cussed at a zero turn mower.
Back story.. new house, need new mower. A buddy of mine had one sitting in a barn for a few years, he used it until about two years ago when his dad upgraded to a larger mower for the 4 acres of land. The mower is a Toro Z Master Z147 with about 1070 hours on it. He got it free from an uncle that could not get it running several years ago. had some serious rust on the deck which he repaired, him and his dad got it running in about 5 minutes lol. he used it for several years, I remember when he got it and evidently one time when I was visiting he got it out and let me take it for a spin. he sent me the picture of me on it a few days ago. So anyways, it has a Kawasaki fh500V vtwin motor. Once he knew I was looking for a mower, his dad (happy to have a small project drug it out of the barn, powerwashed it, and got it running again. needs a main engine seal and both front tires replaced. rear tires look great, the hydraulic pumps are less than 5 years old, and it mows and cuts great. and it started up on 2 year old gas.... the carb had some issues in that it would be a bear to start when cold.
So I figure, new carb, two new tires, sharpen the blades and I am good. this is not a pretty mower, but it cuts the grass. Buddy broght it over last week. first thing was it did not start. would not even try to fire. this was after a three and a half hour trip from IL, and after he had fired it up and drove it into his truck bed. so we pushed it out of the truck into the yard. cranked it and cranked it, used starting fluid. cussed it out, and the battery went dead from cranking. put the battery on the trickle charger, tried it again the next day. all i got was "thunk" from the starter solenoid. took the battery to Autozone, they tested it, said it was charged but didn't have any cranking amps. New battery, $60. put new battery in. "thunk". well crap. traced out the wiring to the starter, looked good. tried to jump the solenoid, no luck. starter did not even try to turn. went to Amazon, figuring that I was in it for a carburetor at least, ordered a carb, fuel pump, and fuel filter. tossed a starter on the pile. $45 for new carb/ fuel pump/ filter (which also gave me a brand new air filter which I didn't need, as it had a new one on it, but now I got a spare) $45 for a starter. Ordered on Friday night, got the parts late Sunday afternoon. spent some quality time replacing the starter and carb/ fuel pump/ hose and filter. hook the battery up. :"thunk". well s***. cussed it out some more. so far this has been nothing but redneck lawn art for 5 days. getting dark, tired of fighting with it. went to bed.
Went out today after work looked at the thing again. cussed it out again. grabbed my jump pack and tested the starter that I yanked out of it. if spun right over... (note to self and anyone else chasing down intermittent issues, do check the grounds, found a loose ground...) and after fixing the loose ground, it spun right over. Cussed it out again for good measure and causing me so many issues.. spent about 5 minutes priming the new carb and fuel system. fired right up. drove it from the middle of the lawn where it has sat for 5 days to the driveway with its two flat front tires. put two new tire/ wheel assemblies on it. they don't match, but they work. $29 a piece at Lowes. get back on it and now it doesn't move... cussed it out again. check the hydraulic tank.. empty. Go to autozone to get a few quarts of Mobile 1 full synthetic 15w 50 oil (whi8ch is what it uses for the hydraulics) and found out from the lady at the counter that Autozone doesn't carry it, and someone else was in earlier that day for the same stuff, and found that O'Reillys does carry it... so off to O'Reilly's. they had it. $23 for two quarts..
it is now dark, I will mess with the hydraulics tomorrow. cussed it out again just in case the first few times didn't work.
some pictures my friend sent me of when he did the repairs and me on it.
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Last Pic is of me on it. Probably taken 10 years ago lol
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