I only get horizontal shaft engines when I type in Kohler command 14. Do you have the model number? What's the price on the 19?
Plus, the courage 19 has a few flaws. The top crankcase cover bolts can loosen, whack the flywheel and crack the engine block, and snap off a few bolts, and the valve cover tends to leak oil
I would say replace the seal on the command,you have to take the engine off anyway to put a new one in. from what I hear they are more durable than the courage.
Not quite Scrubby.
The bolts come loose and vibrations cause the block to crack, nothing hits anything unless the bolts unwind far enough to have the heads ground off by the flywheel .
The Command was the commercial series , & the Courage was the domestic series so cc of cc the courage is a better engine.
I love Courages because they are so well designed & easy to work on.
The hang down, no mess easy access oil filter is a great piece of design.
To me it looks like Kohler originally designed the engine to have a forged steel crank like the Commands do .
A forged crank is nearly twice the price of the cast malleable iron cranks that the engine came out with.
This drastically affects the vibrations so a bigger counter weight was needed which in turn puts more stress on the cases.
As for the leaking rocker cover that is because of gorrillas with wrenches.
When torqued properly they don't leak
When done up with a power driver the cover distorts thins & splits the gasket, which in honestly could have been a bit thicker.
I can always tell when a customer has been into one because the cover needs to be panel beaten before it goes back on.
Next remember that all a bigger engine will do on a walk behind is use more fuel it will not cut the grass 1 microsecond faster than the old 14 did & use around 30% more fuel doing it.