So what do you mower motor folks know on these. Good bad info on them? All I know is book stuff. 2011 2012 I think Kawasaki FR730V 24hp gasoline 2-cylinder air-cooled vertical-shaft 726 cc [44.3ci ] Power (gross): 24 hp [17.9 kW] Rated RPM: 3600 Starter: electric Starter volts: 12 Oil capacity: 2 qts [1.9 L] Oil change: 50 h Sparkplug: NGK BPR4ES Sparkplug gap: 0.030 inches [0.762 mm]
I have one on my mower. That's about all I know about it. Starts and runs fine, plenty of power for my Gravely HD 60. Only has about 70 hours on it, so it's almost new. I've had it three years. The first summer was REALLY dry, and I put 6.6 hours on it
expensive parts....and parts not available on every street corner like a briggs/kohler but good engines overall. havent seen too many fail or need major work unless they had quite a few hours on them.
Awsome motors. They are my number 1 choice when purchasing landscaping equipment. I have this motor on a Toro G3 deluxe and she has no problem powering the vac system. Had the same mower with a comparable kohler and ended up returning the mower cuz it felt weak..... mind you it took 2 months and having a Exmark(same as Toro) rep bring out a few mower to compare it too. He agreed there was lack of power. Kawi's always produce good power and are reliable. There specs numbers are very accurate and Kohlers numbers are weak. Compare the specs of this 24hp Kawi to a 27hp Kohler... You will be surprised.
Parts should be widely available wherever commercial mowing equipment is sold. Failing that, any John Deere dealer carrying the lawn and garden equipment would be able to get what you need and this is the Internet age after all. They addressed the top main bearing lubrication issues years ago on the vertical shaft engines and they had a short time where it seemed like the ignition coils went bad every other week but their overall reliability record is excellent. I like the V-valve (Hemi) design that's typical to their engines.
I only see a few Kawasaki's a year in my shop so i dont mess with stocking parts for them and the 2 close by shops that are kawasaki dealers stock plugs, oil filters, and a couple different air filters....everything else is order and wait. whenever i work on them i have to order everything from another shop and wait on it to come in even air filters because they never have the one i need. local deere dealer is even worse. they order everything unless its an air filter for a gator
What info are you wanting and I can help you out. Personal experience I hate kohlers. There under powered and suck. But that my opinion. A good honda is nice. But on to my point. I can tell you I am a maintenance/machinest man at kawasaki motors maryville mo. I can tell you a kawasaki is built to a different standard then a Kohler but if you look at the price of one that is obvious. They run much tighter specs on all there machined parts than a Kohler or honda. I can tell you R&D is extensive. If you think you can tear it up they try it daily. I do believe they change models to often and sometimes there new development gets out the door just a bit to fast. Lol. I'm not trying to boast for them cause I work there but there is a reason there the most demanded engine on on commercial equipment.
I run a Kohler 23hp with 50" and IMO it is a beast no matter how high and thick the grass is. No problems since 06 I was wondering the track record of problems with the 24hp Kaw I listed in 1st post. Plus it would be on a 54" deck.
The problems I mentioned were not specific to any one engine, just Kawasaki vertical twins manufactured about 10 years ago. I haven't seen any major issues out of the new generation Kawis. What's this thing on? Garden tractor?
I have a FX850V and it has been flawless for 6 years on a ZTR mowing my 3 acres. Tons of power. It is a bit thirsty though...
The one that scares me the most is kohler. 9 out of 10 motors that I see with a rod through the block are kohlers and kohler motors are only a slightly larger percentage of my repairs than Kawasaki. My preference is Briggs for 2 reasons. 1. Cheap parts/ cheap to replace motors 2. Plentiful...every mower shop in the country is a Briggs dealer and stocks a decent selection of parts. Last year I had Encore Z's. Same mower exactly except for the engine. Briggs powered one was $1500 cheaper and the Briggs motor that came on them had a retail price of something like $800. So I could have bought the mower and replaced the engine twice for the same cost as the exact same mower with a Kawasaki. No doubt about it that it would have taken at least 2 Briggs motors to last as long as that Kawasaki but that would still put me saving $700 plus the savings on the parts for normal maintenance. BTW the Kawasaki was an 18 hp and it took a 24hp Briggs to be equal power in real world use. Just my 2 cents. I tend to look at total cost of ownership without factoring in labor to keep it up since I do my own repairs.
Our town bought a Gravely 260 with a 27hp kawasaki 2 years ago and it now has 1900 hours on it. It was bought to replace a 5 year old JD ZT with a Kawasaki motor that had 4100 hrs. Just routine maintenance so far, we'll see in a couple of years.
