What to do with a Kawasaki 16hp V twin garden tractor engine???

[Dave M7040]

A little update... senility is catching up with me. Holy, Moly... turns out I was way off on engine and age of machine... not a 1990. This is a year 2000... and I bought this new! Haven't touched in 10 years as I left it at my old property when I turned it into a rental.

Did a full tune up, replaced all fluids, filters, air, fuel, oil, replaced the front plastic bumper which was cracked, and now the hood articulates like new. After a fair amount of electrical diagnostics I convinced myself the starter solenoid was bad and not a dang safety switch. Well one of the safety switches (brake) is bad but that is a simple unplug. New solenoid, and it starts first key click!!! Everything else is in good condition and clean after a crude detailing job.

Now the thing runs and rides beautifully and still has low hours on it for an 18 year old machine. Don't know how many but only had to mow a half acre of decently manicured lawn. I have fallen back in love with it and although I don't really need it with my zero turn, I won't part it out. It's gonna make a good addition to a new home if my heart will part with it. In the meantime I am going to compare performance on steep slopes vs. my zero turn. First I have to wait for some dry grass (3 months?).

One use I have considered having moved to zero turn, was to turn the garden tractor into a generator. Perhaps the generator head in front of the grill, standing vertically and belt driven from the former mower deck pulley.

The mower engines typically run at 3,600 rpm which is the requirement for a belt driven generator head.

This one from Northern Tool is much smaller than your 16 hp could drive but there are larger ones for more money.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_21008_21008

Most generators, especially for someone like me at 71 are very hard to move around. This way you can drive to where you need power.

Running the Kawasaki engine at full rpm but driving a 2,600 watt generator means it will run a long time on the garden tractor's fuel tank.

Dave M7040

 

[4get gto]

A little update... senility is catching up with me. Holy, Moly... turns out I was way off on engine and age of machine... not a 1990. This is a year 2000... and I bought this new! Haven't touched in 10 years as I left it at my old property when I turned it into a rental.

Did a full tune up, replaced all fluids, filters, air, fuel, oil, replaced the front plastic bumper which was cracked, and now the hood articulates like new. After a fair amount of electrical diagnostics I convinced myself the starter solenoid was bad and not a dang safety switch. Well one of the safety switches (brake) is bad but that is a simple unplug. New solenoid, and it starts first key click!!! Everything else is in good condition and clean after a crude detailing job.

Now the thing runs and rides beautifully and still has low hours on it for an 18 year old machine. Don't know how many but only had to mow a half acre of decently manicured lawn. I have fallen back in love with it and although I don't really need it with my zero turn, I won't part it out. It's gonna make a good addition to a new home if my heart will part with it. In the meantime I am going to compare performance on steep slopes vs. my zero turn. First I have to wait for some dry grass (3 months?).

does your wife ever tell you "you can never make up your mind". :laughing:

 

[2ndhalf]

That is a perfect sized tractor to teach a youngin to mow on. Both my boys learned on a similarly sized JD 170 14hp kaw with 38" deck. My oldest being very tall for his age and mechanically inclined was mowing at 9 or 10.

We just let ride around on it without mowing until we felt confident he was ready to mow. Not all kids are ready to mow at that age but he was. My younger son took a little longer until he was ready.

 

[dragoneggs]

One use I have considered having moved to zero turn, was to turn the garden tractor into a generator. Perhaps the generator head in front of the grill, standing vertically and belt driven from the former mower deck pulley.

The mower engines typically run at 3,600 rpm which is the requirement for a belt driven generator head.

This one from Northern Tool is much smaller than your 16 hp could drive but there are larger ones for more money.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_21008_21008

Most generators, especially for someone like me at 71 are very hard to move around. This way you can drive to where you need power.

Running the Kawasaki engine at full rpm but driving a 2,600 watt generator means it will run a long time on the garden tractor's fuel tank.

Dave M7040

Ya know, I really love the idea of a drivable generator! Wonder if there are any conversion plans out there? Could be very useful and will have to give this some thought. The thought of being able to load up and power my welder anywhere on the property is intriguing.

does your wife ever tell you "you can never make up your mind". :laughing:

Yeah, but she can't either... she's probably worse! :laughing:

That is a perfect sized tractor to teach a youngin to mow on. Both my boys learned on a similarly sized JD 170 14hp kaw with 38" deck. My oldest being very tall for his age and mechanically inclined was mowing at 9 or 10.

We just let ride around on it without mowing until we felt confident he was ready to mow. Not all kids are ready to mow at that age but he was. My younger son took a little longer until he was ready.

Actually my son was 10 or 11 when I bought it and since our lawn was pretty much flat and nothing but bushes to run into, I quickly got him mowing after my initial excitement of riding instead of pushing wore off. First time he really wanted to perform a chore around the house. :thumbsup:

 

[aczlan]

Ya know, I really love the idea of a drivable generator! Wonder if there are any conversion plans out there? Could be very useful and will have to give this some thought. The thought of being able to load up and power my welder anywhere on the property is intriguing.

Perhaps take the mower deck off and set it up so you can run the generator head out the front or side using the pulley intended for the belt? If it has an electric PTO, you could turn it on and off with the PTO switch (just disable the seat switch/PTO interlock).

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

 

[dragoneggs]

There you go! Exactly. Problem is I chased the lead down a rabbit hole. Youtube vid posted more than 6 years ago. Apparently didn't take off. Company website no longer exists and I poked around further to no avail.

 

[2ndhalf]

2011 and I hadn't head of them until today and when I go there the site is pretty cluggie. They need to invest in a marketing strategy done by professionals.

 

[dragoneggs]

2011 and I hadn't head of them until today and when I go there the site is pretty cluggie. They need to invest in a marketing strategy done by professionals.

I'm guessing these guys had bigger problems than marketing.

 

[bcp]

There you go! Exactly. Problem is I chased the lead down a rabbit hole. Youtube vid posted more than 6 years ago. Apparently didn't take off. Company website no longer exists and I poked around further to no avail.

Here's the rabbit:

FARM SHOW - Generator Transforms Garden Tractor Into Power Plant

US811934B2 - Portable electricity generator
- Google Patents

Bruce