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in march my mower stoped, walker advised no parts in the country for 12 weeks (WHAT)
the only option a new motor $4500, the mower is 2 years 11 months old 11months out of warrenty.
I got the old motor back and on inspection found it had a cracked cam gear (NO WAY) therefore the cam gear was cracked when I brought the mower, took photos sent them to walker. This week August, walker have offered me $900 as this is what the parts would have cost (WHAT) was I spose to rebuild it myself, whilst unemployed.
Anyway also the mechanics report says he was very suprised it had done 1200hrs as it was in near new condition -- he did not report the cracked cam gear. Not suggesting anything doggie just that you wouldent look for that because it can not happen.
I would also like to point out that i have owned walkers for over 25 years and love them,
So any comments, yes out of warrenty But this machine had a major manufactuer fault when i brought it and one would hope that it is the first time it has happened, and if my partner was not motor savy we may have never knowen. Should walker front up with the total cost, dos anyone think $900 is fair

I wish I could help. That must be one heck of a mower!! I can't imagine a cam gear that cost $900. Maybe someone else can help you.

Donna said:

Should walker front up with the total cost, dos anyone think $900 is fair

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When you make a decision to purchase a mower that is manufactured half a world away(20,000 Kilometers) in another hemisphere, it's understood that you may have serviceability issues. 12 weeks is 12 weeks, you decided that it was too long and opted for the new motor. Seems like you could have purchased a decent substiute for that price but I am not familiar with your options in New Zealand. I assume that you have a Walker dealer there? I am also assuming that your dealer decided the motor could not be fixed and left you with the 4500$ option? Why didn't he offer a rental or the sale of a used machine to get you through while waiting for parts?
It seems it would also be important to note exactly what kind of colateral damage was aparent in addition to the cracked cam gear. There was absolutely nothing that could have caused this to occur?
What kind of mower is this that requies a 900$ gear? Could you have not mentioned that Walker is cutting you a check for 900$ to cover all the parts and labor to do the repair should you have elected to have it done? How could the mower have run for 2 years with this problem? Was it something that the dealer did not identify. Was there no symtoms aparent in the performance?
I think you should take the money and go on with life. After all your mower now has a brand new engine. It isn't like you lost 3600$.
Based on the limited information you have provided and your location I think the offer is fair. I'm sorry about your bad luck, it could have been worse.
These are my comments, I'm not a Walker owner and I never have owned one and I don't plan on purchasing one so I think my solicited opinion is objective.
Congratultions on your new motor, I hope it gives you many years of good performance.

Found this on ebay after you posted your engine type 10 hrs later.
http://cgi.ebay.com/J-D-400-KOHLER-K532-20HP-CAM-GEAR-CAM-SHAFT-LIFTERS-/110707102163

You can get the entire cam shaft used with the gear for 27$ plus shipping. I think yopu need a new repair shop or walker dealer.

The problem results again because the cam teeth won't mate with the crankshaft gear and tear up the teeth. Kohler highly recommends that the crankshaft also be changed when changing camshafts.The reason that the price may seem to high is because Donna is in New Zealand with a different exchange rate than us.

ILENGINE said:

The problem results again because the cam teeth won't mate with the crankshaft gear and tear up the teeth. Kohler highly recommends that the crankshaft also be changed when changing camshafts.The reason that the price may seem to high is because Donna is in New Zealand with a different exchange rate than us.

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1 New Zealand dollar = 0.8435 US dollars today 8-7-11

Donna, I'm sure you feel like you were taken... But as RobertBrown has said... they did offer 'out of warranty' relief for $900... and out of warranty by 11 days, wks, mts or years... is still out...

Another thing that RobertBrown noted... Had you done a more thorough search, you could have located parts at a far less price... I myself always check eBay... Better prices are almost always available, if you look...

I also have no problem with used parts... after all every other piece & part on your mower is used... and they are fine... Like mentioned, try to find a more 'helpful' dealer... and when things need replacing, shop for pricing... :smile:KennyV

Perhaps if Donna can wait another week or so one New Zealand dollar will be worth 1,000 USD and the cost for repair will be down to about a fiver-what model Kohler is in this machine?

My question is why are you going after Walker and not the engine MFG, walker didn't mfg the engine,

walker sold me the product

You are going in the wrong direction and may be a good reason you are having the problems you are, What Wlaker gave you was a good will jesture as they didn't mfg the engine Kohler did and they are the ones you should be complaining to, actually I'm suprised walker gave you anything without Kohler saying no first, just my opinion after 40 years of retail, distributer and manufacturer service dept experience in the industry.

I believe that Donna is correct in taking the issue to Walker first, while it is true that Kohler makes the engine Walker made the decision to use this brand engine and thus should be required to make things right-the mower maker should be required to go back and forth with engine warranty claims NOT the customer.

Now as a brand new Kohler Command owner I will be very interested in learning how this all works out.

Do as you like, but I am telling you from a mfg point of view, I'm not really going to worry too much about that type of issue if the customer has not gone thru the engine mfg first, she should not have to do that either as it should have been put in as a "disputed warranty" thru Kohler by the shop that did the initial teardown inspection. The engine should have been retained by the dealer for submittal to kohler if requested, I blame most of her problems on a dealer that wasn't really concerned about taking care of his customer. If they were they would have done all of the above for her and she would not have to do anything until such time as the claim was denied. She can still ask for this to be done, if it is approved the dealer should refund her $ when they rcv it from Kohler. They don't want to do it as they are not paid anything close to what thier normal charges are on a customer paid repair and no profit on the parts or very little at most. Been there done that.

