I've been meaning to get on here and post an update prior to this. I guess better late than never, but this is (sort of) bad news rather than all great. I bought this for residential use - my lawn only, typically cutting about an hour or so per cut.
Let me start with up until now - the machine has been great. Cut quality is fantastic - it disperses clippings wayyyy better than the neighbor's Exmark Quest. No clumping ever.
The only issue I had and (was going to bring it in at the end of the season) was a hot restart issue - if I was cutting for a while and shut it off to move something, etc - the starter wouldn't turn. Sometimes, I hit the key a couple times, and it would restart, other times I had to let it cool down a bit. It wasn't a huge issue, since I didn't turn it off often before I was done cutting.
But - a few cuts ago, I smelled belt burning for a few seconds on occasion when I engaged the belt. I had looked at the belt and didn't see anything odd (maybe I didn't look close enough). Yesterday while cutting, even through the headphones, I heard something wasn't quite right - but when I took them off - nothing sounded odd. I didn't smell belt burning. Then a few passes later, the belt must have jumped at that point, and the deck started shaking and jumping, etc. I shut it down and saw the shredded belt.
Oh - to be clear - the deck was not clogged with grass under the belt covers. I blew that out after every cut. It never had a lot of grass under it.
So - off to the dealer to have it repaired and checked out. I'm disappointed that this happened. Actually, one of the reasons I stepped up from the Raptor was because of the belt issues on them.
I hope they can remedy this and I won't have a recurrence.
Anyway, fingers crossed. If anybody has had similar issue with the SD and had it fixed - what was the remedy? I'll compare it to what the dealer says.
-rick
Let me start with up until now - the machine has been great. Cut quality is fantastic - it disperses clippings wayyyy better than the neighbor's Exmark Quest. No clumping ever.
The only issue I had and (was going to bring it in at the end of the season) was a hot restart issue - if I was cutting for a while and shut it off to move something, etc - the starter wouldn't turn. Sometimes, I hit the key a couple times, and it would restart, other times I had to let it cool down a bit. It wasn't a huge issue, since I didn't turn it off often before I was done cutting.
But - a few cuts ago, I smelled belt burning for a few seconds on occasion when I engaged the belt. I had looked at the belt and didn't see anything odd (maybe I didn't look close enough). Yesterday while cutting, even through the headphones, I heard something wasn't quite right - but when I took them off - nothing sounded odd. I didn't smell belt burning. Then a few passes later, the belt must have jumped at that point, and the deck started shaking and jumping, etc. I shut it down and saw the shredded belt.
Oh - to be clear - the deck was not clogged with grass under the belt covers. I blew that out after every cut. It never had a lot of grass under it.
So - off to the dealer to have it repaired and checked out. I'm disappointed that this happened. Actually, one of the reasons I stepped up from the Raptor was because of the belt issues on them.
I hope they can remedy this and I won't have a recurrence.
Anyway, fingers crossed. If anybody has had similar issue with the SD and had it fixed - what was the remedy? I'll compare it to what the dealer says.
-rick
