Please fix the crappy steering levers , there is alot of play and control is sub par compared to other mower brands , i would focus on this and not worry so much about making it cool looking, just my opinion.

 

Please fix the crappy steering levers , there is alot of play and control is sub par compared to other mower brands , i would focus on this and not worry so much about making it cool looking, just my opinion.

So you want a Cadillac at Chevy prices, as they say you get what you pay for.

 

Its really the feel of the xp you have. They were going for a smoother easier to drive system. If you wanted a tougher feeling drive system and less "sloppy" as you put it like a Gravely that is reserved for the base Outlaw or Outlaw Extreme. You lose the suspension, the smooth drives, and the power deck lift option paired with manual, but the Outlaw extreme is reserved more for my hardcore LCO's like you. Honestly when a lot of people hop on a Gravely 200 or Base Outlaw the touchy feeling on the hydros scare the crap out of them at first, expecially if they are used to the G2s or T6 Grasshopper drives or something.... I admit when the throttle is full and I just hop on one it shocks me after being on your mower. The xp has a more delayed response, so after you push the stick forward it takes a second for the full speed to hit more like the Hustler smoothtrak steering on a fastrak. Most of the guys that get it get used to the difference, I have one guy that runs all Gravely 252's and 152's, but got the xp for his personal use to piddle around on and do his place with. He said he likes the nice feel of it but claims if he put it on his crew the guys would tear up the nice feel of it so he just uses it personally. I gave him a base law to play around on and he agreed it felt more like the 252 did....
Its that difference in way the steering dampners are set up paired with the linkage and the type of tranny used.... You may try to get an extreme for a demo, I know there is a price difference down, but for you you would like it a lot better so it would be a little easier to trade down into for you...

 

So you want a Cadillac at Chevy prices, as they say you get what you pay for.

A Cadillac is just a dressed up chevy...lol. I have a Cadillac CTS-V and I have an aunt with a Malibu...they are dang near copies of each other minus the fancy feel of mine along with my 600hp motor...lol. Same on our Escalade we had paired with the Tahoe... Going to that on the mowers, I have some of the top of the line mowers ever made come through here demo side by side with the bad boys.
My deal is aside from a few small details all 50 something brands of mowers are the same.... Bad Boy has a few things going for it that no one else can touch including the price, on the other hand they cut some corners that other companies spiff us on as a dealer like volume bonus's, much longer floor plans, and other spiffs like paying back 20% markup on parts when they are warranteed. From a dealer stand point Bad Boy doesn't offer programs like this like Hustler, Grasshopper, and Gravely and most of the other brands offer me. They are truly one of the most straight forward lowest cost to customer company out there because of their no bull addons, factory direct no middle man way little local advertising 99% national way of doing business. They allow me to sell more volume than anyone else does because of it. They can do things like this 2015 outlaw and upgrade the entire product to its full potential then shockingly say at the end of the presentation say something like "Oh by the way, the price is the same as last year...." in a market when I see a lot of my other companies just randomly up the price $200 or $400 a year each year and don't change anything.... On the other spectrum of that a Turf Tiger has a few things on it bad boy cant touch including the price....lol. I like both mowers and I like and dislike different things on both. There is a reason I decided to pick up Gravely as a second line instead of Scag the things I liked didn't outway the prices and bull that came along with the line... I honestly liked the Gravely program better and the mowers along with the pricing and company...

 

So you want a Cadillac at Chevy prices, as they say you get what you pay for.

No I paid less for my snapper pro s200xt than I did for the outlaw xp and the steering is way better , a decent steering system is basic , as far as your comment thats just stupid im not shure how you misread my post i was asking the person advertising the mowers to fix the steering on these mowers but if you want to make **tch remarks thats fine as well. Do you even own one of these mowers? I do so I would hope with your comments you actually own one of these mowers and are not just talking out your ***

 

