Test ran a customer Turf Tiger yesterday after doing repairs. Had the Kohler EFI 26.5 hp engine with the 61 inch deck and to me it seemed underpowered.
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- Thread starter BobbyV43
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Test ran a customer Turf Tiger yesterday after doing repairs. Had the Kohler EFI 26.5 hp engine with the 61 inch deck and to me it seemed underpowered.
Sweats
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I have a Tiger Cat II with a Kohler 29 hp and a 61" deck. Maybe it's the couple extra horses and a couple hundred pounds less gross weight than the Turf Tiger but my Cat seems to have plenty of power. Granted, if I had more obstacles to more around, I'd probably have looked a lot more closely at a 52" deck.
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jekjr
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We have 22 HP Kawasaki engines on all four of our Tiger Cats. They have plenty of power. The only Turf Tigers I have run had the Vanguard engines on them. They definitely had plenty of power as well. I am not a fan of Kohler engines period. The old ones were awesome but the new ones don't seem to hold up. I personally have not owned one but I see numerous other people that do have them and most do not have good outcomes over the long haul.
I think the 35 or 37 Vanguard would be a better choice on the 61 inch deck. Just running the hydros without the deck running seems to pull that Kohler down more than it should in my opinion. I think the 52 inch deck would be a better option with that engine.
jekjr
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The further you can stay from a Kohler the better off you will be. I have known several people that had mowers with them on and long term the outcome was not that good.
Never known of a Kawasaki to bite the dust prematurely though.
Sweats
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Good to know
Part of Kohler's problem is they are trying to work with new technologies that in the end just don't work out very well. Courage single, and the OHC engine are two examples that just seems to keep coming back and biting customers. Kaw's seem to hold up well but when they do come apart they tend to leave pieces over a large area. The plastic camshaft on the Kaws is not a complete failure, but when the plastic gear also takes out the water pump, oil pump, and governor gears on the JD 445 it looks like a serious problem. Briggs has had their own set of failures over the years, so I am not partial to one brand of engine over another.
