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The bad news is all the bearings go bad. The good news is that spindles and idler pulleys are inexpensive and easy to replace. When I did mine, the bolts which hold the spindles all came free. Thus, I just replaced the bearings. Don't go with cheapest Chicom; spend a bit more for Timken...

Choke hard on, throttle full on. If still doesn't start, disconnect both ends of both battery cables and clean them. If it still doesn't start, spray with starter fluid. If it then starts immediately, most likely needs a fuel pump. jack vines

Agree, more juice is a good thing. Same but different, the OEM wiring on most homeowner mowers began as cheap garbage and then lived a hard life out in the elements. Often, they are corroded where the wire goes into the terminal. I've solved many hard-starting problems by replacing the tiny...

The yards are full of quads with blown engines/trannies. Start with a chassis designed for some speed and adapt your sickle motor to that. jack vines

Yeah, I know the cheap replacements are only a couple of hundred dollars, but can it be fixed? The seat on our Toro ZT has a hard plastic molded base and a soft foam covered by flexible vinyl. Both parts are still sound, but the circumferential bead of adhesive which bonded the two together...

Hey Tiger, RTF what Jack Vines actually said:

FWIW, I've never been able to keep a riding mower running with the OEM wiring harness and switches functioning. The switches are questionable quality and the circuitry, with all the lawyer interlocks, something is always corroded, loose or broken. Usually, the spark for the engine goes...

Agree, the trash can is the best place for anything Ryobi, other than the batteries. Please properly dispose of the batteries; they're very toxic and should not go in the trash. jack vines

Good luck with the Ryobi push mower and 40-volt batteries; neither are especially durable. Lesson learned the hard way; bring the batteries inside in the winter, store them around 50% charged and then put them on the charger come spring.

Just crickets on this one. Most likely reason is the two industrial suspension seat frames I've seen are $300 and the complete seat assembly is $500. Few want to put that much money in a used mower. The adhesive on the seat on our Toro has delaminated the vinyl from the steel frame. Rather...

Is your Ryobi a rider or a push?

Fit many Cub Cadets and other mowers with similar hydrostat transaxles. Have two filters NIB, now $22 at NAPA. Two for $20 plus shipping. jack vines

Just my personal experience, but anyone would be stupid to buy anything made by Ryobi; it's cheap Home Depot loss-leader crappage and failures are not-if-but-how-soon. The Ryobi genius was the "keep the same battery platform" marketing. The result is one ends up with a pile of 18-volt and...

Yes, there are cheap Chinese bearings on Amazon, but a friend tried using them to rebuild the spindles. They lasted about three months and began failing. For an additional seven dollars, I went with Timken. jack vines

For true; depending upon how one writes the search, using that Toro part number, I found prices from one only for $15 to $29.95 each. And to be clear, the $65 for two pulleys was from the local small engine shop. Time and place utility has a cost. Interestingly, the photos used in most of the...

Ten years in, the mower deck idler pulleys began a death rattle. I checked with the local small engine repair shop and two genuine Toro parts were $65. On line Chicom parts were $45. Most of you know the idler pulley has a bearing held between two halves of the pulley which are riveted...

The numbers on this one: 1999-3140015 32 098 04 jack vines

Several brands/makes/hp of engines use the same starter. I've got a lightly-used Kohler Courage 22hp starter on the shelf as a spare. Post the p/n and a photo of yours and if they're the same, I'll make you a heckuva deal. jack vines

Yabbut when I'm on a hillside on the back forty and have to shut it off for some reason, the battery is worth what it costs. jack vines

The new tires came today and I got them mounted. As some of you know, those little buggers are a PITA to mount. Since I had two to do, I made a small tire machine, sorta. If I get ambitious enough, I'll try to post some photos. As I mentioned in a previous post, Cheng Shin knows how to make...

Thanks. The mower is stored inside most of the year, but it has occasionally sat outside for some of the summer. jack vines

As Einstein said, "One definition of idiocy is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." That's why I don't want to spend $30 apiece for Cheng Shin tires which we know to be failure-prone. Are there any tires which you know from personal experience...

Since you have someone maintain your mower and he didn't offer any DIY fixes, you're stuck. However, if it were mine, I would turn down the worn area on a lathe and press bushings over it of the appropriate OD. BTW - you didn't mention if the spindles were worn on the wheel side or...

For true. I'll never install that cat-piss in anything ever again. Same but different, I spent two days chiseling, soaking, rodding out the coolant passages in a Packard V8 block after someone years past had filled the radiator with an unknown witches brew to stop a leak. jack vines

Just brought our Simplicity into service for another winter. So far, so good. Having so many small engines over so many years, I annually have to remind myself to change the oil in the 7hp B&S, refilling it up to the lip of the fill tube. It works, but I still would prefer a dipstick. jack vines

Agree. Not only are sealants water based/soluble but that plus the chemicals will rust-to-ruin the steel wheels if left in there to failure. BTDTNA FWIW, I just used my 50+year-old Simplicity snowblower. The tires on it are still holding air. When I say the tires used on today's machines...

