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Appears to be a cross between a Ventrac wannabe and a carnival bumper car.

I see you found the aardvark

And just wait until you find it has a Kanzaki K55 Hydrostatic transaxle which I never heard of that manufacture. And it still has the original motor it would be a
Briggs & Stratton 28N707-0189-01.

And I actual got a service manual on that Flex mower

You got the engine right. I think this is a "pulled out if the barn" special. I fixed the no crank problem and it starts but runs like crap and when you engage the blades it sounds horrible. Any chance i could get a look at the manual to get the deck off this thing?
Thanks.
Took a bit to figure out the start inhibit circuit on this thing.

Drop me your email address at the email address below and I will send you the manual.

Email Ad Edited out as receiving email.

Thanks

Just let me know if you get two emails. I still learning the FF Relay add-on.

EDIT: Now I know how the free Relay account works as I assume replies are not normally done except with the premium account.

StarTech said:

And just wait until you find it has a Kanzaki K55 Hydrostatic transaxle which I never heard of that manufacture. And it still has the original motor it would be a
Briggs & Stratton 28N707-0189-01.

And I actual got a service manual on that Flex mower

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The Kanzaki is used on some JD z-turns. Both pumps are housed in the same unit with internal gearing to run both pumps off of one input pulley. Repair parts cost the same or more than the complete unit and the complete pump assembly is around $1700.

Ahhh then I have ran across one those last year; just don't remember which mower it was

The original articulated rider was designed by Jonsored for Europe and it is a joy to work on although you rarely need to touch it because it was made so well .
All the little things like the 3 springs all have hook hoops to make them easy to remove
The substantial frame around the deck prevents the deck stoving in when you bash into something
The overlapping blades give a cut as good if not better than a drum blade machine
The out front heck makes it easy to see where you are cutting & easy to see obstacles on your lawn
The articulated steering works perfectly and never ever goes out of alignment
The wheel bearings never end up going floppy like all of the tractor front ends .
Deck flips up for blade replacement
No tool belt replacements & blade replacement only requires a single spanner for the spindle bolt .
Engine has clean access on 3 sides so is a pleasure to work on
Got 5 in my run & never ever had any problem with the transmission
Idlers all have replaceable bearings
True zero turn that does not rip up even the softest lawn
What the hell more would you want from a ride on mower ?

Down side is they were designed for lawns above the snow line so fine leafed grasses
They were also designed for lawn that were flat or only have gentle slopes
They were designed for slow growing grasses and have low capacity decks , even the ones with a rear catcher will get overwhelmed cutting anything more than 2"
To get it on & off your trailer you should flip up the deck and reverse it on
Instructions are printed on the inside of the plastic nose cone which has to be removed to get access to the deck rollers which are small so will get stuck on mesh ramps & trailer floors .
The external deck frame means that it can not cut any closer than 2.5" from a wall
Husqvarna introduced them into the USA where no one reads the owners manual so had a spate of legal suits due to idiots doing tight turns on slopes & rolling the mowers over, so existing stocks were dumped onto Australia followed by an Idiot proof redesign for idiots to use.
Thus there are 3 different series
the Pro-Riders ( for the rest of the world ) and the Rider-Pros for idiot Americans followed by the much larger & more expensive Flex series ( hoping that the more wealthy customers would actually RTFM or at least their wet back gardeners would )
Both USA designed series are cheapened to the nth degree so have idlers with fixed bearings, no spring hoops thinner plastic wear with screws rather than the original Dutz fasteners on body panels and a much bigger turning circle.
Original ones will turn around a 13 gallon drum
USA ones can not turn tight around a 44 gallon drum

Stiga do a similar mower caller the Park and it is their biggest seller .
In the EU there is also a 4WD version.
They are popular down here in the cooler south but because Husqvarna dumped them on us they were very cheap so there are a lot of them around

The only PIA job is replacing the control cables that all run in the central tunnel .
Older people & women seem to really love them because they are low to the ground & easy to swing your leg over

And yes the deck is noisy .
The level of wind noise varies with the style of blades used
If there is any noise other than wind rush then one of the blades has broken the shear pin .

The transmission is spring loaded to reverse so if the F-R cable breaks it will automatically go into reverse & stay there which at least allows you to get back to the shop.

And of course being articulated you have to DRAG it around not push
I pop a hold down strap either side of the deck and they usually pull really easy

When you have finished repairing it take it for a spin around your yard
A pure pleasure to mow with and because of the articulated out front deck design you can wiggle the deck between things too close to mow between.
Just do not try a tight turn at full speed although the US version goes slower & turns wider you can still flip them if you are not careful .

I will be surprised if you don't love it .

This is the one & only Husqvarna ride on I would recommend to my customers to buy

StarTech said:

Just let me know if you get two emails. I still learning the FF Relay add-on.

EDIT: Now I know how the free Relay account works as I assume replies are not normally done except with the premium account.

Click to expand...

