Impressions: newGT48XLSi

motoman

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Bad hip just when ole dyt4000 lost a cylinder. I cannot presently t-shoot to see if more life is in it so I bought a new Husqy. Although I wanted Kaw I settled on....drum roll ....ANOTHER INTEK????? Yep . I have ranted about this engine and yet after 5 yrs on the forum people (and the dealer)have convinced me that Kaw has problems too. This one is the "endurance" which seems to mean chrome valve stems and a presumably better air filter. But looks the same mostly. So now I am fretting about getting an oil cooler on it asap , oil pressure gauge, and oil temp gauge.

Today I mowed. I like the variable go pedal, but do not like the fail safe procedure for trying to back up with blades on. The seat is back too far and when I looked beneath there are three places for slider slot clamping via cap screws and big washers. Only one is present. The rear slanted hitch plate was punched and the bottom edge is sharp enough to shave with. The oil drain plug has been carefully blocked with a plastic grill making it impossible to drain the oil. The grill looks like it is plastic riveted on so it cannot be removed. WTF? The fabricated deck is awesome looking , but I never had a problem for 12 years with the Craftsman formed one. The smart key seems to work ok now, but I wonder long run? I got the K 66 with locking diff , but have not used it. More later. Please correct me if I am wrong, 2 hours so far. Just remembered to mention an initial impression of the battery hold downs. Plastic "ears" with no cross over clamping, just the edges of the bat ,which will not provide a corrosion path, but which seem very anemic. We'll see.
 

motoman

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Continuing...Apology to Husqy. The seat "should" only have one bolt/washer underneath per manual AND the seat has an adjustment lever on the left side. My bad and glad I found it. I believe this garden tractor is a couple hundred pound heavier than my dyt 4000 and now that I have driven it around it is less snappy due to the same rated Intek. I have learned that for reverse to continue cutting there is a smart button entry to allow it. So far the smart ignition button has worked out and may be worthwhile if it holds up. The arm rests are not so useful to me, but may be to someone mowing a large area. There is a cruise control I have not tried yet. Something about the deck construction causes an irritating "drone" with blades engaged which comes through the ear guards I am using. I hope others can report it is just me or that I can try some different ear protection and change it. After my last 2 hour mow I was not real happy with that noise. The chassis my be a little longer than the Crafstman dyt 4000 as there seems to be better clearance around the back of the Intek (ignoring the perforated plastic shield I mentioned which inhibits oil change on the right side ). The potential is there for a fan based oil cooler which I am considering. But first I will put removability into the right side shield for oil change and to install an oil temp gauge as I have done on the dyt 4000. Once operable, and if I see typical (to me) 280F-300F oil temp I will install an oil cooler/gauge and fan. I see there are some cheap thermostats now available and may consider them because in winter I must drive a lot to bring dyt 4000 engine up to 180+F. I have accidentally engaged the K66 locker button and heard an impressive engagement related sound , solenoid actuation of lever (s)?, but have not studied the tranny up close, nor tried the locker. Although I have not studied it up close it looks like Briggs revised the cooling air shielding on the engine compared with my old Intek. . And... as someone said, the gas gauge is hard to read due to the opaque mostly and you must look down between legs to see it. More as it is fit to print :laughing:
 

motoman

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Forgot earlier to mention that the owners manual it came with is sorely lacking IMO. It does not have the detail, nor cover the topics which the dyt4000 does. I found a download online which is prompted by the Husqy materials included, but I am still not too impressed. I looked further to get detail on the "Endurance" model of Intek which apparently fits between the base engine on the dyt4000 and the "Elite," but the "manual" from Briggs included in my packet is very disappointing. It promises a lot on the cover, showing 3 model series :400000.440000, and 49000 all three known as Professional series. The GT48XLSi (mine) apparently has the middle grade engine discerned from a label on the engine. When you open the "manual" there are interesting pictures of the engines with no nomenclature and item bubble numbers promising a list ,,, but no list. These pictures show an external oil cooler bolted to the driver's side of the fan shroud. Without detail one cannot tell if some fan air is being forced through the shroud to the oil cooler. I think not as I have seen several pictures of Kohler oil coolers which never show a fan. So are they reducing oil temp by 40F in relatively still air? This default and pathetic attempt to include useful material for the owner is baffling and shortsighted IMO. Among the three engines specs is a slight change in bore stroke on the top model-more oversquare.

