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Horrible experience at Hustler dealer?!

32K views 53 replies 21 participants last post by  Bika 
#1 ·
Just looking for some experiences here. I am pretty well narrowed down to getting a Hustler Raptor or a Bad Boy MZ. I have one of each that is somewhat close to where I live (within an hour or so).

I went to the dealer in my area that is available for Hustler mowers. I went thinking it might be like going to buy a car, but boy was I wrong. When I walked in a grease monkey came up to the front counter and asked if he could help me. I told him I was thinking about getting a Hustler mower and wanted some help. He got real nervous and told me he'd get someone else to help me. Another grease monkey, that was more nervous, came up next to help me and he couldn't provide me with any information really at all. He took out a big three ring binder and pointed to the cost of a 42" and 52" (both of which were $100 more than I expected) and that was it. He said he'd never seen a raptor before because it was new, the store only had one Hustler in it, which might have been a stand on, but I didn't see where you'd stand on it.

I may have just been expecting something that didn't exist, but I drove 45 minutes to the dealer expecting I'd get a color brochure and be able to sit on a Hustler ztr even if it wasn't a raptor and someone would be able to sell me on it and point up some reasons to buy it etc. This guy said I could maybe find some information on the internet. I get the impression from the many helpful people that have helped me get this far in my decision that this is not normal procedure for getting a mower, so now I'm very discouraged in Hustler because this guy basically said he'd order one and then he'd be able to fix it if there was a problem. I shied away from Bad Boy because everyone told me their service was bad, but I don't think there was ANY service with the Hustler dealer.

Am I way off here in my expectations?

Thanks.
 
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#52 ·
I have sold tons of them so far and not once have I had an idler arm issue. I will assure you that 80% of all my warranty claims happen within the first 20 hours of use, I bet after the dealer gets you going it will be smooth sailing. So far with all the raptors running around I have I have seen 4 bolts broke that hold the front of the deck up ($10,99 fix), and had one guy break 2 spindles ($45 fix each). Only other issue I had a few new that the bolts and nuts were loose that hold the deck up I guess they vibrated loose and deck fell down first time cutting. Little locktite and they were good to go again, that was a little embarrassing for me as several were friends and fellow biz owners didn't even finish yard. Other than those few issues I have been blown away... just run your mower up to the dealer and I am sure they will get you going while it's still on your trailer especially since it's so new...
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#53 ·
Just bought the Hustler Raptor 52" after about a year of research.I've had the mower 10 days. First cutting was fine. Thirty minutes into my second usage,the belt controlling the pulleys for the blades came off .This was not the bad part .Right as this was happening,I saw a blur from my peripheral vision,as something flew off the deck of the mower.I shut the mower down,& saw the belt was off all pullies ,on the deck.Couldn't figure out what happened. Then, I saw something in my yard about 25' away,and it was the Idler Pullet & Bracket ! Good thing no one was in the path of the flying pulley ! One might expect this on an old, worn mower ? However, you don't expect this on a new Hustler, with 1.5 hours of running time !

Called my Hustler Dealer,and no answer,& still haven't heard from him.After inspecting the mower,and this pulley/bracket, it appears that being made of steel,it was held in place by two plastic rails on the deck,& by the tension of a tight belt ? No tension spring,no holes in the deck to bolt this pulley down. Hey, we all know steel is a might stronger than plastic . Why would Hustler design a steel to plastic tension combination ?The mere tension & vibration on the plastic housing rails is a disaster waiting to happen ! This is not visible until you remove the plastic pulley covers on either side of the deck.If I had been told this,seen it in my research,or seen it at the Hustler Dealer,I would NOT have bought this mower !

Still have not heard back from my Dealer,or Hustler Corporate office ? So, my new,Hustler Raptor 52" sits in my garage .To say I'm displeased,would be an under statement . I should have listened to my gut telling me to buy another brand I looked at,and tested . The Kawasaki engine is the best thing about this mower. This is clearly a defect in either engineering,or design .Moving steel parts against a fixed plastic part has been proven many years back, not to be a good design idea.Only wish I had been privy to this before purchase ! Don't buy !
Not exactly sure what caused the belt to derail. However, the tensioner pulley riding in the composite slider is not the issue, as you state. There probably are hundreds of thousands of Hustlers running that system, without issue. There should be a tensioner spring and chain attached to that tensioner pulley. One of those items could have broke. Also, there are other pulleys and components, under the machine. You should investigate that area, looking for anything obvious. It's doubtful the issue is anything that is related to it being a Hustler, as many parts are outsourced. I do think it's a shame, though, that you felt compelled to join this site for the specific purpose of bashing Hustler. That says a lot about your person.
 
#54 ·
Hey, Not bashing Hustler... Just stating the facts. I have had problems with other brands in the past,but, they were old machines .

Hustler dealer finally showed up at my house today,and was a bit shocked, but not totally.His words, were "well, this is the 5th new Raptor we have picked up in a week with problems,if this continues,we may have to drop the line from our store ". His words, not mine . He refunded me my purchase price,which I wasn't expecting,and apologized several times .

He stated that this should not be happening with new mowers. Hustler Corporate called me while the salesman was present,and apologized also,and asked me to email him some photos, which I did . He admitted to the Raptor model having had a recent upgrade via the idler tension pulley assembley as they had many problems in the past & thought the problem was resolved,but, would obviously have to research the problem further.

I think Hustlers are good mowers .It appears they are just having some problems that need to be worked out . Even the Hustler Rep. at Corporate HQ advised that perhaps I should either consider a commercial Hustler,or even an Xmark,or Scag as he advised in his opinion, they were all good mowers ,even though the latter were his competition . He even advised he would call me personally to update me on what went wrong with the mower I purchased .

So, I will be shopping,and I have not ruled out a different Hustler mower .Oh, btw, I didn't join this site to bash anyone .I joined,looking to get info & purchase a good mower,and simpy inform what I learned from my individual purchase & experience .You don't know me well enough to know what kind of person I am sir . I can't say anything about you,as I don't know you .That sir, is respect . Some people can't handle the truth,especially if someone speaks the truth about their pet toy or product .I still would not buy a Raptor after what I have learned from Hustler themselves,at least,until they find the recent, ongoing problem with this model .

When Hustler tells you that they have changed the idler assembley twice on these mowers due to past problems,I have no reason to disbelieve them ! If I had known this before hand,I would have purchased another model. It's called being informed,which is what I thought forums were all about .

Forums are for knowledge & info .If you have thin skin, it's probably not the place for some to be ? If anyone has doubts about these problems, call Hustler ext.309 . They are good people making good mowers.I just wouldn't run out & buy the Raptor model right now . :usflag:
 
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