What's up everyone? Welcome back to The Durbin Compound! Nice to see your smiling faces back on
the channel. So, today I was getting out the mower, kind of doing some preseason check stuff. I'm going to
change oil, going to sharpen the blades, change a fuel filter, all that jazz. So, what I figured I'd do is,
why not do a review on the mower because I've had it for about five years now?
I've got three hundred and thirty hours on it. So, I've pretty much vetted this machine through and through.
So, this is a Hustler FasTrak heavy-duty 54" Zero-Turn. This has got the Kawasaki 730V on it.
So far it's been a great unit. There's been some things that have gone wrong with
the transaxles and stuff like that, specifically the right one, I think. It's had some spacer issue,
underneath the pulley, that starts making noise and making a bunch of clatter. I've had it fixed,
I think, three times, but it was all under warranty. So, I didn't pay anything out of pocket. The mower
company was pretty awesome with bringing me a rental unit, or basically a borrow unit,
while they worked on my mower, and then delivered the mower back and took the old one.
So, it's been a pretty darn good mower. The reason why I went with the 54", if you're looking at
zero-turns, and this is why you came to the channel, everybody has their own little thing.
So Scag has their remote hydraulic units. This has a transaxle that, basically, your controls are
mounted right to the transaxle. Snapper and Toro and Exmark and all, John Deere, they all have
their own little niche, and things they do right, and things they do wrong. You can't really
go wrong, but you can at a certain point. You need to figure out exactly
what's important to you. So, one of the things was I wanted to get into the zero-turn world.
I didn't want to go to the cheap end, like a Toro TimeCutter, or something that you buy at Walmart
or Home Depot, but I wanted a higher-end unit that was capable of commercial use or a lot
of residential use. And I wanted something that will hold up, but I didn't want to break the bank.
So, when you're looking at a Scag, I was looking at a Cheetah or a Turf Tiger. And they were like,
I think, for some reason the unit I was looking at was over $10,000. So I didn't really
want to put that much money into it. So that's why I kind of settled on Hustler, is because it was
a good unit, had a Kawasaki engine on it, that they were tried and true. I went with the the FasTrak
instead of the...what do they call it? The X-ONE or the, I forget what they call it. In the video I'll
put it down here. But I decided to go with the FasTrak because it was a more budget-friendly mower.
And I got 0% financing for 48 months, so I couldn't go wrong. I'll put the actual how much I paid for
this unit down at the bottom, but this was a couple years ago, five years ago, when I bought this mower.
The reason I went with 54", and here's one that'll blow your mind, everybody is always
worried about the width of cut. And they're all like, "If you have a wider cut, you can cut your yard faster.
You can do a lot of stuff." Well that's simply not true. Yes, you can cut your yard faster,
but it might not be very well. So, just like the John Deere commercial that my dad loves,
"It's not about how fast you mow, it's about how well you mow fast." So, the 54" is
the greatest size because it gets in between small stuff. So you can still take it where a traditional
ride-on mower would go, but it's not going to be as wide as a 72" obviously with the dimensions.
But when you think about it, you have a 72" deck, you scalped the yard a lot. So if you have a
hilly property at all, you're going to be scalping the yard because you have to keep the mower far away
from whatever it is, maybe a tree line, and then the other side is digging into the grass. So, I've cut
my yard currently with a 72" and it scalps, literally, all over the place. So, you know,
you have one side that's high, one side that's low. And it's kind of garbage. It won't go in between a lot of my stuff.
So in between the burner pad and the flower bed is probably about 60" and so
the 72" won't go in between there. The 54" will just fly right through. I don't have to worry
about it. Same thing with like behind my mailbox and into the ditch. It's not that far of a swath,
so that 54" rolls right through there. It's about a cut and a quarter and
a 72" doesn't fit in there. So I have to kind of get it back in there and I kind of hated the 72".
So, just think about that when you're looking at the width of your mower. Just because
it's a wider deck doesn't mean that it's going to cut great on your yard. If you have any hills
or rolling stuff, ditches to cut, a 72" is going to be scalping everywhere. This mower has been awesome.
There's a couple little things that I don't like about it. So, let's roll right into a couple things
that I don't like. I'm going to pull the camera in close, so you can see kind of my qualms on this mower.