Yeah , got 2 emails
Thanks

Got it running and drove it around the yard. It is an interesting machine. Pulled the deck. one spindle had the blade hit something and buggared up the plastic pulleys and froze bearings and broken gilmer belt. Middle spindle has growling bearings. Both belt idlers have shot bearings. Guy wants it fixed $$$.
It has the Bio mulching deck.

Hammermechanicman said:

Got it running and drove it around the yard. It is an interesting machine. Pulled the deck. one spindle had the blade hit something and buggared up the plastic pulleys and froze bearings and broken gilmer belt. Middle spindle has growling bearings. Both belt idlers have shot bearings. Guy wants it fixed $$$.
It has the Bio mulching deck.

Click to expand...

Don't know what they were worth new in the USA but they were $ 8,000 down here more with a Kawasaki engine.
The discounted ones sold for $ 5,000, just a touch more expensive than the tractor style which were $ 4,000 to $ 5,000 for a 42" deck.

Once you get used to the rear ( tiller style ) steering you will love it .
The shear pins in the blades should be zinc like the old B & S flywheel keys
New blades should ship in a box with 2 pair of pins
Very common to find some dip sheet fitted an allen bolt in place of the pins and the results of that is what you have just found .
If it is likely going to be a long term customer then slip the central cover off & lube the cables .

I know they look funny but they work really really well & as every fastener is either a no tool Dutz or the same metric size, easy to work on particularly if fitted with the Kohler or Kawakasi engines .
The ones fitted with B & S engines of course require another 7 tools .

This was one of the mowers that took 2 days to remove a rear wheel and another full day to purge the tranny.
I had to resort to putting my sump pump on the overflow reseviour to suck the air out .

This thing does not have shear pins. Spindles are like most others except for the plastic belt timing pulleys and the deck doesn't tilt up and no Dzus fasteners. It is nimble, kinda like driving a fork lift. Looks like i am the first to ever work on the deck. Had to use the 20 ton press to get the first spindle apart and the center one will be even more fun as the top pulley is seized on real good. A torch and bearing separator didn't get it off. Will have to move to plan B. Danger Will Robinson.

If the blades overlap then there has to be a shear pin or they can strike each other if they get out of time
Part 506 94 55-01 in the diagram below which came from K & T web page if Star did not send you one
Despite there being 2 in each blade pack, you only fit one at a time
Bummer about the deck not flipping up
I have the dumped mowers here, plus 2 of the US cheapie version plus a Pro-Flex and they all have flip ups so I assumed that all of them were flip up.

Just be careful as You need to make sure the part you are pulling or destroying is available. I having a lot parts lately being NLA.

I will have a look at the ones I have down stairs tomorrow if I don't sleep till midday
36 C right now at 1 am .
And yes parts for the articulated mowers always take a while to come in.

bertsmobile1 said:

If the blades overlap then there has to be a shear pin or they can strike each other if they get out of time
Part 506 94 55-01 in the diagram below which came from K & T web page if Star did not send you one
Despite there being 2 in each blade pack, you only fit one at a time
Bummer about the deck not flipping up
I have the dumped mowers here, plus 2 of the US cheapie version plus a Pro-Flex and they all have flip ups so I assumed that all of them were flip up.
View attachment 63486

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It does not have that type of blade adapter or blades. The blades have a single hole in the middle and blade adapter is just round.

StarTech said:

Just be careful as You need to make sure the part you are pulling or destroying is available. I having a lot parts lately being NLA.

Click to expand...

Yeah the first one was scary using the press. Second ine will be a challenge not to break the housing. I know what you mean about NLA parts.

Starting to sound like a franken mower
On some of the rear discharge decks the blades are not timed
They use the same spindle housing & bearings as the bio clip deck but a different spindle & blade adapter
However the single bolt is the same so it would be simple to put the non timed blades & adapters onto a timed spindle
Sounds like Bill the Bodger has been in there before you .

I think you may be right. Wilbur may have been here.

Don't know about Wilbur but I hope I got rid of Murphy or at least he left in a big hurry after I shot at him with the 12ga loaded with BBs.

But I think Wilbur had passed by here too, just got a mess of a wiring harness hack repaired Monday.

Got the other blades and spindles off. Bert you were right the nonbuggared up ones have the hole and shear pin. The buggerd one has the hole rusted over and i didn't see it and the wrong blade without the holes. Thanks for the info.

Hammermechanicman said:

Got the other blades and spindles off. Bert you were right the nonbuggared up ones have the hole and shear pin. The buggerd one has the hole rusted over and i didn't see it and the wrong blade without the holes. Thanks for the info.

Click to expand...

Those blades are not cheap
The proper ones are very thin but funny enough seem to outlast blades 3 times as thick so must be made from a very high grade steel $$$$ .
It would be prudent to order them now because they might take a while to turn up
I got a lot off ebay from a shop who was selling down his stock .
From my friendly Husqvarna dealer it was always 2 to 4 months for delivery so I keep at least one set of each blades but in 10 years the only blade I have replaced was from hitting a dog bone .
OTOH I have replaced a lot of shear pins as of course this is OZ the gum tree capital of the world so lots of dropped branches