Anyone using a Hustler Shortcut?

[WLLD]

I am thinking about another machine for the business and am considering a smaller machine. Either a 44" or 48" inch deck. I currently have a 48" Scag WB, 52" Scag Turf Tiger and a Hustler Super Z 60". Thinking about a Shortcut or a Super Mini Z. I need a smaller machine my wife can handle on small lawns (she is too small to run our 48" Scag walk behind). I am not sure if the height of the Shortcut will be a factor in getting under obstacles in lawns. Any input would be appreciated on these units.

Thanks,
Shayne

[mowerconsultant]

Shayne,
A 44" or 52" Mini Z or Super Mini Z would fit the application.
You ride nice and low in the seat and they handle hills excellent.
You will also have your choice of engines, Kawasaki 19hp, 23hp or 25hp or Honda 24hp.
They wil also take the same style catcher you are already using on your Super Z (different blower and mounting assembly)
All the same great features your Super has also.
I believe it is a great choice to go with your 60" Super.
E-mail me @ hustlerturfequipment@msn.com if you have any more questions.

Later
Pj

[blairbuc]

I have a Short Cut 48 in with 25hp Kohler.

Yes she will sit high when going under tree branches
If she gets the grass catcher, she will not have the strength to pull the lever when there is 130 lbs of clippings in there.
She will not be able to pull the deck lever to the up position to change over deck height adjustments.

The plus side.

If you get the Short Cut with the "Upper Cut" and not the side discharge, you get trimming on both sides of the deck.
Don't get this mower with anyting but the Upper Cut Deck.

The Upper Cut Deck produces great vacumn and chushing power. You will not get this kind of power in such a small space with any other mower. No big tubes coming off the side of the deck, no second motors. It can be a pain if it clogs. The first time the tunnel clogs you will spend 15 minutes unclogging it. By you fifth clog you will do it in under 4 minutes. It will clog in the wet, if you run the grass catcher when lawn is dry and you stay at full power, it will never clog.

I run mine bagless until fall. The force coming out the back will leave less clumps than anyting else.

Leaf pickup is very good. 24 to 1 reduction. I'm in New England and it gets thick up hear in the fall. You will get a solid 4 minutes of heavy leaf pickup before you need to dump. Yea, other guys get more but look at the small footprint of the Short Cut, It takes up less room than my Ferris Walk Behind.

The T bar steering will be easy for a woman.

Wish list:


A break I can get to if the enine shuts off on a hill. Its trailer brakes are useless except for transport.

Ground speed is up to 9 mph. It will not cut well a 9mph.. 10% of the grass will pop up after a 5 minute look behind. It can only cut up to 4 mph.. I see blade runner claiming 15mph cutting speed on one model. I doubt this is true on good lawn with early morning dew. Dry summer burnt grass, maybe? If there is a mower out there that can cut well fertalized, sprinkler kept lawn before summer at 15 or even 10mph, then you will soon hate your ShortCut... It cuts well at walking speed only.

[cajuncutter]

Blair I cut at full speed and have had no problems. I have the side DC deck with the mulch kit bolted it. I run the regular high lift blades and it does just fine. Except for the engine issue I am happy. Also I have the 54. I would like to say to anyone out there that is interested in the Shorcut, you better get it while you can. Spoke with a rep that was in my area today and the Shortcut will be no more due to GD expanding their patent.

[blairbuc]

Cajun,

I guess I finding out that that the Upper Cut Deck, like I have is dependant on how fast the Upper Deck can process the clippings out of there. So looks like your side shoot may work out better for speed cutting and throwing the clippins out of the main deck. Just got this "processing issue" from Mowerconsultant, and it makes sense. Thing I got to figure out is the Upper Deck can take anywhere from 2, 4 ,6 or 8 blades. I'm guessing 8 blades processes the throw out faster but until I hear back, the 8 blade set up might restrict the throw. Regardless I love the upper deck for the fall leaves the small foot print of the 1500. Smaller yard leaf pickup and dual side trim, it's hard to beat for those conditions.

[cajuncutter]

I am not DCing I am mulching. Only have 3 blades and they are the standard high lift blades. I have heard that the gator blades for my set up are really useless till fall time. As far as the clippings are concerned it does really well. Only problem I have is if I come to a stopping point and have to back up to either turn around or go around something then it will clump, nothing the redmax can not take care of. All in all if you keep going in the forward motion the DC deck with the mulch kit/ baffels do really well, even at full speed ahead.

