LX176 Carburetor Question

Hello...I need to replace the carburetor on my JD LX176...part of the metal housing is cracked. It has a K Series Kawasaki engine. The engine number is FC420VA26921. The code is FC420V-AS10. The problem is I can't afford an OEM replacement ($185-$215) and I can't find an aftermarket model. For some reason it seems the Kawasaki AS10s are way more expensive than other Kawasaki carbs. Does anyone know if there is a less expensive Kawasaki or other carb that would fit this mower? Barring that, does anyone have a good used carb they would be willing to part with? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

You're correct, OEM Kawa carbs are expensive, for some reason. My theory is because Kawasaki never had to "answer" to owners about these engines, since they never sold their own branded mowers. And so we never saw Chinese clones, like Honda eventually did with their own brand of carbs (which are today, much cheaper than they used to be.)

I also have an LX176 with FC420V-AS10 and would like to know why a carb from a different FC420V wouldn't, or couldn't, be made to work.

But where's the crack? On the outside? I'd J-B Weld it if possible, if the rest is OK and doing so didn't affect operation. You may have nothing to lose by trying at this point.

A carb is a carb is a carb and it don't give a wrinkled rats rectum about what it is connected to.
OTOH the engine needs a fixed volume of fuel at a specific air: fuel ratio.
As a rule of thumb, you can take a crab off any engine of a specific capacity and put it on any other engine of the same or smaller capacity and it will work.
The problem is getting the controls to work with the carb and usually you need to make some custom linkages