laws, open bow I/O. Many cars and trucks don't have them despite time being a much better indicator of oil life. I can pull a dipstick on most gas powered things and tell you if you need to change the oil or not.

Many manufacturers leave off stuff owners think should be there, it creates a whole aftermarket industry. Heck, cars use to be sold bare bones and where customized at the dealer before sale.

Thanks for all the great info. I recorded my install and put it on YouTube. Here is the link if anybody is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YQJHgB5bFA

Great info in this post. I was just about to order the hour meter kit which included the wiring harness. It was going to be about $63 shipped. Glad I came across this forum because I didn't know that my mower was pre-wired. I just got mower yesterday and I want an hour meter. This saved me money and is going to be a very easy install. The youtube video was very helpful. Thanks to all that provided input

Bamacat said:

How in the world would an owner keep the proper maintenance on his machine without an hour meter? Wear a stopwatch?
Question : Does the new meter you installed continue to run if switch is turned on without starting engine ? Maybe another reason to remove key when not operating.

Click to expand...

Little late on this one, but yes, it still runs.

I'm assuming my son turned the key. I had 10 hours on it, go to mow the next time and I just turned over 70 hours.