Yes, the leak is through the sidewall of the tire. Agree, installing tubes in those little tires would be a PITA. Getting the tire on and off the wheel is a huge hassle itself. If I must do it again, I'm going to make bar to go through the hub which can then be clamped in a bench vise...

The rear tires aged out and began leaking, so I put tubes in them. The front tires are now leaking throught the sidewalls, but has anyone installed tubes in these little POS tires? jack vines

Thanks for the constructive suggestions. I'd have already replaced the fuel pump if I thought it was the source of the start-die-no-start problem, but once started on the spray, the engine runs fine. jack vines

And this is in the Troy-Bilt forum why?

Just brought our '75 Simplicity snow blower out of storage, ready for another winter. So far, so good. jack vines

Kohler Courage 22hp on Toro Timecutter 4235. Choke on, it starts immediately, dies immediately. From then on, it won't restart without priming. A few drops of gas or a shot of ether and it will start immediately and run and idle fine. When hot, restarts immediately. Why start then die? Why...

Every rider I've owned in the past fifty years has eventually developed electrical problems. Nearly every time it was in the OEM wiring connections and safety switches. The path to the spark plugs and the PTO runs through so many cheapo connections, corrosion and heat combine to stop the flow...

For true. The Chicom tires are junk which self destruct in just a few years. The bad news is that the replacements are also mostly Chicom. That's why I chose to go with tubes instead of new tires. jack vines

Just spoke with my brother in the Fairhope, AL area. He solved his mowing requirements, buying a new Gravely ZT and loaning it to his neighbor, who now mows both their lawns. Win-Win. jack vines

My Toro Timecutter is old enough the tires have age-cracked to the point they were leaking too much. Rather than replace the tires, I bought tubes for the rears and with some difficulty got them installed. All was good for a month and then the left one developed a bigger leak. Knowing it was...

"I say beware of any enterprise requiring new clothes." Changed the oil on a hundred different kinds of engines without a suction drain attachment. A lawnmower which requires spending $25 for a plastic chicom whizbang just to drain the oil is poorly engineered . . . . and that's all I'm going...

The simple act of draining the oil seems to be a Toro issue. I have an earlier model ZT Timecutter with the Kohler V-twin and it's the only engine of any type I've worked on in sixty years where the oil takes an hour to drain. It just shouldn't be that hard, Toro, Kohler, B&S. jack vines

While I don't know it to be true, I've been told the same hydro unit is used on both ZT and tractor mowers, as well as a wide range of motor horsepowers. Anyone confirm? jack vines

The manual does not spell out having to cut four spacer blocks to three decimal places. Using spacer blocks assumes the deck lips are still in the original relationship to the the spindles; nothing got bent in ten years of hard use. It does nothing to verify the actual side-to-side positions...

My 4235 Kohler has a drain hose which disappears under the engine somewhere and a square pipe plug in the end. It's awkward to remove, but the real problem is it's the slowest draining of any of the dozens of small engines I've owned over sixty years.

I've asked a couple of knowledgeable mower guys as to why homeowner-size ZT mowers have such small rear wheels compared to tractor-style mowers of the same deck size. No one could come up with a reason. Also, the big dog commercial ZT mowers have man-size rear tires. One guess is smaller...

Yes, using the Toro to snake logs out of the woods is not recommended. No, there's no problem with small implement use on a small lawn. jack vines

While it's unlikely the keys are missing, Toro has hubs which are keyed to the shaft and then the wheels bolt to the hubs. My Toro has two small right angle rods which come out the back of the frame. When pushed in, these disconnect the transaxle for hand transport. Make sure they're in the...

My lawn is large and rough, so I adjust my mower deck when I install new blades each spring. Each time, I curse the clueless guys who designed the deck and wrote the Owner's Manual how-to. Obviously neither has ever done the process. "Support the weight of the deck by placing wood blocks...

I have a like-new used starter for the Kohler engine. You can have it for $20 plus shipping. jack vines

I've owned a great old Simplicity snowblower which has served yoeman duty for going on forever. This year, my bad, I didn't get around to annual maintenance. With my wife in the hospital and eight inches of new wet snow, the pulley which drives the auger lost the key and spun on the shaft...

Did you ever complete this project and what were the results? jack vines

This winter, our 1975 Simplicity 7hp Snow-Away snow blower again is functioning perfectly. In forty-seven years, it has never failed to start on the first or second pull, (also a shout-out to the Briggs & Stratton engineer who designed the engines Simplicity used) has required almost no...

Not sure I'd agree the fixed link has to be changed until it is proven the two adjustable links lack sufficient travel to level the deck with the larger rear wheels. That may be the case, but it's not a given. jack vines