To buy or not to buy

[Heretik]

Well, last Sunday I drove the 200 miles to see the mower and I bought it for $250 while keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. The seller was a senior gentleman who seemed to be honest and sincere. He answered all my questions in a way that made sense without raising a red flag, except for one, the one about the starter. The mower has not been running for almost a year. Everything was just fine until it quit, he said. No issues with the hydros, the deck or engine. But then the starter went bad. For almost a year, he said, he has been trying to find a starter for this GXV630 Honda engine and was unable to find one. Now that is hard to believe and I don't know what's up with that. I googled it to find one and they popped up like pretty girls on the beach. I don't know what he is talking about, but I am sure I will find out when I get to it. The fan covers are missing, they jerryrigged an electric fuel pump to the engine and who knows what other dumb things he did, but that is the challenge and I will find out as I go through it all with a fine toothed comb. After I got back home I gave it a good cleaning and I must say I am very happy with what I got for $250. With only 250 hours on the meter it almost looks new. All original paint, no flaking or rust anywhere and if nobody ever opened the engine and messed with it, it should be ok too. The seat is kinda weathered and I noticed that the right front caster swivel bracket is severely binding. Probably one or both ball bearing are shot, not a big deal to replace. Other then that I got my project for the winter cut out and I am all excited about it. Hopefully no money pit or unpleasant surprises but when I get done with it, it should be like a like new ZT worth a good $2000.

"...he has been trying to find a starter for this GXV630 Honda engine and was unable to find one. Now that is hard to believe..."
With any search engine today for a GXV630 ... you're bound to get the results ranging from toilet seat to Panzer VIII ass wipe. The point is it's not easy to find anything without going through a catalog. Take it easy on the fellow that sold you a jewel.
Wow! What a steal! And Stamped deck, OMG! Doesn't appear to have a scratch on it. Congrats! Easily worth $2000! eBay GXV630 starter $73, free shipping.

 

[Heretik]

Aside from my rants on costs, good golly the costs, my Ryobi 42" ZTR is frightful. I don't regard any longer, the anticipation of mowing the yard (1/2 acre turf alone) with fun. Not to liken "bumper cars" or "go-cart" racing with unsafe activities, lap bar steering ZTR mowing is FUN! But, not so much with the Ryobi iDrive. The iDrive, joystick steering, can only be safely conducted with concentrated right-hand effort on steering.
What if you're defective, sorry, inhibited or righthand disabled.
With Lap Bar Steering ZTR, I can drive safely singularly left or right handed, not at great speeds; but, I can do that 1/2 acre just as quickly, as with two hands. That 1/2 acre has many many obstacles to navigate around and between.

I'm informed that industrial heavy equipment have adopted the iDrive (like) steering. I expect an increase in accidents attributable to this factor. Incidents of such occurrences with be muffled and certainly distorted if not fully fabricated otherwise; when management of safety is disregarded.

 

[Peva]

Was a HD service desk associate that lent me his ear. As there were no more on his HD lot, aside from the last 30 incher, and none at my other favored HD store, 40 miles the other way, I'm fairly confident the queen bed has become separate bedrooms. HD will continue with the line of Ryobi hand tools and cordial breakfast meetings.

Lets face it, the cost of going "green" shouldn't be nearly 100% increase, over a new gasser ZTR. That's profiteering from the Afghanistan rape boondoggle* and a wise American won't stand for such pilfering. My last gasser 42" ZTR, "hefty" with manufactured deck was $3500. My current Ryobi 42" with cheap carp stamped deck was $6000 (rounded to nearest $), original MSRP;with what I regard as an unsafe iDrive joystick steering. I can cut 15 minutes off my mowing time with a Lap Bar Steering ZTR.

And for the low low price of $4000 (today's dollars) in 3-5 years for replacement batteries; I'd have been wiser to get another gasser or spend $1600 for a replacement engine now. The Kawasaki FR651 is a POS, with engineered failure. Personally, I'd shy away from any FR series engines. I estimate the engine had less than150 hours (max) on it; with above average maintenance on it. My FR651 had a starter, one coil and belt replaced during it's operable life; as well as oil change ever 50 hours. The FR651 (21HP) = POS Carp. It's a compression release mechanism (as described by my mechanic) integral to cam that is the SNAFU. I presume it (SNAFU) is integral with all Kawasaki FR series engines. There is a "reach around" involving a manual choking at start up; But, that only assisted for one season,

*Afghanistan plundering has led to opioid crisis here at home and trillions $$$ in lithium profiteering. Abhorred credits to spreading of defunct Democracy, aka, Capitalism, go to Goobermints, here and abroad. You remember Goober; cousin to Gomer Pyle, another half-wit?

The $800 and $1000 clearance tags you saw may have been one-off "open box" (customer return) units or something similar. As I posted, there are over 250 Ryobi ZTRs (total of 30", 42", and 52") currently showing in the HD system - so, no, they weren't attempting to deplete their inventory with an $800-$1000 across-the-board ZTR fire sale.

As far as HD dropping the Ryobi ZTRs, your "insider information" could be right, but it sounds rather speculative to me at this point. And I have no idea what "the queen bed has become separate bedrooms" and "cordial breakfast meetings" comments mean. Your metaphors and snark are over my head.