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by cajuncutter
I would like to say to anyone out there that is interested in the Shorcut, you better get it while you can. Spoke with a rep that was in my area today and the Shortcut will be no more due to GD expanding their patent.

FWIW, you may want consider decreasing the amount of credibility you give your rep...........by a lot.

[cajuncutter]

I assume the guy knew what he was talking about. All I know is 2 guys cruising through different parts of the south in F350's hauling 20 or so foot trailers with Hustler plastered all over them with pictures of Super Z's as well told me this info. They said Shortcut was no longer in production because GD expanded their patent on their machine which would not allow Hustler to build a unit that you could both stand and sit on. He told me the Hustler had the option to buy rights to build such a machine or just quit making it, I was informed Hustler did not want to spend the bucks to do so. Just passing the info along. Perhapse PJ could clear this up.

[blairbuc]

Cajun

you are correct, the ShortCut will soon be history per Lonny at Hustler. Little mower that does a great job of getting in and out of small spaces weither for storing on on the field.

[mowerconsultant]

Originally posted by cajuncutter
Perhapse PJ could clear this up.

It was the "other" stand on mower company, not GD.

Later
Pj

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by blairbuc
Cajun

you are correct, the ShortCut will soon be history per Lonny at Hustler. Little mower that does a great job of getting in and out of small spaces weither for storing on on the field.


They might be discontinuing it, but for many reasons other than "sitting or standing".

[cajuncutter]

Ok I stand corrected on the actual company( Wright mfg.) but is this true about the production of the Shortcut?
Caj

[cajuncutter]

Originally posted by Switchless@aol.com
They might be discontinuing it, but for many reasons other than "sitting or standing".

I have ran mine for 5 seasons. Other than the Kholer heading down hill I have not experienced any defects. Only flaw they might have with the unit that I can figure is it may not be such a hot item on the market. But it is to my understanding that because of Wright mfg.'s expanding on the patent. Maybe you know something the rest of us don't. Please teach yung grasshoppahhhh :)
Caj.

[blairbuc]

Originally posted by Switchless@aol.com
They might be discontinuing it, but for many reasons other than "sitting or standing".

Cajun, I kinda got the feeling it was the patent held by the other stander down in Maryland and the success of the Z's.

The Early ShortCuts prior to 2001 had two black foot pads with a switch in them that connected to the wiring harness so you sould stand. Wright came after Hustler on that and Hustler had to go to the foot pads with no connection to the wiring harness. If you stood up the shortcut went to shut down. Took all the hill climbing and bank mowing pleasure out of the machine when you can't change your weight by standing.

Also if you look at the engine number it will tell you if you have a 3150 rpm or 3600 rpm. Here is an example on the Kohler. It will have a model number (CV25S) and then a spec # (69538) the 8 at the end of the spec number means 3600 rpm, if it ended in a 5 it would be 3150 rpm. All the 25hp kohlers and I think think (not sure) the 23 Kawasaki's from 2001 on are 3600 rpm. The 5 or 8 engine code I gave you was for the Kohler number only. Don't know the Kaw. code.

If you want more rpm on the older unit you can get a new govenor spring, pully and belt from Hustler and you will get an extra 350 spins per minute to the blades. Some of the Kohlers came with 1 in. cranks and the later 3600rpm came with 1-1/8'' cranks. I don't think it matters. the govner spring will be the item that gets the extra rev. along with the pulley. Chances are from 2001 on you got 3600. Hustler can tell you from your Engine Model number and the Engine Spec Number. Kohler can not help you here, only Hustler. I called Kohler and they did not have my Engine Spec. Number on file.

If you got the foot pads that don't allow you to stand while mowing, buy them and plug them in. Weight shift is what the Short Cut is all about, Standing at full tilt while on bumpy ground is better than sitting on most any other mower except the Ferris, with suspension. may-be. Now that Wright is forcing their hand on Hustler it makes no sense to buy a stander if you can only sit. In my opinon the Hustler is a better unit than Wright. So if you want the best stander/ sitter you better act now and firgure out the wiring. I am sure a wiring guru could make all Short Cuts into standers/ sitters but that would be against Wrights wishes and we don't want to upset those guys, right!

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by cajuncutter
I have ran mine for 5 seasons. Other than the Kholer heading down hill I have not experienced any defects. Only flaw they might have with the unit that I can figure is it may not be such a hot item on the market. But it is to my understanding that because of Wright mfg.'s expanding on the patent. Maybe you know something the rest of us don't. Please teach yung grasshoppahhhh :)
Caj.

