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Hustler X-one (21 hours) hydro issue?

12K views 16 replies 4 participants last post by  ducnut 
#1 ·
I have a 2014 kawi powered Hustler X-one 60". I rolled over 21 hours this week and and having some issues I am concerned about.

1. The main issue seems to be hydro or drive related. On the right wheel only, when I move the lever forward, the lever will go forward about 10% and then jerk forward, if I really try to move the handle slow it doesnt do it as bad. The left wheel never seems to do this. It seems to be getting worse and worse. Today when mowing every other turn would have this issue. Move lever forward, delay and no movement forward, then all the sudden its like the wheel catches and jolts forward. Is this normal? For the first 18 or so hours this did not happen.

2. On each handle there is a bolt that is in the body of the mower and stops the handles from going too far forward. These bolts have allen wrench heads. On the main assembly of the arm where it mounts to the brakes and linkage there is another bolt shaft that actuall threads into the assemble, There is not bolt head. I noticed today it had slipped forward and was keeping me from moving the lever all the way forward. This bolt does not have a head and had an allen head. The issue is the bolt will not tighten , it just threads and threads into it comes out the other side. Is this normal?

3. Right fuel tank gas gauge is stuck at two bars.

Those are my issues, I am most worried about number 1. I have not done the 50 hour fluid change yet. Thanks for any help.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
First, check that the axel bolt, the bolt that holds the drum on the axel is tight!
If its loose at all it can let the drum move on the axel which in turn can damage the woodruff key which can damage the axel. If that happens you can get the delayed reaction sort of thing! ie The axel will turn then the key will grab and turn the wheel. Its delayed instead of instant!

Basically, thats where I'd be looking. I'd get it to the dealer and have them take the drum off the axel, check the key and where the key sits!
If the key's damaged the axel you might need a new wheel motor.


Just on edit, if it is key related, its not your fault. When the drum was installed the key may not of been seated properly or was dislodged when the drum was put on.
 
#4 ·
#1 sounds like the right side drive needs purged of air.
#2 needs a pic showing exactly which bolt.
#3 will be covered under warranty.

I'm surprised, with such a new mower, you'd even stop off at LS. I'd be at the dealer looking for answers. :laugh:
 
#6 ·
Is purging the system something I can do? And is this something I need to do as a maintenance item? I called the dealer today and they are coming to get it, I am so frustrated now as I was trying to wait out the mowing season and deal with this wheel slipage/hydro problem, the gas gauge I can deal, and that bolt is just annoying. I went to mow Friday, kicked the PTO on for the blades and I get this horrid failing car power steering whining growling noise coming from the deck, louder than the engine. Im guessing a blade spindle? I ran it for about. 8 hours when I first bought it and read that dealers never fill this things with grease so at 8 hours I put almost a full tube in each spindle. A total of 2-1/2 tubes. I pumped grease in them until it came out the sides of the zerk fittings as it would not come out anywhere else. I didn't cause this did I? Too much grease? I checked em again and each took about 5 pumps, maybe a slight volume decrease in noise when I did this.

I told em to come get the darn thing tomorrow. He said 14-18 days, ouch.

As for this bolt, I took a bunch of pics. It is so loose I can just jiggle it up and down and thread it in and out with my fingers. After an hour of mowing it threads itself so far forward it hits the metal sheeting under the seat facing front and starts to keep my steering arm from going all the way forward. (Different than the actual bump stop bolt that you can see from the outside of the mower. You must lift up seat to see this, or look inside the slot that lets the arm travel back and forth.

Here are the pics with some writings: http://postimg.org/gallery/24rk3af6/

I am concerned with all these issues in 21 hours and 4 months. I power wash the mower and under the deck religiously about every other mow. Mow about 2-4 hours a week on it. Its very very bumpy terrain but flat. I mow about 70% of its capable speed.
 
#7 ·
Did you check that axel bolt? Is the drive still lagging when you push forward of the sticks?
Some earlier feed back would of been nice!

The spindles are greaseless, you only grease to fill a cavity. I hope you haven't damaged any seals by over greasing.
I see you power wash under the deck. If you do that while the spindles are hot, they can suck in water which can cause problems.
If you want to wash under the deck, wrap some towel or something around the spindles first.