I don't have problems with the i-drive. I do have my drive speed set to the slowest of the 3 settings - plenty fast for mowing. I admit that trying to cut on the high setting would be scary (like a Kennedy playing football while skiing at full speed down a tree-filled ski slope), but I believe that it is intended for quickly traveling between mowing parcels - not intended for actual mowing. I also think that cutting on high travel speed would outstrip the ability of the blades to make a quality cut, even with cross-cut blades on high speed. I always mow with blades (cross-cut) on high speed and travel speed on low. Is it possible you have travel speed set to "high"?

 

[texasvet]

I am thinking about buying a zero turn Cub Cadet model RZT-L46 FAB (17AGCACN010). That one has the Honda engine GXV630. I don't know anything about CC or zero turners. My mowers in the past have been Craftsman and Ariens. $300 asking price seems to be a good deal. Seller says it needs a starter and engine is not running, but turns by hand. It's about a 100 miles away so I have not gone out to see the mower yet. Can you guys give me some tips what to look out for, what to check and what questions to ask about this particular model, its known weak spots and trouble areas and its good points. I understand that some of these zero turners have electronics involved, safety sensors and what not that play tricks on you. What makes me wonder and kinda suspicious is that the mower has been up for sale for almost a month now and I am sure that a few bargain hunters have beaten a path to see this mower, I mean 300 bucks is cheap for a ZT, and walked away. - ????? I really appreciate your input on this. Thanks

JM2C. Buy a Gravely or even a SCAG if you can afford it. You won’t be sorry. They are faster, more reliable, and they will last for many many years, especially the Scag.

I’ve never heard anyone say that they were happy that they bought a Cadet.

Again, JM2C

 

[Heretik]

JM2C. Buy a Gravely or even a SCAG if you can afford it. You won’t be sorry. They are faster, more reliable, and they will last for many many years, especially the Scag.

I’ve never heard anyone say that they were happy that they bought a Cadet.

Again, JM2C

euww40 bought the mighty FINE Cub Cadet. Cost of new starter $73. I'm sure he's happy.

Scag is undecided with their selection of engines having three choices - avoid the FR651 at any costs. I would have purchased my 2nd Hustler Raptor if it had the same engine choices; and, saved $1800 over a comparable Scag. And I've long had a yearning for a Gravely, were it not for my wallet telling me no. Once mowed my yard using a Gravely with trailing stand-on dolly. Might have been my most painful sciatica suffering ever.

If I may add, without scolding, I've found the FR651 no longer available as a replacement engine. Is it possible, I'm wrong this one time, the entire FR series do not have the same engineered gotoshitz flaw. While the FR651 engine is no longer individually available, it is vastly available in new full boat acquisitions. Scag for example and the entire line of Hustler ZTR mowers. Ive been wrong before, but I'm pretty sure I was just mistaken.

And a ton of beans or rice has more real value than breadth of digital-coins.

Did I commend Ryobi on the implementation of single port recharging, and I must include the instantaneous brake and parking brake system.

 

[GearHead36]

I’ve never heard anyone say that they were happy that they bought a Cadet.

Again, JM2C

Ok, then let me be the first. I came across a CC Pro Z 100 that needed some work, so I got it for a good deal. I fixed it up, and now I have a good running commercial ZTR that I paid less than the cost of a new big box store ZTR. I probably got lucky, but it happens. Would I buy a residential Cub with a stamped deck? Probably not, unless it was almost free.

 

[ueww40]

I started the restoration process of my newly aquired project and I am in desperate need of a good electrical wiring diagram for that particular mower. It is a 2017 17AGCACN056 or RZT-L46 (Honda engine). I found a few, but they are very hard to make out. Thanks

 

[ueww40]

This is the factory fuel pump which the seller removed from the mower. I want to put it back instead of that jerryrigged electric pump. Does anybody know what lines go where?

 

[ueww40]

Never mind. In the meantime I found out where all the fuel lines go. Why does the fuel pump for a Honda GXV630RH has 4 legs of which one is a purge line. What does the purge line do? Also there is what seems to be a oil pressure sensor or switch on the right side of the engine (see pic) but it doesn't have a wire on it, looks like it never did and I don't see any loose wires hanging around anywhere. The other question is, there is a line coming from the carburetor (#30 on the picture). Where does it go?

 

[Peva]

Never mind. In the meantime I found out where all the fuel lines go. Why does the fuel pump for a Honda GXV630RH has 4 legs of which one is a purge line. What does the purge line do? Also there is what seems to be a oil pressure sensor or switch on the right side of the engine (see pic) but it doesn't have a wire on it, looks like it never did and I don't see any loose wires hanging around anywhere. The other question is, there is a line coming from the carburetor (#30 on the picture). Where does it go?

On the purge line, I don't know the answer for sure (I'm not a lawnmower pro), but I try to be helpful.

So I searched "fuel pump purge line" in the context of lawnmowers. Some resulting hits said that, while cars have purge lines as part of their (fuel) evaporative emissions systems, lawnmowers don't have those. Perhaps they're wrong and some Honda lawnmowers are an exception to that and have an evaporative emissions system with a purge line?