Actually I'm sad to see the shortcut go. The shortcut wasn't bad, but those itty bitty rear tires made it impossible to go fast, and nowadays everyone wants speed. I even tried to put on a different tire/rim combo, but the brakes wouldn't let me. That's one problem. The other was the bagging system. It's fine for dumping leaves on the curb, but for bagging grass, you had to put a tarp on the ground, dump the grass and then hump it into the truck. That's problem two. If there was a patent problem, the shortcut wouldn't be able to be sold at all.
Pete

[blairbuc]

Switchless


Check with Lonne, who is now in sales at Hustler, there are two Lonnies, one knows his stuff but is always on the move. If 9 mph os not enough he may know what to switch on the pump to buy you more speed but I don't know what cuts (out side of dry summer grass) past 8 mph max. Even the "Blade runner" with 19000 rpm is your only hope. I think thats the spec on the blade runner.

Another thing I found on the short cut is there is a limiter adjustment on each pump that you have to check. If your lower the nut you might buy yourself another 1 mph. With the side covers off turn the T Handle full forware and you will see the linkage bump into a nut/bolt limiter. I loosen the nut, turn the bolt down on each side to make sure the linkage get free movement. Once on the full position, I sneak the limiter bolt up on it and then tighten the nut. Mine came a little on the high side which cost me speed.

I found to much forward speed was not good for my zero turn. I jacked up the real wheels on the short cut, turn it on and adjusted the linkage until the rear wheels spun 2mph in reverse while in the air and no load. This adjustment has nothing to due with the limiter Nut/Screw I described above. This is a different adjustment on the length of the twin linkage bars.

Once on the ground it turned with less inside wheel tear to the lawn. Don't go too far or when you start the unit it creeps backward. All you are doing is getting the linkage to react faster when you turn the Hustler T Bar left of right. It gives that inside wheel a head start. My description is hard to follow but at least you know that this machine can be fine tuned to a no tear zero turn and you might have a mile per hour or two which is locked out due to a sloppy factory adjustment.

[blairbuc]

Swithless

I forgot to ask

You say your Kohler is on the way out, what HP. and how many hours on the meter did it go.

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by blairbuc

If you got the foot pads that don't allow you to stand while mowing, buy them and plug them in. Weight shift is what the Short Cut is all about, Standing at full tilt while on bumpy ground is better than sitting on most any other mower except the Ferris, with suspension. may-be. !

Errrrrrrr.......Well, there's still many more issues. One in particular is the tire/rim combo. Just look at it. If you believe the ride on an 18" tire with a 10" rim (stock) gives a ride "anything near" a 20" tire with an 8" rim, or better yet 22" tire with an 8" rim, than you need to take a course in suspension components, and we can this conversation again.
Pete

[cajuncutter]

Thanks for the post Blair. I have a 99 model with the pads. I am sure the newer models have the same gizmo in the seat. If so that would be a simple fix. Snip the 2 wires and tie them in together. Matter of fact one of my pads was going bad last week. The wire mesh inside the pades were touching my frame and shorting causing the fuse to blow. I ripped the pad up and removed the mesh. Cut the wires and wired them in together, works like a champ now. As far as the engine is concerned I will figure something out. Just am not comming off 1800 bucks for an engine, I will buy a new mower first. As far as speed is concerned mine runs neck and neck with the LESCO viper, for what that is worth. I have not "raced" a Lazer but I can tell you with the spec tires mine hauls grass :). I may be wrong on this but when I first looked at the shortcut I could have sworn the sales guy pointed out a feature dealing with the hydro pumps. Something about you can adjust them to go slower or faster. If this is true it could be possible that your pumps may not be ajusted for full speed. Again I may be wrong about this but I did remember looking at a mower at the same place that had that feature and the guy said I could slow the mower down if I did not want employees mowing too fast. I hate to see the unit go. It is nice to satnd on a rough yard and not get jarred, it eventually takes a toll on the back when that happens. It is also nice to stand and stretch every once in a while as well.

[cajuncutter]

Blair did you mean to ask me that question about the Kohler? Mine is a 22hp hour meter broke at 200 and I have no idea how many hours are on it. Here is the info I posted in another thread.