I am looking for a separate manual for this Intek, but all I see is the one I already have. One more item. I passed on a battery float charger at the Husqy dealer as I had just bought a Schumaker. The Husqy dash has a neat 2 pin female connector with a cover. I am wondering if I should price it out. In the owner's manual they say disconnect bat ground before charging. An additional step perhaps not necessay. The deck has a hose connection which the dealer says works well-not tried. The dealer also commented that the grass baggers are not favored due to pickup clogging problems which seemed odd since most owners know damp and wet grass will clog the most chutes? I will see if I can adapt the Craftsman 3 bag system to this tractor by some welding and maybe a formed fiberglass adaptor fitting the Husqy deck and the Craftsman tube. More if worthwhile. Correct and help me as necessary.
 

motoman

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The dash mounted battery connector has a live cursor blinking. The smart switch provides battery condition at startup if you want via red yellow green leds . Dustcap covers two male pin contacts (correction to earlier) which are odd ball to me as I tried to find a mating female in my grab bad and could not. The connector seems to be a "CTEK" which is a brand name and the name of the float charger sold for this tractor, around $60 online. I am trying to adapt my Schumaker float charger to those pins, Otherwise just the common clamp connectors to the battery.
 

motoman

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Daughter helping haul cut weeds . At start we noticed the smart key bat led was blinking half charge so we decided to run the tractor with no shut off to charge. It worked except she ran out of gas. I had noticed a reserve gas valve under the seat (but I missed this if it was in the manual). Expecting a stiff action I was pleased to turn it easily and within one extra jab on the smart key the reserve gas was flowing. Very cool.
 

bertsmobile1

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If you use the deck washout it is essential that after the water is turned off you drive over a dry hard surface and leave the deck running about 10 minutes to dry off.
Otherwise you will end up replacing a lot more spindles & bearings that you would like to do.
Just like the Craftsman, the deck needs to be kept clean on the top so the vents around the spindles can work and for this you really need a blower as loose cut grass does not wash off.
I use an air duster with a 4' long nozel so I can get under the pulley guards and into the frame rails without standing on my head ( way too old for that ) or eating grass ( got cows to do that ).
Not a big fan of worry gauges but if you feel more confident with them installed then go ahead it is your mower after all so kit it out as you like.
Try to avoid fitting anything to the cowel that makes it harder to remove as removing it regularly and blowing clean the cooling fins is one of the easiest and most beneficial maintenance jobs you can do.
Using the long air duster to blow dust out from under the flywheel does the alternator a power of good as well.
 

motoman

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Bert, Yes I am leery of the hose cleanout also as I have run over mostly damp to wet grass for 12 years with my lowly stamped deck on the dyt 4000 with no spindle changeout or perforation. I do, however, sharpen about 3 times summer and end up chiseling adobe coating from the deck (mud and dried weeds/grass) . The load I typically get from that excercise is about 5-6 flat shovel-fulls. I feel that has retarded rust and allowed the deck to dry . Re gauges...I understand how pros who constantly repair needless damage of clients' machines develop a kind of cynicism (maybe for all mowers). But for the odd ball minority gauges can prolong life of the big box machines. motoman

Edit. I have an air compressor and an H Frt quick attach "wand" of about 2 feet with trigger which I clean up the tractor with after every mow. You can reach into the chute opening and the diffused 100 psi will detach the thatch also if moist enough. I always direct the air accross the front of the intek carburettor and the pointy tip allows blast into little openings in the air shrouding, as well as cleaning up the weeping oil points for closer inspection. When done there is a big ring of debris and grass around the tractor. I have read others do this too. From the volume of grass and weed clippiings I dislodge around the deck pulleys it would seem these masses could end up stretching or damaging the drive belts if not removed.
 
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