Commercial Kohler vs Residential Kohler engine?

[BrokenTiller]

Are the Kohler engines that John Deere uses on their commercial grade mowers different or better than the Kohlers they use on their residential models? I have always heard to make sure to get the Kawasaki engine on any John Deere that I bought, but I've only ever looked at residential grade mowers up until now. If I looked into used commercial grade mowers for residential use, should a Kohler engine be a red flag like it would be on a residential model?

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I like motorhead12's response on MLF. I would stay away from the residential Kohler's.

 

[Rivets]

Never heard of a Kohler engine classified as a commercial or residential engine. Where did you get that from? Kohler had a problem with their Courage line, not all their engines as some here would want you to believe.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

Never heard of a Kohler engine classified as a commercial or residential engine. Where did you get that from? Kohler had a problem with their Courage line, not all their engines as some here would want you to believe.

Well like how the Courage is kind of residential and the Command Pro is kind of commercial.

 

[Rivets]

Well like how the Courage is kind of residential and the Command Pro is kind of commercial.

WHAT?????? Stick to cutting the lawns and stop commenting on the equipment. Kind of like you know what you are talking about and kind of like you want people to think you know what you are talking about. Sounds to me like you are the second kind of. Those kind of posts do more harm than good, and are the reason many people come here looking for help and end up frustrated. If you ever worked on the engines and knew how they worked, not just read things on the internet, you would be able to kind of like be able to make honest posts that kind of like make sense. In 40+ years you'll kind of like know what I am talking about.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

WHAT?????? Stick to cutting the lawns and stop commenting on the equipment. Kind of like you know what you are talking about and kind of like you want people to think you know what you are talking about. Sounds to me like you are the second kind of. Those kind of posts do more harm than good, and are the reason many people come here looking for help and end up frustrated. If you ever worked on the engines and knew how they worked, not just read things on the internet, you would be able to kind of like be able to make honest posts that kind of like make sense. In 40+ years you'll kind of like know what I am talking about.

I was just stating what a user on another forum said to prove why exactly the OP is saying residential and commercial. 38" Walk Behind Mower - John Deere - Page 2

 

[Rivets]

Passing on that type of bad info is not going to help anyone. Make sure your info is good before passing it along. Your habit of posting links without checking accuracy does not help anyone. Stick to what you know and can backup through experience. Don't worry about reaching 5000 posts with meaningless information and cute pics/posts. You are not impressing the members who know what they are talking about.

 

[BrokenTiller]

Rivets, do you have advice/opinions on my original question: Is the line of Kohler engines that John Deere puts on their "commercial" mowers different/better than the line of Kohlers that JD puts on their 'residential' mowers?

 

[Rivets]

In my opinion, which you will see is not worth much to many on this forum, if both units have the same engine series there is no difference. A Kohler Command is a Command engine, period. Now if you are asking if there is a difference between a Command, Courage, Magnum, Command Pro, Courage Pro, Aegis, Triad, K-series, yes there is a difference. Simple answer, you get what you pay for in the different series. It would take way to long to try to explain the differences. I would be more concerned who build the mower than who built the engine. John Deere is going the route of many of the equipment manufactures and having MTD build their low end mowers. Take a look at JD, CUB, TORO, they all look the same, except for the color of paint. Those of us who have been working on small engines for more than 20 years, would love to see the old John Deere, Toro/WheelHorse, Cub Cadet, Bolens units come back. They all built quality units, with transmissions, drives and engines that are 1000 times better than what they are putting out today. Don't know if this answers your question, but it's the best I can do without a longer disortation.

 

[BrokenTiller]

In my opinion, which you will see is not worth much to many on this forum, if both units have the same engine series there is no difference. A Kohler Command is a Command engine, period. Now if you are asking if there is a difference between a Command, Courage, Magnum, Command Pro, Courage Pro, Aegis, Triad, K-series, yes there is a difference. Simple answer, you get what you pay for in the different series. It would take way to long to try to explain the differences. I would be more concerned who build the mower than who built the engine. John Deere is going the route of many of the equipment manufactures and having MTD build their low end mowers. Take a look at JD, CUB, TORO, they all look the same, except for the color of paint. Those of us who have been working on small engines for more than 20 years, would love to see the old John Deere, Toro/WheelHorse, Cub Cadet, Bolens units come back. They all built quality units, with transmissions, drives and engines that are 1000 times better than what they are putting out today. Don't know if this answers your question, but it's the best I can do without a longer disortation.

It answers my question to a certain extent. I have an older JD Hydro 175 mower right now, and when I bought it I specifically searched out an older JD model for the reasons that you listed - I knew the older mowers were better than their newer ones, especially the junk Sabres sold at Home Depot at the time, and I'd heard that the Kohler engines had a lot of problems so I specifically wanted an older one with a Kawasaki engine and that's what I bought. I did not realize there are so many different Kohler engines being used, and it obviously stands to reason that quality will (or at least should) improve with price. Do you know which Kohlers John Deere uses on their residential/commercial walk behind mowers? Is there any easy way of figuring out which engine a particular JD mower has if I find one listed for sale?