Z655 kaboom. Pics....

[Jimbo45]

So my teenage son bought a super clean 2015 Z655 to mow the bigger properties he landed this summer, with. He was the third owner in 3 years, only 250 hours on it. The motor was randomly bogging and would only run on choke, a few times per mow, and he would have to let it sit for a while. I made a thread on this previously. After replacing the fuel pickup, fuel filter, clearing the lines, a new fuel pump, cleaning the carb, still did it. Yesterday I pulled the trigger on a new carb and installed it. Ran great for about 15 minutes! Yay! Finally got it figured out. Then..... He calls me and said it started rattling terrible and smoking then he shut it down. Brought it home, removed the plugs and found one crushed and full of metal particles. Tore the left head off and found this. Valve snapped and grenaded the motor. Two months out of warranty. Sucks so bad for him, he saved up and bought this mower on his own, push mowing and doing odd jobs. I have to believe the seller knew it had issues that the dealer either couldn't replicate and fix, and he wanted to dump this machine. What a nightmare this machine has been.

 

[bertsmobile1]

That's a bummer.
\
However rebuilding that engine during the off season can be some quality father son time.
In the mean time a "daddy bank" loan for a replacement engine might be in order.
Lots of cheap engines this time of year on the surplus engine sites
Surplus centre
Small Engine warehouse
Small engine Supplies

Hp ratings +/- 15% will be insignificant if he is not mowing 8 hours a day.
QALthough going with the same engine will save hassels with mufflers.

IF he has the 1.125' CRANK
https://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/shop/html/pages/products/briggs_vertical_shaft_engines4395.html

SAME PRICE FOR THE 1" CRANK
https://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/shop/html/pages/products/briggs_vertical_shaft_engines4394.html

If the mower is in good nick he will be set for decades
or he can sell it "with a brand new engine" ata price that reflects this and hopefully get out unburned.

 

[Jimbo45]

That's a bummer.
\
However rebuilding that engine during the off season can be some quality father son time.
In the mean time a "daddy bank" loan for a replacement engine might be in order.
Lots of cheap engines this time of year on the surplus engine sites
Surplus centre
Small Engine warehouse
Small engine Supplies

Hp ratings +/- 15% will be insignificant if he is not mowing 8 hours a day.
QALthough going with the same engine will save hassels with mufflers.

IF he has the 1.125' CRANK
https://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/shop/html/pages/products/briggs_vertical_shaft_engines4395.html

SAME PRICE FOR THE 1" CRANK
https://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/shop/html/pages/products/briggs_vertical_shaft_engines4394.html

If the mower is in good nick he will be set for decades
or he can sell it "with a brand new engine" ata price that reflects this and hopefully get out unburned.

Yep, I saw that b&s commercial motor right after I ordered a Kawasaki 21.5 hp 1"shaft (model#651 something or other). Ordered for $850 shipped, with a free muffler that I hope will work out. It's supposed to arrive Thursday. We will clean the mower up real well and sell it after we install the new motor. He's so done with that mower. He found a clean JD 737 identical to mine only with the 54"deck, and we drove 2 hours and picked it up Monday. He has all but depleted his savings to cover both mowers, but hoping he can get a good price for this z655 once we get it put together. After using the 737 for a bit today, he realized the hydros are far superior and controllable compared to the 655.

 

[Jimbo45]

He also has the old LX178 that is in great condition that he started with. He always points out how the old John Deere from the early nineties always chugs along, while that 4 year old z655 seems to be a lemon. Only thing he's had to replace on it was the mechanical fuel pump, when it started dripping from the weep hole. He loves that little old liquid cooled mower!

 

[bertsmobile1]

In it's day the LX was a commercial grade mower
The EZ650 is a domestic grade mower so it is chalk & cheese.
I too like the old mowers with 15 grease nipples, pulleys with replacable bearings and manual gear boxes.

You did check the PTO size I hope as both the Briggs & the Kwaka come in 2 shaft sizes at that Hp level.

Good price on the kwaka, I can't get it wholesale for that down here.

651's
FX is the commercial with a steel blower housing and 2 stage Donaldson air filter
FS is the same engine but with a plastic blower housing & smaller foam & paper filter
FR is the residential , plastic manifold, plastic blower housing smaller air filter again
According to the specific spec, 20 to 23.5 Hp

 

[Jimbo45]

In it's day the LX was a commercial grade mower
The EZ650 is a domestic grade mower so it is chalk & cheese.
I too like the old mowers with 15 grease nipples, pulleys with replacable bearings and manual gear boxes.

You did check the PTO size I hope as both the Briggs & the Kwaka come in 2 shaft sizes at that Hp level.

Good price on the kwaka, I can't get it wholesale for that down here.

651's
FX is the commercial with a steel blower housing and 2 stage Donaldson air filter
FS is the same engine but with a plastic blower housing & smaller foam & paper filter
FR is the residential , plastic manifold, plastic blower housing smaller air filter again
According to the specific spec, 20 to 23.5 Hp

Yes, I measured the shaft at 1". This is what I ordered: SmallengineSurplus.com-1 x Kawasaki 21.5 HP FR651V-DS09R (4015) = $769.95

 

[Jimbo45]

Motor just arrived. Shiny and new! The free Kawasaki muffler even looks like it will work! The bottom platform of the box did look a little torn up and the shaft hit the bottom layer of the box pretty hard a few times, hope it's all good. Oh, and to 5/16"ish lock washers loose in the box. Maybe they came out of the muffler hardware bag...

 

[bertsmobile1]

Should ship with muffler gaskets nuts & washers.
The commercials ship with engine mounting bolts.

Which is a point I just remembered
All of the Kawasaki engines I have fitted use nuts & bolts to hold the engine , not self tappers so you will need to buy some grade 8 or 9 bolts.
Check that the bolt holes line up if not the shop you bought it from has a hot link to the bolt pattern template which you can print out.
If it does line up you might need to drill the mounting holes one size bigger so they are the same size as the holes in the mower.
I did not do this one time and the engine decided to shift that tiny bit then the mower shook really badly, took me a long time to sort it out.
No matter how tight I did the bolts up the engine still shifted .

 

[cpurvis]

Can't believe that's the way that engine shipped from the factory.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Can't believe that's the way that engine shipped from the factory.

No it is how it shipped from SES.
A lot of their engines are new pulls ( taken off a mower ) so they get them naked or surplus so they come in bulk factory packaging .
From the factory the engines come in a stillage or large box, in a single layer of 4 or 6 on the big engines or a double layer of 12 for the smaller ones.
Only the engines destined for a single retail pack come boxed individually. Packaging cost money and takes up a lot of truck space
The big outer boxes are stapled to the pallet and the individual engines are separated by 4 pull out panels, usually with ah air sack under the head for support.
When the dollar Au was good against the dollar US I brought in 15 palates of engines packed as supplied to the factories.
Remember he is getting a mower engine for about 1/2 the retail price because they are SURPLUS from a factory, not excess retail stock.