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We have been building a home on 8 acres of gently rolling land, with native grasses... so, I’ve been looking for a lar*e ZTR to help maintain it.

I settled on the Hustler X-One, 72”, 29hp Kohler EFI. I added the flex forks, self sealing tires and non stick deck coating, as well as the oil package to extend the engine warranty to 6 years. All for $8983 delivered. It will be delivered this week!

Sounds like you're gonna have a lot of seat time. I haven't added the flex forks to my little ole SD60, however, I did add the Seat Warehouse suspension seat package and boyeeeeeeee did that make a huge difference. I'd run the tubeless tires until the croak, then put the stiffer semi-pneumatic tires on the front.

Considering you're on such a large piece of property, I'd also run the tires at no less than 12 pounds to help keep that big ole deck from scalping in those uneven areas you'll find.

Enjoy your new purchase!

Max

Welcome and a big HOWDY from Central South Texas!


Congrat's on your new "beast of a toy" and looks like, with the added warranty and other additives, your ready to go.

Enjoy.

Thanks y’all... this is why I love this forum...
I will try to post up a couple photos when she arrives. We are still on our .27 acre lot in the HOA, so I may see how fast I can knock this one out

Hah! on 1/3 acre the trim will take twice as long as the center. You will love letting that thing stretch is legs on the 8 acres.

I too just recently joined this forum after heavy research on what zero turn to purchase... went with a 2017 Raptor SDX 54! Very pleased with the performance and recently switched the blades to the Oregon Gator high lift blades.

Welcome to the board, Jeff.

Enjoy the beast.

Loving the mower... but the oil was a bit over full from the dealer. When 8 suctioned some from the motor... it was a puke green color. This was the response from the dealer.


Ok, so I spoke with our Tech Brian. He explained the process to me a little better and says he has definitely seen some brands of break in oil turn this color when it interacts with gas. He wasn’t concerned, but said to keep an eye on it for a little bit after the oil change. It may take a couple of oil changes to get all of the gas out of the oil. You can actually smell it, barely, on the dipstick most likely, even after the first oil change.

The exact process of what causes oil in the gas is as follows:

Gas can bypass the rings more easily on a unit until it is “broken in” and the rings are seated well.
Anytime the unit is ran for less than 10-15 minutes, there will be more unburnt fuel in the cylinder than if the unit was allowed to run longer. The fuel will drain down and bypass the ring via the ring gap even when the unit is fully broken in.
There will always be some fuel that could technically bypass the rings once it is ran past the 10-15 minute barrier, but as the engine heats up the likelihood is less and once the oil heats up it will vaporize the gas and push it out the evap line into the carb to recycle it. In your case I suspect it was simply letting more pass then could be burnt up.

At any rate, we don’t believe you have an issue. I am not an expert on this this, and am trying to relay what the Tech described to me, so if something doesn’t make sense, please don’t hesitate to ask.m the dealer...

Sorry, I don't accept that. But then, I don't have a dog in your fight.

If the engine washes the oil off the cylinders, it is no longer lubricating below the rings due to compression and fuel "by-passing" the rings. I'm going to stop right here.

Good luck,

Max

3 year engine warranty

You did get their dissertation in writing then? One's word against another when it comes down to it if a factory finds the engine washed down. Can you prove they said it?

Get that non-sense in writing with two or nine witnesses. lol

I have had gas get into the oil on an older 17.5 hp briggs engine riding mower that was gravity fed from the tank. It happened because the fuel shut off solenoid failed, and pressure from summer heat in the tank caused the carburetor to flood, and gas to fill the crankcase. The positive solution was to install a good fuel shut off valve in the line, and shut off the gas several seconds before shutting the mower down. I didn't care to replace the solenoid. I think this could happen on any mower, but less likely on a mower that has the tank below the engine, with a fuel pump, unless the tank is filled to capacity and left that way inside a hot building or out in the sun.

If substantial gas is in the crankcase, the oil should be changed twice, running for a few minutes in between, and change the filter with the second oil change.

Yes Sir John. That happens quite frequently on mowers with gravity fed. However, what this thread was about was combustion forced gasoline getting by the rings into the crankcase. If that is happening, that is a tremendous amount of ring leak plus the ring end gaps are probably so closely clocked that fuel isn't being held in the combustion chamber. If this is so, neither is combustion and combusted gasses would be black or brown, not green.

The fuel shut off should be installed on everything in the event service is required.

Max

mhavanti said:

Yes Sir John. That happens quite frequently on mowers with gravity fed. However, what this thread was about was combustion forced gasoline getting by the rings into the crankcase. If that is happening, that is a tremendous amount of ring leak plus the ring end gaps are probably so closely clocked that fuel isn't being held in the combustion chamber. If this is so, neither is combustion and combusted gasses would be black or brown, not green.

The fuel shut off should be installed on everything in the event service is required.

Max

Click to expand...

If the ring gaps are aligned, one or both should move around the circumference of the piston and self cure the problem, unless both are stuck. Not very likely.