Kholer Command 22
Family # SKH624U1G2RB
Model# CV22S
Spec# 67546
Disp 624
Serial number 2806509211

[blairbuc]

Originally posted by Switchless@aol.com
Errrrrrrr.......Well, there's still many more issues. One in particular is the tire/rim combo. Just look at it. If you believe the ride on an 18" tire with a 10" rim (stock) gives a ride "anything near" a 20" tire with an 8" rim, or better yet 22" tire with an 8" rim, than you need to take a course in suspension components, and we can this conversation again.
Pete

Pete, no argument from me, bigger is better in the tire and ride, I was only going back to my MX motorcycle days were were stood on the bikes more than we sat. We used our knees as suspension. Same thing on the short cut, when I stand my knees take the bumbs better than my lower back. I'm too old now, so every now and then I stand to get the kinks out of my back.

Now sitting, I rather be on your big tire set up.

[blairbuc]

Cajun,

I think this is the deal on the pump speed the guy showed you back in 1999. Have a worker get on the 1500. You will see the curved steel plates near his knees. Now get your eyes down to his knee level and have him work the T Handle to full forward speed while the engine is off. As he works it back and forth you will see a cam looking part of the linkage at the very outside edge of the machine come down and hit a bolt with a lock nut. That is the limiting screw, if you want, loosen the lock nut and lower the bolt but no need to have it lower than the linkages full swing. I see how far the linkage want to go and sneak the bolt up to just touch the cam. There is a limit bolt on each side.

Now if there is another way to speed the 15oo up., I would love to know, like increasing pump pressure, which I don't have a clue about.

[blairbuc]

Cajun

that engine spec numbers last digit is the key to if you are 3150 or 3600 rpm and only Hustler knows.

Problem is, at $1800 for a new engine and I figure your pump and wheel motors are not far behind on blowing, you might as well figure your old shortcut is is going to cost $3500 to $4000 over the next year. Guess it's time for a new tractor.

Try Amsoil Synthetic on the new machine, It might buy you another season. Kohler did revamp the lifters on that engine and maybe, not sure, the heads. Any idea which engine you going next time.

[cajuncutter]

Blair right now I am a bit put out with Kholer. I will take a Tech. about right now over a Kholer. As far as the pumps etc. every thing seems to be in great shape. I never changed the oil in the pumps and it is crystal clear. I am thinkign hard on another Hustler product due to my luck thus far with it. I will most likely consider a Honda or a Kaw.

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by cajuncutter
Blair right now I am a bit put out with Kholer. I will take a Tech. about right now over a Kholer. As far as the pumps etc. every thing seems to be in great shape. I never changed the oil in the pumps and it is crystal clear. I am thinkign hard on another Hustler product due to my luck thus far with it. I will most likely consider a Honda or a Kaw.

So, are you saying you don't like the Hustler because the Kohler motor is bad?
pete

[cajuncutter]

Switch reread that post. There is nothing there that says I dislike Hustler because of Kholer LOL. You crack me up man. thanx for the chuckle this morning I needed it!!

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by cajuncutter
Blair right now I am a bit put out with Kholer. I will take a Tech. about right now over a Kholer. As far as the pumps etc. every thing seems to be in great shape. I never changed the oil in the pumps and it is crystal clear. I am thinkign hard on another Hustler product due to my luck thus far with it. I will most likely consider a Honda or a Kaw.
Hey, sorry if I took it wrong. I guess you meant you'll buy the Hustler but not with a Kohler. Is that better? (G).....
Pete

[blairbuc]

Cajun

I think I found your next mower, and I think even Swithless may get of your back on this one, since he likes big tires over standing bent knee suspension systems. Go to badboy.com and take a look at the download movie of this guy. Also look at the wide stance of the rear tires and the hindged covers on all access parts. I figure you will go 27hp Kaw. Water Cooled with EFI. Just remember EFI's have grounded wire issues. Put your own second ground wire on the fuel pump the first time it starts bogging down on you. Oh, everything power coated too. I'd like a close look between Hustlers new bank climber and this guy. Of course Hustler come with roll bars and better distribution if something breaks.

[cajuncutter]

I went there and all I see is a web site of some dude in Cali that works for Siemens and he likes taking pictures of his dog. Just pm the url af the site you speak of

[blairbuc]

Cajun

that would be badboymowers.com

previous post has wrong address

[blairbuc]

Cajun

there is an adjustment in the linkage to restrict the travel on the linkage. It is a thee hole bracket. One hole is slow, middle hole is factory set, last hole (think its the bottom hole) extends the linkage a little more for full speed. If you ever get your engine set up drop me a yahoo, I'll go to the shed and take a closer look. I did it two years ago and memory foggy but it's there plus a restrictor bolt that if set too high, you will restrict speed. You have to look at both.