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Hey guys, so I have a wright walk behind. Bought it used been nothing but trouble with the engine. Got a good deal on a new engine so just gonna go that route. With these Covid prices on new equipment I can switch out a brand new engine 3-4 times the price of the equipment lol. Anyhow, few questions..
1. Was quoted at two different places on doing the engine swap. One shop said 6 hours, ($100.00 an hour) another shop said two hours. I kinda figure being a woman at the first shop may have played a part with the huge difference lol? I’m moderately mechanically inclined, and if I can’t figure it out usually mowermedic1 or Taryl fixes all have my answers on the tube haha! Love those two guys. Finally to the question part, is it actually that hard? 6 hours seems crazy, can’t see it being two hours either but I get the guys need to be paid something. Was thinking about doing it myself. Good idea or bad lol.
Second question, the engine is a a fs600v-GS00S my current muffler on the old engine is a vertical one. I believe should be part 99999-0414. Neither shop picked that one in their quote, the 6 hour shop picked a horizontal above frame 49070A-0880 which also needs a bracket kit. 2 hour shop picked a muffler I don’t even see on Kawasaki’s page under that engine. I asked when I was there if that was the correct one just to double check they said yes. That was part 49070-0038. Question is which one lol?
Thank you all!!

I charge out 4 hrs + I keep the old engine for spares if I am selling you the engine
Very rarely it actually happens in 4 hours because some thing always goes wrong .
Parts don't line up, wires too short, rusted bolt breaks off , threads different , air filters different , etc etc etc .
The scheduled service fee books list 2 hours but this is for swapping engines in brand new mowers with all the needed factory tools at hand .

OTOH I can spend near an hour just cleaning the crud off the mower before I put a spannar on it .

If you provide your own engine & want the old one back then I charge 6 hours as it will probably take all day to do the job and I have no retail mark up on the new engine .
If you have some lifting gear I would suggest doing it yourself and allow the entire weekend to do it
The only really difficult bits are removing the PTO pulley & manhandeling the engine.

The madening bit is locating the muffler
I have been know to fit 2 single cylinder mufflers on some twins because there is no factory muffler that will fir or the factory muffler is 1/2 the price of the new engine .

The most important tool in your tool box for a job like this is your camera
A before removal & after removal of every part, particulalry the controls

bertsmobile1 said:

I charge out 4 hrs + I keep the old engine for spares if I am selling you the engine
Very rarely it actually happens in 4 hours because some thing always goes wrong .
Parts don't line up, wires too short, rusted bolt breaks off , threads different , air filters different , etc etc etc .
The scheduled service fee books list 2 hours but this is for swapping engines in brand new mowers with all the needed factory tools at hand .

OTOH I can spend near an hour just cleaning the crud off the mower before I put a spannar on it .

If you provide your own engine & want the old one back then I charge 6 hours as it will probably take all day to do the job and I have no retail mark up on the new engine .
If you have some lifting gear I would suggest doing it yourself and allow the entire weekend to do it
The only really difficult bits are removing the PTO pulley & manhandeling the engine.

The madening bit is locating the muffler
I have been know to fit 2 single cylinder mufflers on some twins because there is no factory muffler that will fir or the factory muffler is 1/2 the price of the new engine .

The most important tool in your tool box for a job like this is your camera
A before removal & after removal of every part, particulalry the controls

Click to expand...

I gotcha, that makes sense. The muffler does seem to be a problem haha. Ty Bert!

Knocked it out, took the weekend but learned a lot! Gonna keep the old engine to dissect haha. I had a precovid post where few guys were helping including you Bert but pause was pushed over Covid. Never got a chance to get to it, she was drinking oil like no other almost every yard we got done with had to put more. Now I can operate without being scared I won’t be able to fix it back haha. Ty all!

So what engine did you end up putting back in and what did you do about the muffler
Nothing on a mower is impossible
You just have to keep on telling yourself
"some one does 100 of these a day in the factory so it can not be that hard "
Wiring is always the PIA bit if swapping brands

And yes do pull the old engine down
They are not difficult either .
Hardest part is remembering where you put the bits you took off
A camera on a stand is really handy and if you do a video then you too can be a You Tube movie star

Thanks for coming back
Hope the grass is back under control

I swapped it with a direct replacement but a newer model, Kawasaki fs600v. Ended up getting a vertical muffler that looked just like the one on the old one. Mounted by the oil filter side, was worried about the horizontal one not fitting with the deck. Luckily Wright mowers It just had two electrical plugs I think I got lucky with that part hehe. Think I’ll do the camera thing like you suggested with taking it apart and video record

Susan, Make sure to buy 5 quarts of 30W break in oil and two filters. Fill with break in oil and run engine for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and replace with break in oil and new filter. Run engine for 8-10 hours. Drain, replace filter. From then on, use 10W-40W or 10W-30W full synthetic oil. Most people forget or do not know to do this with an engine replacement.