What engine?

[dhall57]

I'm considering a Badboy Z turn mower. Looks like there prices are going to be hard to beat and the reviews look very good on them. There's a full service dealer nearby witch makes it very confenient.They have 3 motor combination Kawasaki, Kohler, and Briggs. What would your choice be? Mower will be for home use only. I here good and not so good things about all three. My old sears rider has a 15 hp kohler and it has been very good, so Im leaning towards the kohler engine:smile:

thanks dhall

 

[Rivets]

No matter what we say your have to go with your gut, because you have to live with it. All three make good engines and will hold up well if taken care of. The only thing I would say is if the Kohler is a Courage engine, most of the techs here would say that the Courage has given us a lot of problems.

 

[Ric]

I'm considering a Badboy Z turn mower. Looks like there prices are going to be hard to beat and the reviews look very good on them. There's a full service dealer nearby witch makes it very confenient.They have 3 motor combination Kawasaki, Kohler, and Briggs. What would your choice be? Mower will be for home use only. I here good and not so good things about all three. My old sears rider has a 15 hp kohler and it has been very good, so Im leaning towards the kohler engine:smile:

thanks dhall

Again myself and Rivets disagree. He runs down the Kohler Courage continually as having all kinds of problems and I find that puzzling as I said before. I've run the Courage single and V- Twins for years and never had an engine problem with either. It's my opinion Kohler and the Kohler Courage is one of the best engines you can buy.

 

[Rivets]

I say stay away from the Courage engine based on experience. In the past 2years Kohler has warrantied at least a dozen engines, half just out of warranty. Major problems we've seen are governor breakdowns, valve train problems and replacing carbs. Sure, they take care of them, but why do we see so many Courage? Maybe it is just our conditions here or hard usage, but I have to call them like I see them. Wish Kohler would bring back the old K-series, no body built them better.

 

[Ric]

I say stay away from the Courage engine based on experience. In the past 2years Kohler has warrantied at least a dozen engines, half just out of warranty. Major problems we've seen are governor breakdowns, valve train problems and replacing carbs. Sure, they take care of them, but why do we see so many Courage? Maybe it is just our conditions here or hard usage, but I have to call them like I see them. Wish Kohler would bring back the old K-series, no body built them better.

You've based your opinion on the Courage from your experience. Working on a dozen engines in two years out of the thousands that were put into service in the same time frame.

 

[Rivets]

If I have only worked on a dozen Courage engines since they came out you would be correct, but we have probably worked on 2 dozen every month since they were introduced in 2002. When they first came out I actually had an opportunity to see the new engine and talk to the engineers who designed it. At that time I was very impressed. The engine preformed well and was widely accepted by the tractor market. In 2007 Kohler started producing the Courage XT single cylinder engine with a Chinese company, for the push mower market and these do not stand up at all. In the past four years I have seen the quality of the original Courage drop and an increase in warranty claims and problems. That is why at this time I no longer put the Courage engine at the top of the list. I guess we will have to agree to disagree again.

 

[pugaltitude]

I'm considering a Badboy Z turn mower. Looks like there prices are going to be hard to beat and the reviews look very good on them. There's a full service dealer nearby witch makes it very confenient.They have 3 motor combination Kawasaki, Kohler, and Briggs. What would your choice be? Mower will be for home use only. I here good and not so good things about all three. My old sears rider has a 15 hp kohler and it has been very good, so Im leaning towards the kohler engine:smile:

thanks dhall

What are the models of engines on offer?

Its ok saying Briggs, Honda and Kohler but all make good and not so good models.
Might be able to shed some light.

 

[dhall57]

Kohler 27HP Courage, FS726cc Kawasaki, and the Briggs 27HP Professional Series

 

[pugaltitude]

What does the dealer or salesman advise?

 

[dhall57]

He wouldn't pick one over the other. He said some people are loyal to certain mfg., but he thought all were good engines and should perform well and all had good warranties is some problem did occur. I was originally leaning toward the Kohler because my old Craftsman mower has a Kohler 15 HP Command engine witch has been great. But the reviews on the newer Courage is not that good.