Raptor or Raptor SD ?

Good 1 Brian

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I'd forget the mulch kit and just pick up a set of G3 Gator blades. That will decrease the amount of clipping you'll have and there a bit better when cutting wet grass. Besides that there probably cheaper than a mulch kit.

Ric I seen an old post from you and you said about the blade speed should be ( 18000 to 19,000 BTS ) the Raptor 42" SD is listed at 18,400fpm also the deck is 4 1/2" so the G3 Gator blades should work

I read that someone posted there mower had the wrong size belt pulley on from the factory causing the blades to run slower
to the point he traded the mower in but found out later about the pulley being wrong it was also a Hustler Raptor mower :mur:

:anyone: know how they check the blade speed and something a dealer should be able to check ??
 

Good 1 Brian

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Hope you are intending to live well past 69 :wink:
One or two of my 90+ year old customers might argue you on the last mower point as well.

I hope so :laughing: the reason about being my last mower the one that I have now is 15+ years old Yardman (MTD) 22hp 46" cut and it still works and only had to replace 2 belts cost around $900 new
 

bertsmobile1

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Bad news on that front.
Every year ride ons get cheaper & cheaper.
Thus the profit margins get smaller & smaller
So the quality and longevity gowes down and down and down again

They don't build them like that anymore is true in more ways than one.
Domestic ride ons have a design service life of 500 hours
About 1/3 of the design life of your old Yardman.
 

Ric

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Ric I seen an old post from you and you said about the blade speed should be ( 18000 to 19,000 BTS ) the Raptor 42" SD is listed at 18,400fpm also the deck is 4 1/2" so the G3 Gator blades should work

I read that someone posted there mower had the wrong size belt pulley on from the factory causing the blades to run slower
to the point he traded the mower in but found out later about the pulley being wrong it was also a Hustler Raptor mower :mur:

:anyone: know how they check the blade speed and something a dealer should be able to check ??

Anything above 18000 BTS and the G3 works well. I ran a similar set up on a Cub Cadet Z Force 48" with the same BTS, the same 2800 drive etc. and they worked well for me. In fact the 48" was a fabricated deck and the 44" was a stamped deck and they work well on both style decks.

I'm running the G6 commercial blades on the Toro Z Master and Grandstand and I wouldn't run anything else. Hustler makes one of the best mowers on the market, just service the mower every 50 hours and the drives according to the manual it will last you a long forever.
 

Ric

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Bad news on that front. Every year ride ons get cheaper & cheaper. Thus the profit margins get smaller & smaller So the quality and longevity goes down and down and down again. They don't build them like that anymore is true in more ways than one. Domestic ride on mowers have a design service life of 500 hours. About 1/3 of the design life of your old Yardman.

The life span of a lawnmower depends on a lot of different factors. Like How it's run and if it's used properly or not. How often it's run and how well it's maintained. In many cases and ways mowers today are built far better than than they used to be.
 

Good 1 Brian

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The life span of a lawnmower depends on a lot of different factors. Like How it's run and if it's used properly or not. How often it's run and how well it's maintained. In many cases and ways mowers today are built far better than than they used to be.

I got to admit didn't do a lot of maintenance on my yardman :ashamed: very busy time in my life now things are different and planning on taking good care of my next mower which will probably be the Raptor SD 42" or Toro MX 4250
 

gatorblade

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I have a HustlerZ 60", so when my sis needed a mower I suggested a smaller Hustler. With my help she got the Raptor. Knew right away should have got the SD. You had to un-bolt the seat to adjust. Deck jumps up 2" when enguaged. Rides rough but it's residental when mine is commercial, huge difference. Dealer said to try the gatorblades and deck block for mulching. Not good for leaves, need also the metal under the deck seperating the blade compartments.
 

bertsmobile1

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The life span of a lawnmower depends on a lot of different factors. Like How it's run and if it's used properly or not. How often it's run and how well it's maintained. In many cases and ways mowers today are built far better than than they used to be.

