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#1
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a
Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. Dean |
#2
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
On Apr 13, 1:08 am, "dean" wrote:
Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Depending on how big you're going, I'd seriously consider diesel instead of gasoline if it's available. That said, I've all of the above plus Tecumseh and have B&S engines still running well that are nearly 40 years old as well as the Kawasaki and Tecumseh. I did blow a B&S 9 hp a couple of years ago but it was my fault -- I replaced the spring on the throttle return and inadvertently put it on wrong and over-rev'ed it and stretched the rod-clamp before I got it cut off. I'm sure I could replace the rod/ piston in it, but Northern had a sale at the right time and I just replaced it. Other than an old push-mower w/ a little 3 hp B&S, I don't recall ever having another go bad before I was ready to dispose of the mower/tractor/tiller anyway. I did finally wear out the Tecumseh on the old JD 110 put a new shortblock in it, but it is well over 40 years old now and has been over uncountable acres and a lot of heavy weeds as well as the lawn... The key ime is maintenance and not abusing any of them. |
#3
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
"dean" wrote in message oups.com... Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. I had a vanguard engine in my lawn mower for 14 years before the lawn mower broke and I couldn't justify the cost of the replacement part. The engine held up fine with no maintenance. But I was just cutting my yard. If you use your equipment enough to burn out several engines, you really ought to get the kawasaki. |
#4
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
You'd be better off basing your decision on the machine rather than the
engine. the best engine in the world ain't worth a crap if it's bolted to a piece of junk. -- Steve Barker "dean" wrote in message oups.com... Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. Dean |
#5
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
On Apr 13, 1:08 am, "dean" wrote:
Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. Dean If I had the dough I would pitch for the Kawasaki, no question. |
#6
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
On Apr 13, 9:38 am, "Steve Barker"
wrote: You'd be better off basing your decision on the machine rather than the engine. the best engine in the world ain't worth a crap if it's bolted to a piece of junk. snip Agree with that. Engines have different torque characteristics that can make a machine a PITA or a joy to use. The Kohler twins used in Simplicity coupled with hydrostat take all the misery out of big jobs and are much less $$ than similar sized Kubota, altho the latter is a real sweetheart of a diesel. It all comes down to try before you buy and take proper care of it after. HTH Joe |
#7
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
On Apr 12, 11:08 pm, "dean" wrote:
Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. Dean Recently did some research on this subject and got input from a dealer who sells commercial machines with all 3 engines. Based on % of shop repairs and user comments, he rated the engines best to worse as follows: (1)Kawasaki, (2) Vangard, (3) B&S. In cases with failure under warranty engine problems, Kawasaki was replacing the whole engine whereas the other two were rebuilding the engines. I bought a unit with the Kawasaki engine and have never been sorry. Red |
#8
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Kawasaki vs. Vanguard vs. Kohler
On Apr 13, 9:38 am, "Steve Barker"
wrote: You'd be better off basing your decision on the machine rather than the engine. the best engine in the world ain't worth a crap if it's bolted to a piece of junk. -- Steve Barker "dean" wrote in message oups.com... Trying to decide on a z-turn mower. My preference right now is for a Kawasaki, but I have never had a proper commercial B&S or Kohler engine. Any preferences? I'd prefer the quietest / smoothest one. I have a Kawasaki (husky) air blower and love it, that engine really is nice! Burnt out a handful of B&S (I guess homeowner) engines, can't say I like B&S at all, but I never had a vanguard. Thanks for any comments. Dean- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Many machines are stocked with a Briggs but can be ordered with the Kawasaki. Hence, the different motors are used on the exact same machine. |
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