Its really the feel of the xp you have. They were going for a smoother easier to drive system. If you wanted a tougher feeling drive system and less "sloppy" as you put it like a Gravely that is reserved for the base Outlaw or Outlaw Extreme. You lose the suspension, the smooth drives, and the power deck lift option paired with manual, but the Outlaw extreme is reserved more for my hardcore LCO's like you. Honestly when a lot of people hop on a Gravely 200 or Base Outlaw the touchy feeling on the hydros scare the crap out of them at first, expecially if they are used to the G2s or T6 Grasshopper drives or something.... I admit when the throttle is full and I just hop on one it shocks me after being on your mower. The xp has a more delayed response, so after you push the stick forward it takes a second for the full speed to hit more like the Hustler smoothtrak steering on a fastrak. Most of the guys that get it get used to the difference, I have one guy that runs all Gravely 252's and 152's, but got the xp for his personal use to piddle around on and do his place with. He said he likes the nice feel of it but claims if he put it on his crew the guys would tear up the nice feel of it so he just uses it personally. I gave him a base law to play around on and he agreed it felt more like the 252 did....
Its that difference in way the steering dampners are set up paired with the linkage and the type of tranny used.... You may try to get an extreme for a demo, I know there is a price difference down, but for you you would like it a lot better so it would be a little easier to trade down into for you...

thank you for this input i asked my dealer about the steering and they basically looked at me like I was crazy , but the xp is much harder to keep straight lines etc , I am comparing it to snapper pro s 200 and before that I had cub cadet M series tanks both had a very responsive steering control and were easier to control in close quarters etc , Do you have a part # or something for the correct dampers etc that could fix this problem? Thanks again for your informative response and assistance.

 

thank you for this input i asked my dealer about the steering and they basically looked at me like I was crazy , but the xp is much harder to keep straight lines etc , I am comparing it to snapper pro s 200 and before that I had cub cadet M series tanks both had a very responsive steering control and were easier to control in close quarters etc , Do you have a part # or something for the correct dampers etc that could fix this problem? Thanks again for your informative response and assistance.

Man honestly its mainly the way that pump and wheel motor is setup. I will talk to the guys and see if you can convert yours to the old 2009 lightning feel but I will say if you get the base outlaw or extreme and you would love it but maybe a little modding and you can get it to feel like the lightning did...
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Man honestly its mainly the way that pump and wheel motor is setup. I will talk to the guys and see if you can convert yours to the old 2009 lightning feel but I will say if you get the base outlaw or extreme and you would love it but maybe a little modding and you can get it to feel like the lightning did...
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ok thanks for the info i got the mower because it has a faster mowing speed and the suspension if i would lose the suspension I would probally just stick with snapper pro mowers but im shure as you know the bumpy fields etc at a wide open mow rate the outlaw xp suspension is huge. thanks again.

 

Hey thornton, to get your arms stiffer like the SCAG move the steering dampners down. There is an adjustment for that and different notch to put it in. To make it drive more aggressive move your steering rods down to shorten your stroke.... Glad you posted something, I never knew how easy it was to adjust till someone from the factory saw this and texted me.... When they designed the machine they made the option to adjust back to the stiffer way they used to have...
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Well I didn't like how my 54" garden tractor steered so I bought a Toro 60" 6000 series z. It steers much better.

 

Well I didn't like how my 54" garden tractor steered so I bought a Toro 60" 6000 series z. It steers much better.

Snapper pro s200xt better quality and dependibilty than other machines thousands more
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Hey thornton, to get your arms stiffer like the SCAG move the steering dampners down. There is an adjustment for that and different notch to put it in. To make it drive more aggressive move your steering rods down to shorten your stroke.... Glad you posted something, I never knew how easy it was to adjust till someone from the factory saw this and texted me.... When they designed the machine they made the option to adjust back to the stiffer way they used to have...
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really? wow I have looked at the steering system multiple times and did not notice them , I will pull the mower out and see if I can adjust them if so I am going to feel like an idiot I have a couple hundred hours on this machine and complaining the whole way , if it was that easy to fix it I will just have to laugh , I will let you know how it goes , thanks again.

 

they look like they are trying to copy altoz. Not suprising everyone copies each other.

 

Hey thornton, to get your arms stiffer like the SCAG move the steering dampners down. There is an adjustment for that and different notch to put it in. To make it drive more aggressive move your steering rods down to shorten your stroke.... Glad you posted something, I never knew how easy it was to adjust till someone from the factory saw this and texted me.... When they designed the machine they made the option to adjust back to the stiffer way they used to have...
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The very first thing I did on my 09 Lightning was adjust the dampers so that the sticks would move easier. I have about 250 trees on my property that I mow around so control arms that are easier to move are a must.

