Genearally you can swap any engine of the same brand & type
Flat heads with flat heads
OHV's with OHV's
V twins with V twins
I repower a lot of old flathead mowers with OHV's and I always have to drill a new set of mounting holes as the OHV ones are further apart than the flat head ones.
V twins have a lot more weight on the cylinder end so those bolts need to be further out.
#4
Carscw
Most mowers come with more then one set of holes to mount the engine.
What mower are you working on?
One for Kohler singles & one for Briggs singles.
I find it easier to make up a pattern in fiberboard and use hat to mark out with.
It is fairly important to get the pto shaft in exactly the right spot or you end up having to reposition a lot of stuff like the drive belt guards.
Are you saying there is a set for kohleor and one set for briggs single?What about the briggs v-twin it came with/does that mean there are 3 sets of holes for mounting
The pressings have all the holes for whatever engine options were being offered.
Press dies cost thousands and some go into the hundreds of thousands so they are made to cover as many different applications as possible..
That is why the side rails are riddled with holes as the one base gets used for dozens of different brands and different models within those brands.
I have swapped between Courage & Intek singles with no problems other than having to make a small cross over loom to accomodate different wiring plugs.
AFAIK AYP only press 3 bases in 4 different thickness of steel to cover every mower that comes out the door.
It's your mower, get under and have a look.
You asked if the 20Hp V twin will drop directly into the frame where a 17 Hp single used to reside.
One person said it will and when I checked the diagrams I notices the mounting holes were different so I alerted you to that.
I would also suggest you check the width of the engine and compare that to the width of the hood as well.
No one has chimed in with an "I did that & I had to ........" to date so it looks like you might be in pioneering territory .
So if you go through with the repower it would be greatly appreciated if you came back with the problems you faced.
thanks for the info/I might have not made it clear what I was doing/my rider has the 21 hp vanguard v-twin on it now with a wiped cam.i have a good 17 hp ohv single laying around and was just wondering how much trouble was the swap would be or to just invest back into the v-twin
thanks for the info/I might have not made it clear what I was doing/my rider has the 21 hp vanguard v-twin on it now with a wiped cam.i have a good 17 hp ohv single laying around and was just wondering how much trouble was the swap would be or to just invest back into the v-twin
I would fix the Vanguard if possible. I installed one in my Husqavarna which had a Kohler Courage that crapped out. Love the Vanguard. Lots of power, never slows down.
I would be inclined to do the same.
Vanguards are generally a substantially better engine.
Get a piece of corn flake packet, cut a hole in it big enough to clear the PTO then punch out the mounting holes
Pull the drive pulley off your mower and see if you have a set of holes that will line up.
next thing to consider is the alternator.
The Vanguard would have been fitted with an electric PTO clutch.
If the Intek also had an electric clutch you are fine, If not it might need an alternator upgrade.
Obviously the mufflers will not fit and that can be a problem.
AYP did use singles but I can not be sure if they used the same frame pressings for the twins as they did for the singles.
The Intek will struggle a little but that will just mean driving a little slower.
As the Vanguard is dead, it has to come out any way .
So if the mower is in good nick, fit the Intek.
Make up a cross over loom to wire it into the mower while you take your time repairing the Vanguard.
Then you have the option of keeping the intek if it works for you and flogging off the Vanguard.
A used Intek will not get much but a used Vanguard is worth a lot more.
"Genearally you can swap any engine of the same brand & type
Flat heads with flat heads
OHV's with OHV's"
I think you are painting with much too wide a brush. Actually many OHV and flathead B&S engines WILL directly interchange with same mounting holes. ALSO. many Kohler singles share the same mounting holes with both OHV and flathead B&S singles.Other factors besides mounting holes have to be considered when switching engines. V twins as OP asked about are another mater.
"Are you saying there is a set for kohleor and one set for briggs single?"
NO, see above.
You can easily make a paper or cardboard template to see if the mounting holes match and IF not, carefully locate where the crankshaft was positioned for engine one, If not use the same template to mark and drill the holes you need for engine two.
"I repower a lot of old flathead mowers with OHV's and I always have to drill a new set of mounting holes as the OHV ones are further apart than the flat head one"