I think it's a great mower. It does about 8 miles an hour. It cuts very well. The spindles
are not greasable, which is the one thing I wish they would have on this unit.
It's got a reinforced deck lip. It's got a nice foot control for the deck. Everything is pretty
well built on this. I wish I had a suspension seat, but once again it's not a big boy mower.
It's pretty nice. I haven't had any problems with it, other than those spacer issues
on the hydro-drive. The tires with any mower suck when you're running over thorns
from trees and stuff like that. I've put a lot of plugs in tires. So, let's pull it in. Let's look at
this foot adjustment because it's the only qualm I have about this mower. So let's pull it in.
All right, so forgive my little strap here. I basically have a bungee cord to pull
the discharge chute up because I don't like to run it with it down. So, one of the main reasons why
I bought this mower, is because I really liked their deck adjustment on this thing. So this is
obviously your...it brings your deck up and down. And you can hear all the squeaky springs because it's
going into springtime. Okay, so it's easy. You pull the pin out. Looks like this. Pulls a pin out,
and then you literally drop it in at a different level. And then let it down. And then there's a
little diagram that shows you exactly where you're cutting,...all that stuff. So, the one qualm I have about
this thing is this guy back here. So, I have another little cheap bungee cord around it. So this is
why I don't like this, is this is a gravity lever. So, basically it just..we're going to
take this out for instructional purposes. It's literally just a gravity lever. So when you pull
this up, it will drop into the transport position, which is 4 1/2". So when you're
going over a rough terrain in your yard, and you don't realize it, this thing--the deck, bounces up.
It will drop right into your transport thing. And now you're cutting at 4 1/2".
So that is why I keep a bungee cord back here, to hold this up. So, my thought at one point
was to just fill in this little gap here, with a block of wood and some tape, so that it could
just slide past it, and it wasn't a big deal. But I often use this transport position
to hold the deck up. If I'm going in or out of a ditch, I'll hold or I'll just pop it up and then
I'll push against that bungee cord and let it drop down into place. And then when
I'm ready to go back, the bungee cord will allow it to come back, just like that. So that is why
I have that bungee cord on there. That's the only real design flaw that I don't like on this mower,
is that it has this stupid, you know, this guy that drops into place. So see, that's why I
use my bungee cord there. So it holds it up. So it's really squeaky. I'm going to have to lube
this all up because that bothers the heck out of me. But yeah, literally the only problem I have with
this thing is this guy right here. Everything else runs pretty darn smoothly. So, yeah. You just adjust where
you want, and then drop the deck back down. You can obviously...this little plate here adds 1/4"
to your cut. So this position is 3 1/2". You just spin it around. And now it's 3 1/4"
or 3 3/4". And then, now I'm back up to 4" and then you can go 4 1/2"
4 1/4", 4 1/2'. So, literally the only thing I have to complain about
this mower. I can probably rig up something better in the future. Obviously it wears out my bungee
cords really fast. I just need to come up with a better solution which I'm sure I will.
All right, so this is the Kawasaki FX730V. This engine is actually pretty awesome. I haven't had any issue
out of it. Very easy to change the oil. Oil filter is right here. Very easy engine to work on. I think
I've put plugs in this once. I'm probably going to do plugs again. I haven't done an oil change in 50 hours
or since last season. So I'm going to do that coming up right now--today. I'll probably do another
video on the oil change. Who knows? The one thing that I added was an actual hitch, so I could carry
around my trailer. The actual pin that was on it before, it was just one of those little holes for
a pin, didn't work out very well. But I've had some great luck with this engine. This engine has
definitely done well. It's strong. You don't have to worry about it bogging down. You can pretty much
cut any kind of grass you want with it. It's a pretty darn good unit. So, let's roll into
underneath the seat, and I'll show you underneath the seat here. Okay, so another little design thing
that I don't know why they did it, and it makes sense, but it doesn't make sense. You have to pull
this lever up towards the seat. Sorry! You have to pull this lever down, while you're trying to lift
the seat up. So, in order to have the pressure off of it, you're pushing away from how you're trying
to open the seat. Now I'm sure there could be another little design piece
that could be different. But when you're trying to put it up and down, you know, you're pushing against yourself.
