Blew the LawnMower Engine

[MadTripper]

I purchased a Toro Timecutter Z 14-38 about 4 or 5 years ago new. Zero turns were new to the residential market and I was tired of repairing an 87 John Deere at the time. It is a great mower and cut my mowing time in half. It also allowed me to get real tight to obstacles which cut my trimmer time down to about nill.

The only real issue has been the engine. It came stock with an Intek Briggs and I felt it was a little on the cheap side. I've never been a huge fan of Briggs but their lower end seems to be a little too low.

So two weeks ago, my wife's uncle called asking for help. His mom's house was selling and he needed to get the lawn knocked down. To be honest, I should have taken a brush hog or haybine down to do the job but I loaded the Toro and mowed for about 8 hours, having to go over it twice. I knew I was abusing my mower but hey, someone needed a hand.

The following weekend, I started out early Saturday morning to get my lawn done. I managed to get the back side done but when I went to the front, the trouble arrived. I was on a funny slope and the engine started to get real loud. I immediately cut the pto power and began to get leveled when it popped. The connecting rod completely shattered. The piston cracked, the crank was tore up and the crank balance also cracked. It took about 3 hours to tear it down and figure out what was broken. I went down to the local shop and showed the owner. After some brief discussion, we weren't sure if it would be better to get a short block, parts, or a new engine.

So I asked him to get some prices and I started to search on Ebay. I found some Honda engines in the 16hp range that would fit, (stock was 14hp) but you can't get into a new Honda for less than $600 and I couldn't find any used. There were also some Kohlers, Briggs and Tecumseh's a bit cheaper but still, $400 seemed a bit steep at this point.

I finally found a Briggs Vanguard series at 15.5hp and I could get into it for $199 plus shipping. I was a bit nervous because it was used but figured if the Vanguard is that much better, it would be worth it. I made the decision and had it at my house on Friday evening. I took about 3 hours to get it installed and wow, what a difference. It runs very smooth and throws the grass out quite a bit further than the last engine. You wouldn't think 1.5hp would make that much of a difference but it does.

Sorry for the long winded story but just a testament to the commercial grade engines. For the record, while the Toro was down I had to use the '67 Wheel Horse. Here is what I looked like driving it around. A bit of a clown on it but it worked!

http://www.madtripper.com/gallery/d/9105-2/april_june08+209.jpg

[cubcadet]

Hey Tripp ,
I was looking at the Timecutters this year. The price was right, but, it looked kind of light weight for my purposes. I cut grass for a living.
Long ways from the days when I used to cut grass with push mowers. nobody uses them but, in special situations anymore. All those machines had either Briggs or Tecumseh`s. They were very adequate in those days. When something went wrong, the ones that I garbage- picked usually had suitable parts to fix the problem. Now, the dang things have so many linkages and extraneous parts, you need a repair manual to fix it. My favorite engine back then was the Briggses. Back then, you could cut grass with a 3 1/2 horse engine. Today, even the 6 horse ones have problems. Personally, I think it`s a Commie conspiracy. You need more horses, and to top it off, the parts are thru the roof, price wise. I snag every old fashioned engine I can, just for the value of the parts.
That`s a nice Wheel Horse you have. I have a Jacobsen Turfcat 6' greens mower I use on the ol`pondee. It doubles quite well as a brush hog too. The deck is hydraulically operated so you can jack it up to clear brush and even tree saplings. It does a number on crap up to 2" in diameter. Turns it into wood chips.I also have some great CubCadets.

[DM]

The thing about B&S is, if you don't get the "Vanguard" motor, your not getting there best motor. The Vanguard is one of the better small gas engines made today.

DM