You did yourself no favours waiting a month to get this looked at, and still using it!
Just having that drive issue would be enough to get it looked at right away.
 
#8 ·
I do sincerely apologize for the delay in responses. I will do better there, I had some family stuff and garaged the mower not to think about it.. I do still have the lag issue. It takes about 20 mins of full engine rpm mowing or driving around before the slipping starts. I am not sure I was able to find the axle bolt I needed to. The mower has a 5 year warranty so I will be furious if they do not want to cover it. The dealer is coming to get it tomorrow but I'm worried given all these issues something will get missed. It is only 3 months old and worked gread the first 15 hours. The last 5 have been downhill.

I added pics to the loose bolt issue.

I guess I don't understand this mower. So my manual states to grease the spindles every 100 hours and first 8 hrs, are you saying I am not suppose to grease these? If I'm only suppose to use a certain amount of grease how do I know how much to use? The manual does not give a quantity of grease to use. I have never met a grease fitting in couldn't grease until it came out some where. I guess now I'm really worried as I added a tube almost to each spindle until it came out of the zerk.

As for the power washing, do you guys not power wash your mower decks? How do u clean them? I always let the mower cool down before power washing but then I try to get every ounce of grass cleaned out. I'm a little ocd.
 
#9 ·
I do sincerely apologize for the delay in responses. I will do better there, I had some family stuff and garaged the mower not to think about it.. I do still have the lag issue. It takes about 20 mins of full engine rpm mowing or driving around before the slipping starts. I am not sure I was able to find the axle bolt I needed to. The mower has a 5 year warranty so I will be furious if they do not want to cover it. The dealer is coming to get it tomorrow but I'm worried given all these issues something will get missed. It is only 3 months old and worked gread the first 15 hours. The last 5 have been downhill.

I added pics to the loose bolt issue.

I guess I don't understand this mower. So my manual states to grease the spindles every 100 hours and first 8 hrs, are you saying I am not suppose to grease these? If I'm only suppose to use a certain amount of grease how do I know how much to use? The manual does not give a quantity of grease to use. I have never met a grease fitting in couldn't grease until it came out some where. I guess now I'm really worried as I added a tube almost to each spindle until it came out of the zerk.

As for the power washing, do you guys not power wash your mower decks? How do u clean them? I always let the mower cool down before power washing but then I try to get every ounce of grass cleaned out. I'm a little ocd.
The axel bolt Im talking about is the big one in the centre of the wheel. That holds the drum in place and the wheel attaches to the drum.
But your saying that it doesn't lag until it heats up. It probably isnt the axel then. That would be there from the get go I'd say!

To see if theres air in the line, raise the back of the machine and roll the wheels back n forth at low revs then raise the revs. Dont jerk the levers but smooth actions. Do that for about 10mins or so. Check the hydro oil and see if its foamy. If it is, theres air in there. No foam, no air.

But if the dealers going to check it over, they should sort all that. Be sure to show him the drive lag. Thats what I'd be mostly concerned with!

The grease probably wont be an issue if you didnt see grease coming out anywhere but the fitting. It shouldnt come out as they are a sealed type of set up.
Theres a large cavity between the spindle and the housing. Thats all youve filled up. It doesn't do much but keep water out. Dont stress to much about it!

Hard to know how much grease to use as like you said, its just guess work. I put a few pumps in every 100hrs or so. Im more worried about blowing a seal than not enough grease in there.

I personally rarely wash anything on the machine. As far as Im concerned, water is the enemy! Cant do much about rain etc but I try to avoid even hosing it off, but thats me! As far as under the deck, if you cover the spindles and wait until its cool then you shouldn't have a problem. I usually just scrape out the deck with a BBQ spatula. If the grass is dry then it cleans any light covering off by itself. If wet then, scraping!

Be sure to let us know what the drive problem was!
 
