Saving a riding mower.

[MT Gianni]

Riding lawn mower???


You have a saddle to fit a sheep?

When you mow a couple of acres a rider is necessary. I have too much pride to put a sheep on the place, maybe goats but not woolies.

[Scrounge]

When you mow a couple of acres a rider is necessary. I have too much pride to put a sheep on the place, maybe goats but not woolies.

You mean "range maggots?" Goats are actually just as bad, and maybe worse. Do make great barbecue, though. Lambs are cute, and fuzzy, and make great chops and roasts, but you have to put up with their stupid parents to get them for either purpose. And they grow up to be just as stupid.

[megasupermagnum]

I've never in my life ever paid for a lawn mower, and most small equipment like weed whips, chainsaws, etc. A $3 can of carb spray has bought me the great majority of the equipment I own.

This should help you with your engine block, it is worth a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIIRAxYkrc8

[OldBearHair]

I have a Murray motor sitting in my shop that I would sell fairly cheap. Stating this because if you look around and not get in a hurry, you may find someone with a motor sitting in their shop that lives close to you. A donkey will eat just about anything, is a lot smarter than sheep or goats and will police the area keeping predators at bay as well.

[country gent]

Replacing the block will be big time consuming job and with new consumable parts bearings seals rings and other parts may be as expensive as the new motor. I would look for a lawn mower salvage yard and a good solid used motor. You do want to hear and see it run if possible.

I have one down the road from me. Hes reasonable and knows a lot. Ive gotten parts from him in the past spindles steering, transmisions, and other things.

Its not so much the age but the hours on it. Ive seen city mowers 15 years old with 500 hours on them. A mower may sit in the garage way more than ran.

[Petrol & Powder]

Considering the OP doesn't need the mower and his father has already replaced his........it seems to be a moot point.

At 10 years old the mower isn't beyond saving but it is 10 years old. Putting $1600 in to a 10 year old mower that cost $1700 to replace is not fiscally responsible. And it's more than the engine; it is a deck, a transaxle, tires. belts and a bunch of other stuff - All of which is 10 years old.

I'm not sure I would even dump $800 into a 10 year old consumer grade riding mower unless it was otherwise pristine.

I would sell the mower, "As Is" with the full disclosure that it needs an engine and be done with it.

[megasupermagnum]

Watch that video. If you can fix the problem with a C clamp and epoxy, it is well worth it. There is absolutely no reason to spend huge money one something like this. These engines are beyond simple.

[Petrol & Powder]

The video was mildly entertaining.

[megasupermagnum]

The video was mildly entertaining.

I love Taryl.

[farmbif]

my experience is the latest version of Kohler motors are throw away, getting parts to rebuild one is not easy and very expensive. my grasshopper has a 20hp horizontal and only a specific spec number of one particular family of Kohler fits and they start at about $1800. mine has 1600 hours and will no longer create enough vacuum to run the fuel pump, it needs to be rebuilt. $1800 is a lot less than $7k for a new mower

[Pipefitter]

When you mow a couple of acres a rider is necessary. I have too much pride to put a sheep on the place, maybe goats but not woolies.

Just one problem with goats: they eat everything except grass. That is why I tell people to buy a lamb in the spring, collar it and move the stake every couple of days, then "invite it to be the guest of honor for Thanksgiving", so you don't have to feed it all winter.

[country gent]

The block was broken by some reason, impact stress, heat deforming expanding it. There is now a knock and it may be from the distorted block putting something in a bind or out of alignment. Just glueing over it to seal may not do it.

We had a 1066 diesel tractor with a fine crack on the oil return passage that we veed out and filled with epoxy. it did work but figuring out where the crack was and getting cleaned was a big job.

ALot of the old brigs kholers and other air cooled motors blew up with a full load og ol as the slinger broke or a steep angle kept them starved for oil

[Moleman-]

Had a IH cub cadet 582 that needed a rebuild. If you're doing the work yourself it's feasible. Paying someone to do it? better off buying a new engine/mower. For the OP, keep a lookout for a good used engine or complete mower (any brand with that same engine) that has a bad hydrostat or whatever. Had another CC for the kids to use that had a B&S opposed engine in it. Got it for $100 because the guy had run it without enough oil in it and a connecting rod broke, which in turn punched a hole in the block. Got a used complete engine out of a murray mower for $120 and dropped it right in. A couple wire connectors were different as was the engine paint color but that was it. Used it for 3-4 more years and sold it for more $ than we had into it.

Currently our 7 year old ryobi 4cycle weed wacker is down. Front cam bearing is wallowed out. Likely a $5 bearing once you get to it. Don't know if it put metal throughout the engine or not, but found a NIB longblock for it for $33. Engine showed up a little bit ago and will be swapping it out in a bit.

[BamaNapper]

A few years ago I went to Home Depot looking for a riding mower. It was $1699 new for the 20HP model I wanted. But they had the factory refurbs sitting there for an even $1200. I asked if the price on the refurbs was negotiable and the salesman said he had to talk to the manager. He came back and said they could take 1/3 off the price. I picked out a refurb with less than 2 hours on the run meter and had it for $800 with the full warranty. I'm still using it and replaced nothing but the blades.

I know it doesn't speak to the OP, but sometimes you can actually find 'good as new' for the price of a project. And I learned to ask about the price on refurbs.

[Idaho45guy]

I'm so far behind on projects that I couldn't get to it until after mowing season was over, lol. I spent 3 hours yesterday just cleaning and detailing my SUV. I take it into the woods Sunday so it will need it again next week.

[john.k]

My rider is locally made like tank,no pressed anything ,even the cutter spindle bearings are taper rollers in machined steel housings .......made in 1976,a bit of rust ,nothin but the Briggs will ever wear out,been rebuilt several times ....when Im gone ,no one will want it ,cause its not pretty......My old man had a mower he made himself ,with an Indian motorbike engine and gearbox......I warned him about locking it away ,because Indian stuff was getting valuable ,he ignored me ....and it was stolen.

[akajun]

you can find NOS crate motors for mowers online. Jacks Small Engine is where I got my last one but there are other places. It was a Kohler 19hp with the same issue, cracked crankcase ( theres no block). Fixing it is a waste of time especially with epoxy. Anyway I found a NOS kohler motor for my mower which was a later series that supposedly fixed the cracking issue which is a known problem on those engines. $600 shipped to my door. It only took me an hour to install the new motor since the wiring harness was the same, I simply unplugged, unbolted, and installed.
spend some time with google, search the consumer name ie Kohler courage 20hp, and the model number.

[EDG]

There appears to be a 22 HP Kohler block on ebay....