Kohler vs. Kawasaki in a ZTR homeowner machine

zippinbye

Forum Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2021
Threads
5
Messages
7
I'm shopping for a consumer-level ZTR mower. I won't bore you with the traditional "what mower brand is best" in this environment that I know is most made of of lawn care pros. But I will ask the same question about Kohler engines compared to Kawasaki.

I'm not pretending to be a "pro," but I do have thousands of operating and maintaining pro equipment in my college days, plus a lot of farm equipment experience , so I'm reasonably qualified to sort the flashy from the functional. If I were an adventurous early adopter, I'd be really tempted to try an electric machine on my four acres. Or if I had assurred maintenance, find a municipal auction for a used commercial Toro diesel.

Problem is, I normally need to pay somebody else to do the mowing. The guys I use are no good at maintaining or taking in for service. It's a remote rural location (vacation home in Canada) and I'm lucky if I can stay on top of preventative maintenance, let alone take care of breakdowns. Warranty means nothing to me, as it would require a $500 roundtrip on a ferry to reach a warranty center. I am my own warranty station. Hence the need for a brand new machine. My existing two garden tractors are becoming unreliable (for good reason) and I have found new machines are reliable for some time, despite my pitiful maintenance program. I'm lucky if I get grease on the spindles once a season or annual engine oil changes. Forget about blade sharpening and belt adjustments! My guys suck for that. But the show up to mow, which is saying something in the local market! I've been nursing a 25 year old John Deere and a seven year old Craftsman (1400 hours and 275 hours respectfully). These garden tractors with 48" decks take some abuse from terrain and rocks, but suffer most from running too long between service intervals. Due to being newer and having a hydrostatic drive, the Craftsman is primary and the manual trans JD backs it up during failures. The Deere has a Kawasaki V-Twin and the Craftsman has a Intek V-twin (pretty sure that's a Briggs and Stratton product). An annual oil change regardless of hours (but usually about 50) is the goal, but I'm sure the Kawasaki went at least three years/200+ hours on at least one occasion. It smokes a bit on start up, but otherwise runs like a champ. Same with the Intek, but it hasn't been exposed to nearly the same amount of rigorous use as the Kawasaki. I'm sure 1400 hours in 25 years and haphazard maintenance does not amaze you commercial operators, but I'm pretty darn happy with it. If it explodes tomorrow, I got my value out of it.

For my new machine, engine manufacturer of course is somewhat of a function of mower brand. But one brand offers Kohler and Kawasaki at the same h.p. (actually 23 h.p. for the Kawasaki and 24 h.p. for the Kohler) and price point, but in order to get the Kawasaki, I need to go with a 50" deck compared to a 54" deck for the Kohler. Realistically, the additional 4" of deck width is probably worth less than 10 minutes of mow time, so I shouldn't really care about that, nor one horsepower. Besides, switching from conventional tractor to zero turn is going to slice off a ton of mow time anyhow. Based on experience, I prefer Kawasaki to Kohler. What's the opinion here regarding the long term prospects for these engine brands compared to each other?

Ok, I'll do something I said I wouldn't, but here goes anyhow: In the sub-$4000 range of consumer grade zero turn machines, is a Cub Cadet ZT1 series a decent rig? I'd say the competition is similar h.p. and size units from Husqvarna and John Deere. Base on my research, I'd rate John Deere #1 (that rating probably suffers some bias from existing experience with JD homeowner product lines of 25 years ago), Cub Cadet #2, and the Husky last. Although Husqvarna motocrossers and chainsaws of my youth were bada$$, I don't feel that this point in their product current line is wonderful. My current take on value is that Cub Cadet is the machine I'd buy today if I were to receive no other input - probably the Kawasaki version. I live in Las Vegas, where large acreage lawns do not generally exist outside of commercial operations. It's virtually impossible to find in-stock riding mowers to physically inspect for build quality, so I'm kind of flying blind here. With that in mind, I will definitely appreciate opinions here. Thank you!
 

Rivets

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Threads
55
Messages
14,683
Have read through your post twice, I would definitely stay away from the Cub and Husky. Both are low end residential units, even at the high priced range. From my experience and your description I would say each would last 3-5 years. I would stay away from anything made by MTD or Husqvarna. I recommend that you keep your search limited to the major brands of John Deere, Toro, Ariens etc. As for engines I would put Kawasaki at #1, Briggs at #2 and Kohler #3. Many around this site will switch Briggs and Kohler around. Personally I think you will need to stick to a price range of $5000-$6000 to get a unit which will stand up to your requirements. Just my opinion, which some on this site is not worth much, but I’m talking from 50+ years as a technician.
 
Top