What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
I own a 2012 Cub Cadet riding mower that has a bad Kohler Courage 25 725cc twin cylinder engine in it. Not happy that the Kohler engine failed with light use at 154 hours on the meter. It needs both heads and both pistons replaced so instead of rebuilding it I thought I'd see what else I could find to replace it with. I'm looking for something used but is known to be a bulletproof engine. Thanks in advance!
 

Bertrrr

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
Anything close that has the same bolt hole footprint should work , I've used Kawasaki to replace a kohler before and it worked well, you will need the same sized diameter Crankshaft for the clutch and make sure the exhaust will have enough room to sit in that spot.
 

VegetiveSteam

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
Okay I have to ask. What happened that it needs two pistons and two heads? It's just unusual that it would fail both sides at the same time.

You're probably not really looking for another Kohler at this point but the Kohler 7000 series engine would let you use your existing exhaust so you wouldn't have to fabricate something. Anything you use is going to need some wiring modification.
 
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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
Anything close that has the same bolt hole footprint should work , I've used Kawasaki to replace a kohler before and it worked well, you will need the same sized diameter Crankshaft for the clutch and make sure the exhaust will have enough room to sit in that spot.
Thanks for the info!
 
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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
Okay I have to ask. What happened that it needs two pistons and two heads? It's just unusual that it would fail both sides at the same time.

You're probably not really looking for another Kohler at this point but the Kohler 7000 series engine would let you use your existing exhaust so you wouldn't have to fabricate something. Anything you use is going to need some wiring modification.
I was out mowing and it started running rough then quit. It wouldn't start back up I checked all the usual and obvious things but it wouldn't restart. Checked oil it was good... I'm very meticulous about oil changes and maintaining the mower so not sure exactly what happened. Took it to my local dealership and they said it had two scorched pistons, valve was stuck on one cylinder and push rod and head damage to the other cylinder. So here I am looking for solutions that won't come back to bite me.
 

Bertrrr

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
I think that model courage is badly designed , something came apart internally - that's what happened to the one I had - did a little digging and found out it was common with that motor to fail like this
 
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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
I think that model courage is badly designed , something came apart internally - that's what happened to the one I had - did a little digging and found out it was common with that motor to fail like this
Unfortunately I found that out too. I need to find something other than the Courage line up.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
I was out mowing and it started running rough then quit. It wouldn't start back up I checked all the usual and obvious things but it wouldn't restart. Checked oil it was good... I'm very meticulous about oil changes and maintaining the mower so not sure exactly what happened. Took it to my local dealership and they said it had two scorched pistons, valve was stuck on one cylinder and push rod and head damage to the other cylinder. So here I am looking for solutions that won't come back to bite me.
That does not gell
Unless the mower sufferred a catastrophic oil loss or injested a pile of solid items the engine should not have that much damage
I have repaired several engines where one of the screws that hold the butterfly in position have been sucked into the engine and all they needed was removal of the remains of the screws and a bit of smoothing out . And one of these "had problems starting " for several years.

Now a similar problem ended up being young children "helping daddy" by pouring a dirt-water "oil" mix into the engine and another one was rocks dropped into the air ram by little fingers as well but th one that floored me was the kids that "cleaned " the pre-filter by pouring water through it till all of the dirt went away, while it was still in the mower , you got to love the little darlings .

So I for one would like a second opinion .
If you have maintained the engine as you have posted that mower should have been good for 30 + years .
 

MParr

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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
I own a 2012 Cub Cadet riding mower that has a bad Kohler Courage 25 725cc twin cylinder engine in it. Not happy that the Kohler engine failed with light use at 154 hours on the meter. It needs both heads and both pistons replaced so instead of rebuilding it I thought I'd see what else I could find to replace it with. I'm looking for something used but is known to be a bulletproof engine. Thanks in advance!
If the block is in good shape, I would rebuild it.
Don’t take the word of the dealer at face value. Have the mechanic show you exactly what is broken.
 
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  • / What should I replace my Kohler Courage 25 twin with????
That does not gell
Unless the mower sufferred a catastrophic oil loss or injested a pile of solid items the engine should not have that much damage
I have repaired several engines where one of the screws that hold the butterfly in position have been sucked into the engine and all they needed was removal of the remains of the screws and a bit of smoothing out . And one of these "had problems starting " for several years.

Now a similar problem ended up being young children "helping daddy" by pouring a dirt-water "oil" mix into the engine and another one was rocks dropped into the air ram by little fingers as well but th one that floored me was the kids that "cleaned " the pre-filter by pouring water through it till all of the dirt went away, while it was still in the mower , you got to love the little darlings .

So I for one would like a second opinion .
If you have maintained the engine as you have posted that mower should have been good for 30 + years .
Thanks for the reply! I took it to a small engine repair shop this week and diagnosis is the same as dealer. The small engine shop said the Kohler's Courage motors were junk and had countless issues and Kohler replaced it with the 7000 series... a better engine.
 
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