23hp Briggs v-twin 625 hours... Rebuild?

[SamB]

I'm a hack for sure. Clearly not a professional like most of you guys on here. Bubble gum and bailing wire is all I use. I'm the worst mower person on Earth.

slomo

I suppose I'm a bit of a hack,too. Unless one is using the equipment professionally where downtime is money lost,run it till it drops dead,then replace it with an 'all parts totally new' engine. All this saying keeping up good maintenance,oil changes,air filters,etc. There is that school of thought that it is much faster to replace with new,rather than wait for going the rebuild route,especeilly if there are clients to contend with. Have a replacement on the shelf, and have time to get the original one tended to This,of course ,does not apply to rare one of a kind or special engines.

 

[CaptFerd]

If its not broke why fix it? That engine will out last the mower its mounted to.

 

[Armana]

Personally I’d follow the old adage, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Would you rebuild a car engine that is running fine? Just keep up on the maintenance like someone else already said.

 

[SamB]

Only thing I don't do in house is 2 stroke rebores & crank grinding .
But back to the OP
A set of new rings can extend the life of the engine for quite a while but you do need the ridge reamer .
A job that most familiar with tools can comfortably do for around $ 200 Aus .
Like the others here I have 6 cubic meters of motors that need a full rebuild that I keep telling myself I will do come day.
But I make twice the profit in 1/4 the time by fitting a new engine and then warranty is not on my head.
I could say that engines are way too cheap now days but every one would howl me down.
But the reason why the planet is in such a bad shape is because we have allowed big business to rape & pillage third world countries so everything we use is cheaper to replace than repair.
Then people with Phd's in manipulating your mind create advertising campaigns that convince us we have to buy new despite most can actually tell it is rubbish compared to what it is replacing.

Imagine if you will,an engine for your rider that had removeable wet (oil or ooolant contact) cylinder liners,replaceable tri-metal rod bearings(Cevite 77?) ,forged piston(s)and a full cast iron block and heads. Might be expensive to start with,but you'd only buy it once.

 

[slomo]

Imagine if you will,an engine for your rider that had removeable wet (oil or ooolant contact) cylinder liners,replaceable tri-metal rod bearings(Cevite 77?) ,forged piston(s)and a full cast iron block and heads. Might be expensive to start with,but you'd only buy it once.

And would weight like 4000lbs too. These new 0-turns already weigh like 1500+ pounds without the 350lb diabetes driver on board. They rut the snot out of your turf. Guys with hard clay soil should take notice if you want a nice "looking" yard. And cutting it like 17 times to get rid of the clippings on every mow doesn't help nor save time either.

 

[rutbuster1]

If it's running right just keep up the maintenance and run it. No need to rebuild an engine if it's got good compression and runs good.................js

 

[Joed756]

Just bought a 2006 z425 John Deere 48 inch zero turn mower for $1,500. They have 625 hours on the engine. It's not burning oil or smoking, but I'm thinking that 625 hours is probably getting to the end? So should I wait until it breaks or should I rebuild it? How much would it cost to have someone rebuild it? I was born in a mechanic machinist shop and I rebuilt a couple small engines.. but that was 30 years ago... And I don't have some of the tools... Lol

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[SamB]

And would weight like 4000lbs too. These new 0-turns already weigh like 1500+ pounds without the 350lb diabetes driver on board. They rut the snot out of your turf. Guys with hard clay soil should take notice if you want a nice "looking" yard. And cutting it like 17 times to get rid of the clippings on every mow doesn't help nor save time either.

I'd bet it would weigh more than that! LOL! The weight difference between my 18hp opposed and my 19 hp Intek is amazing. It's hard enough to not tear up the big yard with the 19hp Intek light weight on the ZTR. The opposed is on the Snapper and the Snapper is a bit kinder on turf,so I use it in the little front yard
As for the engine I "imagined", I might as well put a Fairbanks-Morse hit and miss on the mower!!

But....Am I getting too far off topic here? If so,I'll throw in that a 20hp v twin B&S is about 750.00 at a lot of online sellers.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I suppose I'm a bit of a hack,too. Unless one is using the equipment professionally where downtime is money lost,run it till it drops dead,then replace it with an 'all parts totally new' engine. All this saying keeping up good maintenance,oil changes,air filters,etc. There is that school of thought that it is much faster to replace with new,rather than wait for going the rebuild route,especeilly if there are clients to contend with. Have a replacement on the shelf, and have time to get the original one tended to This,of course ,does not apply to rare one of a kind or special engines.

Not a school of thought, an economic reality.
A production line with 20 workers pumps out better than 1000 engines a day
That is 50 engines per worker in 8 hours
Which is 6.5 engines an hour
To pull down diagnose the problem order parts & rebuild the engine is 10 hours work in which time the production line worker has made 65 engines.
The profit margin on complete engines is higher than for individual replacement parts .
So from a pure most profit / least cost basis it is always cheaper to replace major parts like engines or hydros than it is to repair them .
From the owners point of view the cost is almost the same, what they save on repair time labour they loose on the extra price of a whole engine over just the broken parts .
The biggie for the owner is less down time & the entire new engine has a new warranty .

If you are the mechanic & doing it in your free time then the least cost will be to repair because your labour time is effectivly free .

From an environmental point of view repairing the old is always the better path to travel but when the environment is up against big business profits, the environment always looses which is why the planet is on it's last legs right now .

Big business make the most profit by selling you a complete new engine.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Imagine if you will,an engine for your rider that had removeable wet (oil or ooolant contact) cylinder liners,replaceable tri-metal rod bearings(Cevite 77?) ,forged piston(s)and a full cast iron block and heads. Might be expensive to start with,but you'd only buy it once.

Big business and in particular the money managers ( pension funds/ hedge funds / investment funds etc ) would never allow such an engine to be made.
And in any case it is not warranted for small engines as it is very resource wasteful.
We used to make engines that run forever , remember names like Generac, Wisconsin, Villiers & BSA or even Honda for that matter ?
However the public has been brainwashed by the money men into believing that every thing we want can be made for a lower price just as good so quality engine makers went broke because YOU would not pay $ 200 for an engine which would run for 50 years over an engine that is only good for 10 years .
The money moungers make no money if you repair your old whatever but they make a lot if you buy a new one and it costs a lot to maintain their fleet of Gulf Streams & private luxury ships .