DHD....I look forward to hearing your impressions when you get your 322T....
Ordered the Rider R322T AWD with 103 Combi Deck and Snow Blower 20 Feb 2014.
The Rider and Combi Deck were delivered to my home on 02 May 2014.....Still waiting for the Snow Blower.
This Husqvarna R322T is the first new Riding Lawn mower I've ever purchased.
All other riding mowers prior to this have been used Wheel Horse of which I still own two, a 1986 414-8 and a 1993 416-H.
Wheel Horse are known for their toughness and reliability, they were built with allot of cast iron parts and plenty of zert fittings. And they'll run for many years with proper care.
Some things I didn't realize before purchasing this Husqvarna.
The Combi 103 deck does not have zert fittings on the spindles or any place else on the deck.
I originally thought it did, but I think it's the 48 inch side discharge deck that has zert fittings on the spindles.
So far I haven't seen any zert fittings on the tractor either.
According to the Owners Manual, the two Tuff Torq trans axles use Synthetic 10w-50 oil.
Which needs to be changed after the first 8 hours of use, then every 200 hours after that.
10w-50 synthetic oil is difficult to find in my area.
I contacted Tuff Torq and they recommended 5w-50 synthetic oil, or 15w-50 as an alternative.
I asked them about the more common 20w-50 synthetic, and Tuff Torq would not comment.
I've read of a couple of other R322T owners who do use 20w-50 synthetic oil in the trans-axle system
as was the recommendation from their Husqvarna Dealerships.
I plan to use the 5w-50 synthetic oil as per Tuff Torq's recommendation, I also feel
it would be a better weight of oil for the cold Maine winter temps while snow blowing.
Haven't really got into the grass mowing season yet, at my house here in Maine.
I did find a few areas of mowing to try the Husqvarna on.
Have less than one hour on the hour meter so I only ran the engine up to about 3/4 throttle while mowing.
The attached picture is the same spot I rolled an old Wheel Horse 312-8 over backwards once while mowing.
The WH 312-8 lost traction then suddenly found it again and the really light weight front end flipped up and over.
(no injuries, just a little spilled gas and oil) (the hill seems steeper than what the picture shows but with my Craftsman Protractor I measured 20 degrees)
After that incident I started running front wheel weights on all my Wheel Horse, never had an issue after that.
The Husqvarna R322T on that same hill had no problem at all. In fact it started up that hill from a dead stop from in the middle of the hill. No slipping or tipping.
That's at 3/4 throttle. I don't feel there was any lack of engine power or any lack of pull from the two trans-axle system.
Tried the R322T on two other hilly locations, (Protractor measurement 15 degrees) mowing sideways on the hill, with my butt sitting on the uphill edge of the seat (just like I would do with the WH) Everything seemed to go just fine. No sense of tipping or lightness on the uphill tires like you'd might expect.
Only mowed for about a half an hour, but already I can tell that mowing with this Husqvarna is going to be much quicker than with the WH.
Even faster than my hydrostatic Wheel Horse, just because of the tight turns that the Husqvarna is capable of.
I also really like the quick swing up service feature of the mower deck on the Husqvarna.
The Husqvarna also has much less engine noise and I was much cooler while mowing and I didn't smell like engine exhaust when I was done mowing, like with the WH.
An advantage of having the engine in the rear, rather than in the front, I guess.
With only 1/2 hour mowing, it is too early to form any viable opinion on the R322T
I think the Husqvarna will be the machine my wife will chose when every she feels like helping with the mowing.
It's really much more fun to drive than the two Wheel Horse tractors we've been using.
I really like the Husqvarna R322T, so far.