Duffer, a responsible company will assist their customers in getting ANY issue resolved and if Walker does not do this then its important for everyone considering this brand to know that they will bail when problems arise.

I'm just giving my advise after being in the business for many years, I have gotten many machines and engines repaired under warranty even though they were past the time period, Maybe that is why we were always busier than other shops as we took care of our customers by knowing how to. Yes I agree go to Walker if Kohler turns them down but not from the get go.

For the sake of discussion; for a brand new machine that you have sold wouldn't it be nonsense if-for a tire failure the customer FIRST was required to go to the tire manufacturer, for a drive failure the customer had to go to the hydro fluid manufacturer/the drive manufacturer/the filter manufacturer, for an electrical system failure the customer had to go to the wire maker, the fuse maker, the component maker? Kohler probably did not make ALL the parts in their great engine-would you support the customer first having to contact each part maker(carb, spark plug, piston, ignition- etc) for a failure that involved specific components-this is no different from the topic at hand really? for chasis problems it would be the customers responsibility to track down the steel maker, the welding rod maker, the maker of the welding machine??

Walker, Exmark, Scag,- you pick the maker-, the equipment manufacturer selects their components-the equipment maker should be required to take care of issues for the customer without the customer having to argue with individual parts makers.

AND if Walker behaves like Exmark I for one want to know about it.

I understand what you are saying but at the same time you are asking a company to cover a warranty that is specifically spelled out by another company, All machines come with a minimum of 2 warranties, 1 for the unit and 1 for the engine, tractors and such usually also come with a warranty for the transmission or hydo drive systems if not built or directly supplied thru themselves with no indicatioon of another manufacturers name.

As an example Sears units only carry a warranty from sears, unless this has changed recently, thier engines are not covered by the engine mfg as they pay less for the engines and cover thier own warranties, the problem with this is 1. you are limited in who you take it to for the work and 2. if you are happy with there evaluation too bad there is no where else to go for help.

By asking Walker to cover a Kohler warranty would be like a customer of mine asking Briggs to cover a warranty I provided for my repair because I am a Briggs dealer,

Just FYI over the years I have dealt with walker they have always been a very customer service oriented mfg, the fact that they gave her any money towards the repair in the first place proves that, many mfg would not even consider it. Not sure of what you meant by your comment regarding Exmark.

We can agree to disagree on this, but as I have said previously if she is unhappy with anybody it should be with the dealer she was dealing with for the repair, they should handle all of the paperwork and contact for her with Kohler up to a point of her being turned down by them and from what I can tell they dropped the ball big time on this one, did they even offer to submit a disputed or policy adjustment warranty claim?

Duffy, this is what I don't understand; why should the customer and the selling dealer for that matter have to get his/her blood pressure up by arguing with the maker of one of the components on a piece of equipment.
Mr/Ms Walker needs to call Ms/Mr Kohler saying that there is an issue that needs to get resolved immediately and if it isn't a new engine is being sent to the dealer for installation and if a credit isn't given for the new engine and the labor another engine manufacturer will be contacted.

Quick, clean and simple-in an ideal world.

However what I am certain happens in the power equipment industry is this; Walker contacts every engine maker asking for bids on a certain number of units, they then contact the lowest bidder and procede to beat the poo out of the poor person who is in charge of oem sales, the deal is made and the engines are shipped with fingers crossed that no warranty claims arise as the margin is unsustainable.

In the end Walker is the only winner and everyone else loses the difference is that the customer is the only one that paid to lose.

I got rid of a new Exmark Quest because of performance issues with both the mower and engine, Briggs 20hp ELS that develped at 1/2 hour and it spent alot more time in the shop than it did mowing my lawn. What I learned is that Exmark, like Walker, doesn't want to know a thing.

As you stated"In a ideal world", A dealers responsibility is to represent the mfg, wether it be the engine or unit mfg, he accepts this responsibility when signing up as a dealer, that is life for a dealer, either accept it or not be a dealer it is just part of doing business in the industry. We can go on with this forever but as someone that was at a dealership and at the manufacturer level there are procedures to handle these things and if the dealer is slack in carrying out thier responsibility and the customer not making them carry it out, then in my opinion the customer has to be blamed more for the problem than the the mfg. It is very simple, tell the dealer to put in a policy adjustment or disputed warranty claim to Kohler and go from there. I would not have covered anything for the mower myself as a minimum until Kohler had turned it down first. Walker was very generous with what they did in the first place. I have processed claims for people that did not apply to the unit but rather should have been thru the other mfg but they were very few and far between usually as favor to a large dealer more so than the customer.

As you mention this could go on for a while but I think you really have made my point for me when you type that the dealer represents the maker (of the complete machine) and as such-should-have the authority to resolve ALL issues in a very, very timely fashion.

Briggs used to allow thier master service dealers do it , not sure if they still do or not, the master service tech had to take abouta four hour test to get the certification and approved to do it. they were he only ones that ever let dealers do it as far as I know.