Husqvarna R322T AWD mower. Any Good? Got one?

[Scooby074]

I will. I have some high hopes and had to work a little to get one here. The dealers just didn't know much about them.

I completely agree! They are a bit of a odd duck over here. Husky really needs to step up their game, perhaps offering the commercial diesel powered ones, if they want these style machines to be a success.

 

[eric5899]

Congrrats! post up your experience when you get a few hours on it if you don't mind .

I have some hours on the 322 now and wanted to follow-up. Mowing has been great compared to my previous garden style tractor. Very nice cut. Took me a couple hours to get good at articulated steering but can move around things quickly now. I have many small trees and it is great for small circles (like keeping the 48" deck against a telephone pole in a 360). That took three overlapping passes on my Craftsman garden tractor. I also have the flair mower. Found an unexpected use for it. I cut/bale my waterways and they go up to neighbors row crop fields. I run the 3' flail down the strip between my waterway edge and the first field row to knock those weeds down and keep them from going to seed without cutting into the waterway. My 6' rotary cutter takes a lot of extra grass that doesn't need to be cut with it. On heavy, tall grass, you do need to take it slow with the flail. I tried to cut a path across a waterway of waist high grass. While it turned the grass into a mulched path, I did need to go slow and back up a couple of times. Since there really isn't a discharge for the flail, it just gets too much material within the enclosure with grass that high. Even with the flail at the highest setting (uses movable washers on its vertical wheel shafts), it is still a close cut. On lower setting, it must be like a tiller! Overall, very happy with the purchase.

 

[Scooby074]

Overall, very happy with the purchase.

Good to hear.

 

[Jaysp]

I have a 322T purchased in August 2013 with 103 combi deck. I have a Rider 155 2 wd that I used for 4 years before giving it to my sister. I bought a AWD rider used a few years ago, and was so impressed, that is why I bought the new 322T. Yesterday we got about 3-4 inches of snow here is SWPA, and it gave me a chance to use my rotating brush attachment. It worked great as I was able to do our driveway and sidewalks.

 

[cgeise74]

I have a 322T purchased in August 2013 with 103 combi deck. I have a Rider 155 2 wd that I used for 4 years before giving it to my sister. I bought a AWD rider used a few years ago, and was so impressed, that is why I bought the new 322T. Yesterday we got about 3-4 inches of snow here is SWPA, and it gave me a chance to use my rotating brush attachment. It worked great as I was able to do our driveway and sidewalks. View attachment 347798

Thats is great to know. I am also new to this forum and have been considering the 322T for little over a year now. Unfortunately, there are no stocking dealers in my area so I have to rely on feedback from this forum. So thank you for all feedback. I have a little over an acre of lawn with stone retaining walls, decorative fence line, swing set, curved beds, etc. So as you can imagine there are some tight cutting angles on my property. I am also used to bagging as I prefer to not see the lawn clippings on top of the grass. Perhaps the bioclip rear deck would be the best option but still skeptical with how the yard waste is mulched vs clumped. Also, because I live in midwest ohio and have to deal with snow removal on a sloped driveway, I have been more determined this winter to buy the machine and the broom attachment. We typically on an average get 3-6" a snowfall but not uncommon to get a foot. Have you or anyone else out there been successful moving more than 4" of snow with the broom attachment?

 

[eric5899]

I haven't checked into the broom. How much was it? I think the snow blower attachment was $1500.

 

[cgeise74]

I believe my request for quote came back around $1200 for the broom. I have a JD 1435 with cab front deck with a 60" broom for snow. Love that setup especially for clearing snow even tall wet snow. Just so much easier to use and maintain a broom than blower at least from my experience. I feel it gets the same job done. Although that's a 60" broom. recently moved into smaller home and unfortunately I have no room left in garage for the Jed 1435. So is the reason why I am looking into the r322t. Just hoping it can be a close equivalent to the JD.

 

[eric5899]

Interesting. Was the BioClip more expensive?

Did the dealer say a flail was available for the 322 and if so how much?

The flail for heavy grass / light brush could really open up markets for this machine.

I bought the flail deck with mine last summer. 322 w/side discharge and flail deck was $6500 + tax. So flail was $1300-1500. It works great to cut taller grass along waterways and ditches.

 

[SandyMushFarms]

I've had my 322T AWD for 4 months and have used it quite a bit on some serious slopes in western NC. It's a side discharge model with a Briggs and Stratton engine. I've also used the flail mower to cut through oak, poplar, etc. saplings and some pretty tough blackberry briar and multiflora rose (my favorite enemy). Here's my take on the machine.

It climbs hills like a goat, but stay perpendicular. It's kinda narrow, especially when compared to my John Deere Gator which has a real wide track and go sideways along the slope easily. Of course the Gator doesn't mow the grass or chop up the briar, but I'm just letting you know that the Husky would be a lot more stable with a wider track.

Power is just fine for mowing grass around the yard and on gentle slopes. But using the flail while going uphill on steep slopes and chopping through 5' briar puts a real strain on the engine. Yeah, I know it's not a tractor with a bushhog, but I wanted to push it to its limits just to see what it could do. Downhill, though, the flail chews through the briar and mulches the stuff real good. I would love to have a bigger Kawasaki engine. (Who doesn't want more power though?)

The flail does a great job of chewing up grass, small saplings 1 1/2" in diameter, briar, etc. It does not do a great job with stones! My property seems to grow stones as well as the briar.

It takes a little while to get used to the steering. As others mentioned, it is not power assisted, so you really "feel the road" and could get a bit of an arm workout with bumpy, rutty property like mine. I've gotten a little too close the barbed wire fences and ripped my beautiful HUSQVARNA letters off the side of the machine (1st day). They are now sitting on my dresser as a reminder that you can easily slides sideways downhill.

Also, I wish the mower deck was wider, but I guess you can't have everything. My buddy has a John Deere zero turn with a 54" deck and busts my chops about my 48" cutting deck. But when he slides down the hill and loses control, he wishes he had the Husky.

The flail is great for getting around wooded areas where you can't conveniently bushhog with the tractor. But the 48" flail cost more than my 6' bushhog.

 

[eric5899]

I've been using the flail deck to mulch the tall (12") dead grass around my windbreak trees. Today I'll put the 48" side discharge mowing deck back on for the first lawn cutting of the season. Looking forward to it.

One tip I learned last year. Keep an extra deck belt on hand. After a lot of flail cutting last year, the belt got pretty stretched out. Because there aren't many of these machines out there, the local dealer only had one on hand. I got lucky.