#10 ·
To purge the system of air is simple. On the forward side of the pumps, there is what appears to be a bolt head with a hole through it. Just rotate each bolt, counter-clockwise, about 3/4 turn. Start the mower and cycle the sticks, full travel, forward and backward. Doing this 10-15 times should be adequate. Tighten those heads back in and you'll be set. If this doesn't take care of it, you've got a different issue.
 
#11 ·
Well I wanted to give an update. The fuel sending unit and float were bad in the tank so they had to order that to fix the fuel Guage from always showing empty. The blade spindles due nearest the schute was bad as well which was the loud whining sound, and I had a weird machined bolt that needed replaced to keep the arm tight.

They have had it for 1 week and mowed with it a fee times and claim they can never replicate the slipping hesitant wheel issue. I'm slightly perturbed by this as it does it every turn for me once warmed up. They still have it and continue to use to try and replicate it but I have my doubts that they are going to figure it out or admit to finding it.

Once I get it back, if it still does it I'm not sure how to pursue. I'm wondering if I should just change the hydro fluid at 50 hours once time and purge the system to see if that helps it. Sounds like I should be able to do this myself?
 
#12 ·
They have had it for 1 week and mowed with it a fee times and claim they can never replicate the slipping hesitant wheel issue. I'm slightly perturbed by this as it does it every turn for me once warmed up. They still have it and continue to use to try and replicate it but I have my doubts that they are going to figure it out or admit to finding it.

Once I get it back, if it still does it I'm not sure how to pursue. I'm wondering if I should just change the hydro fluid at 50 hours once time and purge the system to see if that helps it. Sounds like I should be able to do this myself?
It's easy. The Hustler service manuals are at the bottom of their homepage, if you need help. They say to drain the reservoir, then, pull the filter. Purge as I stated before. I used Amsoil, full-synthetic oil, in mine.
 
#13 ·
Well I have a good update regarding the hustler brand, another concern on my new new xone. In short, after the dealerships multiple attempts to repair they actually decided to give me a brand new mower seeing how I only had 21 hours on it. This rather impressed me.

I received my new new xone last Friday and with 2 hours on it I have two issues I would like your opinions on.

1. They installed new flex forks on my new mower which I had no issues with on the last mower. For some reason now I am getting a very very loud popping noise when I hit bumps or go over inclines. It seems to be come from the bearings in the fork where they mount to the eyelet on the frame. I jacked the front end up and noticed I can grab the front fork and move those bearings up and down about 1/8" which I think is the culprit. Should these bearings move at all up and down inside that eyelet?

2. Issue two is, a out 1/3 throttle I am getting a terrible engine vibration. When this starts there is a pully and a spring right under the engine that start rattling like crazy, mainly the spring. The vibration and sound go away after about half throttle. Is this normal?

I want to thank you guys for your help.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#14 ·
Well I have a good update regarding the hustler brand, another concern on my new new xone. In short, after the dealerships multiple attempts to repair they actually decided to give me a brand new mower seeing how I only had 21 hours on it. This rather impressed me.
I'd sure like to hear their rationale for replacing the mower and if Excel were involved in that decision.

1. They installed new flex forks on my new mower which I had no issues with on the last mower. For some reason now I am getting a very very loud popping noise when I hit bumps or go over inclines. It seems to be come from the bearings in the fork where they mount to the eyelet on the frame. I jacked the front end up and noticed I can grab the front fork and move those bearings up and down about 1/8" which I think is the culprit. Should these bearings move at all up and down inside that eyelet?
That's isn't correct. Take it back.

I did my own install. The only place I had gotten any noise was the axle bolts. If you leave any play at all, the wheel will move, within the fork, and cause a fair amount of clatter.

2. Issue two is, a out 1/3 throttle I am getting a terrible engine vibration. When this starts there is a pully and a spring right under the engine that start rattling like crazy, mainly the spring. The vibration and sound go away after about half throttle. Is this normal?
It's just harmonics. Certain V-twin engines produce a decent amount of vibration, due to power pulses. When those pulses are transferred through a drivetrain or drive system, there are going to be times where the "perfect storm" is brewed. Mine does that, too. You may have your dealer double-check the spring for correct tension. Increasing or decreasing that tension may change the harmonics. On my Toro TimeMaster, the tension for the drive belt can't be too tight or it'll start crazy harmonics and racket.