Are you taking too many meds or something ?
Built better ?
No bushes on control shafts where they bear against each other or the body
No tie rod ends on steering linkages.
No bushes on steering linkages.
Light duty (6200 series) deep ball races on spindles in place of high duty ones ( 6300 series) or better still tapered rollers.
Non serviceable ball races on wheels in place of tapered rollers
No grease nipple on caster housings.
Cast alloy spindle housing in place of fabricated steel ones
Plastic idler pulleys that add heat to belts rather than take heat out of the belt
Spot welds in place of seam welds
Pressed decks with no drainage holes so they rust out is a few seasons if you don't keep them dry.
Thinner steel used every where
Direction controls with no adjustment on the hydro's in place of separate forward , reverse and max travel adjustments.
And I haven't even started on engines.
Lots more power, at the cost of sacrificed reliability and longevity.

You obviously get your jollies by looking a spec sheets and running numbers and doing comparisons, nothing wrong with that
And you are looking mostly at commercial mowers which mostly are built to a substantially higher standard than domestic mowers

I actually get under them to fix all the problems that don't appear on the spec sheets.

Customers come in with 20 to 30 year old mowers and all I do is change the consumables and the occasion bush, belt or pulley.
Customers come in with 3 year old mowers with the deck dragging on the ground because all the lift linkages are flogged out oval
Done 2 mowers 18 months old with the lift arms fractured through because the mower hangs on 3 arms with no stabilizer so it shakes left right till the arms fracture.
The lift arms are welded to a rod which simply passes through a hole in what passes for a chassis with no bush, no way of lubing it without turning it upside down and no way of replacing the lift rod.
Lst time I had to do this repair was on a JD 242, a residential mower, being used commercially for 5 years so no complaints about that one fracturing but even that had grease points for the lift arm which is accessible.

Then we have springs locking into holes that end up cutting a groove through the bodywork till they fall out.
Not a big cost to do a spot hardening on the material for 0.020" to 0.040" so the anchor point is stronger than the replaceable item , the spring.
And this applies to almost every mechanical PTO fitted to all modern mowers ZTR & tractor right across all brands that we get down here.

This all gets covered up by ever increasing power to cut ratios so the mug in the drivers seat thinks it was money well spent.
Way back in the side valve days mowers had a power to cut ratio of about 4 or 4" per horsepower.
Now days with the "better" engines we have all OHV and fuel efficient it has come down to 2.5 and there is even a Chinese temporary landfill mower with a 21 Hp engine on a 36" deck or 1.7.

My 1966 Cox 8hp 32" will happily ( a bit slowly) chug its way through 4' tall grass
Put anything modern through the same grass and the deck chokes, no matter how slow or high you set the cut.
I test each and every mower than passes through the shop so have a real bum on the seat comparison, between whatever my customers bring in and that is apart from what I see underneath.
SO no Rick you are 100% wrong they get cheaper & nastier each and every year and if you put your brain to work it will become blatantly apparent they you can not make a better product cheaper each & every year.


Do you do a better quality of service each year and reduce the price you charge your customers ?
SO if you can not do it with the aid of all by your faster, better cheaper equipment what makes you think a factory can do the same making the gear you are using ?
 
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Ric

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Are you taking too many meds or something ?
Built better

As a matter of fact I think I do take to many meds. The Doctor has got me on Simvastatin, Metoprolol, Lisinopril, Aspirin, Vitamin D and a few others which I wont put down and it's a bummer. and Yes I do believe In many cases and ways mowers today are built far better than than they used to be. I think we discussed this thing about you responding with a complete book instead of a post before. If I want to read a post that long I'll get a book off amazon and read one and BTW Richard Engel has a good book out it's called And Then All Hell Broke Loose. It's about two decades in the middle east, it's a good read you should get a copy.
 

Good 1 Brian

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First want to thank everyone for there reply on this thread also to this site Lawn World :thumbsup:

This whole thing on getting a zero turn mower started a few weeks ago when I was at Home Depot looking at the Toro zero turn mower , not wanting to by from a box store I looked for a local Toro dealer just happen he also sold the Hustler brand. I knew nothing about zero turn mower manufacturers so I started my research , again this site was a big help !

Well I found out there's a lot of good manufacturers !
Today I place my order for a 42" Hustler Raptor SD

My reasoning for selecting the 42" Raptor SD are - first and very important to me a good local dealer , 42" ideal size for my property lay out , upgrade transmission and motor over the standard Raptor , the blade speed 18,600


The one thing different about the 2016 Raptor SD the Kawasaki engine was replaced by the Kohler 7000 Pro Performance engine
is that a :thumbsup: or :thumbdown: or not that big of deal :confused2:???
 
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