I also pull a 5' tow mower behind (and offset to the left) so I have to make wider turns when going around trees.

 

Bad Boy only sells looks. Can i get a Wing and a lift kit on it too!

 

Bad Boy only sells looks. Can i get a Wing and a lift kit on it too!

Bad Boy is one of the heaviest built mowers on the market....in every aspect. I know, I've actually owned and used one for 6 years now. But I'm always amused by people who have no personal knowledge of the ACTUAL details....they all make the same uninformed remarks.

I don't like the wings either but there's a couple of things you should keep in mind. All BB's don't come with wings, and if they did you can easily remove them. And, more importantly, the wing doesn't take anything away from the overbuild of the rest of the machine.

 

I own a Outlaw 2013 model, has about 20 hours now. The new ones look like there more cheap plastic on them to me. I had a 2008 I forget the what it was called (pup) I think. Badboy is okay..I like the dealer

 

Bad Boy is one of the heaviest built mowers on the market....in every aspect. I know, I've actually owned and used one for 6 years now. But I'm always amused by people who have no personal knowledge of the ACTUAL details....they all make the same uninformed remarks.

I don't like the wings either but there's a couple of things you should keep in mind. All BB's don't come with wings, and if they did you can easily remove them. And, more importantly, the wing doesn't take anything away from the overbuild of the rest of the machine.

I aint really knockin BB's man. Im sure their good machines. I have checked out a few. They just seem to sell gimmicky stuff on them or whatever and that kinda stuff just turns me off. Seems like they are targeting the cool factor more than function. The few i have saw seem to sit really high which wouldnt work well in my area with the hills. Maybe thats why all the dealers stopped selling them around here...i dunno. I will say they are built very heavy tho.

 

I demoed a XP and didn't like it at all, it felt cheap and unresponsive
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I aint really knockin BB's man. Im sure their good machines. I have checked out a few. They just seem to sell gimmicky stuff on them or whatever and that kinda stuff just turns me off. Seems like they are targeting the cool factor more than function. The few i have saw seem to sit really high which wouldnt work well in my area with the hills. Maybe thats why all the dealers stopped selling them around here...i dunno. I will say they are built very heavy tho.

I understand the point about the wing, but the height of the seat is a non issue for inclines. I regularly mow an incline that is so steep that the entire mower (Lightning w/ 26 hp LC Kawi) will slide sideways down the hill and has never even given me the slightest indication that it was anywhere near turning over. The width of the mower (and center of gravity) is way more than enough to compensate for the seat height.

Also, I frequently hear about the BB wing, but never seem to hear anything about other manufacturers "non-functioning" aspects...like "tiger stripes" for instance. And keep in mind that very few BB's have wings. Just sayin'........

 

Please fix the crappy steering levers , there is alot of play and control is sub par compared to other mower brands , i would focus on this and not worry so much about making it cool looking, just my opinion.

I've read your old posts Thorton and I agree. Mowed for the first time with my brand new zt 60 inch today and the steering was terrible compared to my families hustler we've had for 6 years.

I have a huge lawn and am partially blaming the time on the slow speeds of the 60 inch with the standard Kawasaki engine, but all I could think about when mowing was how when I would turn left I would straighten out and compensate slowly wirh that left handle. Turning right Same thing would happen. Whatever lever I would use the least, wouldn't be allowed to go full power or the mower would push for that way. Would mostly notice it on slight inclines which I understand is expected a little. The problem is is that this machine only does 7 mph and when you have to pull one lever back to compensate for the other, now you are going super slow.

I do have A LOT of experience using zero turns. Every couple years we have to readjust the controls on our hustler super Z. One would be an inch ahead of the other one. No big deal cause use got used to that configuration. Just had to fix it at done point. My problem with this bad boy is. That it changes with every pass. Gets fatiguing. One round it will be the right one you have to pull back to compensate. Then the next pass you have to pull the left one back. Gets confusing and takes too much energy to think about. Problem is I'm thinking about the outlaw 72 inch now and thinking that would fix all my problems. Any thoughts?!?!
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