If you watch Harley Davidson drive belts, you can see all manner of harmonics being transferred through them. By going to a belt, they've managed to curb some of the harshness their engines transfer into the drive wheel.
 
#15 ·
It was excel. The dealer had taken the mower in 3 times in under 21 hours for a blade spindle, fuel sending unit, then this slipping hydro issue and drive belt. They out 16 hours on it just diagnosing and bent my flex fork during whatever they were doing.

It was escalated to excel and their district rep called me on a Saturday and said we decided to replace your mower given my experience. Very commendable customer service.

I took the mower in this morning. I had to argue with the tech for awhile that it wasn't normal to have this play on the new mower and new forks as my old one did not have this issue. After talking to the salesmen he had them do some digging.

It was 20 minutes they called and said they fixed it. I haven't used it yet but have verified there is no play any more. They claim the washers were installed incorrectly when the out on the flex forks. They said they needed flip the washers and reverse the order. I don't remember , but didn't think I had to do this on my old one but maybe I did.

So whe I took it in ihe forks were installed with the bolt head siting on top of the big washer and all you could see was the bolt head and the big washer and there was a substantial gap between the big washer and the eyelet in the frame that holds the bearing. When I picked it up now it's the bolt head a little washer I didn't see before, and the big washer under that little washer. The gap seen before has been greatly reduced. I'm hoping this is in fact correct installation now.

Can anyone verify the little washer should in fact be flipped and installed on top of the big washer when the flex forks get added to the x one?


Thanks all. It does sound like the vibrating spring noise is normal.
 
#16 ·
Fixed some typos:

I took the mower in this morning. I had to argue with the tech for awhile that it wasn't normal to have this play on the new mower and new forks as my old one did not have this issue. After talking to the salesmen he had them do some digging.

It was 20 minutes they called and said they fixed it. I haven't used it yet but have verified there is no play any more when I jacked up the front end.. They claim the washers were installed incorrectly when they put on the flex forks. They said they needed to flip the washers and reverse the order. I did not do this on my old one but maybe I was suppose to.

So when I took it in the forks were installed with the bolt head siting on top of the big washer and all you could see was the bolt head and the big washer and there was a substantial gap between the big washer and the eyelet in the frame that holds the bearing. When I picked it up now it's the 19mm bolt head a little washer I didn't see before, and the big washer under that little washer. The gap seen before has been greatly reduced. I'm hoping this is in fact correct installation now.

Can anyone verify the little washer should in fact be flipped and installed on top of the big washer when the flex forks get added to the x one? I'm nervous this was a fabrication.


Thanks all. It does sound like the vibrating spring noise is normal.
 
#17 ·
It was excel. The dealer had taken the mower in 3 times in under 21 hours for a blade spindle, fuel sending unit, then this slipping hydro issue and drive belt. They out 16 hours on it just diagnosing and bent my flex fork during whatever they were doing.

It was escalated to excel and their district rep called me on a Saturday and said we decided to replace your mower given my experience. Very commendable customer service.
That's outstanding!

So whe I took it in ihe forks were installed with the bolt head siting on top of the big washer and all you could see was the bolt head and the big washer and there was a substantial gap between the big washer and the eyelet in the frame that holds the bearing. When I picked it up now it's the bolt head a little washer I didn't see before, and the big washer under that little washer. The gap seen before has been greatly reduced. I'm hoping this is in fact correct installation now.

Can anyone verify the little washer should in fact be flipped and installed on top of the big washer when the flex forks get added to the x one?
Mine is the way yours was originally installed. I did the installation and reinstalled the hardware exactly as it came off the original fork. I have no play.



There is a thread floating around where poly washers are mentioned, to take up slack or add "preload" to the bearings. It seems those came on older Hustlers and the washers were added to a new Super Z HD. "puppypaws" was the one, I believe, who did that. His purpose was to reduce or eliminate frontend shimmy.

I guess, the bottom line is if it they took care of the issue, run it. If you have further problems, it sounds like they'll stand behind their work and products.
 
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