So, it makes it a little bit harder to open. But overall...man this thing is dirty! I cannot
believe I didn't clean it as much as I did. So, the battery sits right underneath the seat.
I've rigged up things, like I have bypassed my seat switch. If you guys want a video on that, comment below.
But I bypassed the seat switch so I can get up while the blades are still running.
That's a safety feature that I think is just not necessary. If you're a grown man and you're out
on the field by yourself, you shouldn't be trying to get up underneath the mower with the blades running,
but if you need to go move a stick, why are you, you know, shutting the blades down and bringing
them back up? So, that's just one thing I hate. The controls are very smooth, very tight.
I like them a lot. All heim joints. It's a very good, well-built mower. I have not had any problems with it.
So, just a little bit of service. Same battery I've always had...knock on wood! But it does great!
So, all in all, this mower is a great unit. I haven't had any real issue with it.
I think I've said that about 50 times on this video. I'm really happy with the purchase. And right about,
I think $7200 mark. I'll put the price in earlier in the video, but definitely
worth all the money. I loved it to death. I use it for all kinds of stuff, pulling around the trailer.
I use it for a lot of stuff you probably shouldn't use a zero-turn for, but whatever.
It's power equipment. So, it's going to get its wear and tear here at The Durbin Compound. So, if you
guys have any specific questions about the mower, I don't need to go down into the nitty-gritty on
belt changes and stuff like that, but it's all very user-friendly. Jacking it up to put new
blades on, or put a new belt on, reall,y really easy. It's pretty straightforward. I just haven't had any
issue with it. It's really nice for that. So, I think each gas tank holds like 3 1/2 gallons of gas,
maybe 3 gallons. I think 6 gallons completely fills the mower. And it's really good
on gas. So I'll cut the yard maybe almost two full times on a full tank. So about 3 gallons for
three acres, which isn't bad. Yeah, at 8 miles an hour, fresh blades, this thing does a heck of a job.
The deck pretty much cleans out very well. It's a three blade. So, it cleans out really well.
I haven't had any real issue with that. Yeah, I would totally recommend this FasTrak for
anybody that's looking at a zero-turn or looking at Hustler. I would
honestly put them above Toro, Dixie Chopper or whatever they call it.
Dixon. I'd put them directly, honestly, up against Exmark. Exmark has a lot of cool features,
but at the same time they're $3,000, $4,000 more. You don't need all those
cool features to have a nice mower. So, that's why I put them up against that. Snapper. You're going into
a different world when you're talking about, you know, some of the higher-end units. But something
at the lower end of the consumer level, this is definitely a best buy compared to the other units.
Now Scag and stuff like that, you are comparing apples to oranges. This is definitely not a Scag.
But this is one of the lower-end models for professional users and I think it does
everything you asked of it. Very nice mower. So, I hope you liked my review. Let's go over my four
review points because I forgot all about them. So, durability--awesome. I haven't had any issue other
than those pulleys. That might be considered a durability issue, but 330 hours and I've done
just oil changes and stuff like that. So I put the durability top-notch. It's got the reinforced front
of the deck. I haven't had any issue. Square tubular frame. Everything's fully welded and gusseted.
It's a tank. So, durability is great. Ease of use--pretty darn easy. You saw how I opened up
underneath the seat. The foot pedal for the deck adjustment. Oil change is in the great place.
Ease of use is awesome. Performance--it does a pretty darn good job. Of course, it doesn't cut as fast as
some of the other models, but do you really need to cut fast? No, you don't. This will get the job done.
So, performance is awesome. And then--value. I think the value is there. Of course,
my light would go out now. But that's the ballast that's always humming. So, that thing's making
me mad. I'm going to have to replace it. So, before I got sidetracked...with the value. I think the value is there.
I'm sure we all like to pay less for more, but it's definitely a great mower for the price.
And I don't regret spending the money on it at all. Do I wish I would have gone to a nicer unit?
Not really. A lot of people ask, you know, "Why didn't you go with the nicer unit
or more high-end unit?" And it's frankly because I don't need it. Because I'm just a homeowner.
And in five years, I put 300 hours on it. About 60 hours a year, you don't need the
highest, biggest mower or the highest-priced one. So, if you've got any comments or anything,
put them below. I'd love to have your feedback, but other than that, I'll see you guys next video.