I am looking at buying one of these ride-ons (about 6 years old) Does anyone have any experience of them and know what I should look out for? Many thanks.
I am looking at buying one of these ride-ons (about 6 years old) Does anyone have any experience of them and know what I should look out for? Many thanks.
Made 2002-2006 2 Cylinder 17HP Kawasaki Hydrostatic
Start up mower and let warm up. Run wide open throttle and then idle. It should run smooth with no knocking noise, no smoke, and not quit running when it idles. If you can cut some grass see what kind of job it doses. As you run it listen for bearing noise in the drive train and mower. As you steer it look for looseness in the front axle and tie rods. Check grease fittings and see if it looks like if it was ever greased and if it doses a good chance the oil was changed. Check tires for dry rot and cracks. Just a general walk around and see if the mower looks beat up or well cared for.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. That is extremely helpful. Do you own one of these specific machines or is that just good advice for any John Deere? It would be really helpful if there is anyone on this forum that operates an identical machine to this one. Many thanks.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. That is extremely helpful. Do you own one of these specific machines or is that just good advice for any John Deere? It would be really helpful if there is anyone on this forum that operates an identical machine to this one. Many thanks.
I just own a older John Deere. I have a repair shop at my home shop and a lot of my customers have John Deere's so I do a lot of repairs on them. I have found that the Kawasaki engine isn't any better or any worst then anything else. Last year I bought a 180 JD along the road to resell and it only lasted a haft of a day before I resold it. This pass summer I bought a 185 JD with a bad engine. After I repaired it I sold it. I find John Deere mowers are good sellers. If the mower you are looking at hasn't been misused you should get years of service out of it. Buying used or new it can go either way bad or good even for me and I repair them because there is just so much you can check out.
