New motor on my Dixie Chopper zero turn cutter ??????

[pharmvet]

I have an old Dixie Chopper 60" zero turn lawn mower that has mowed enough grass to feed every cow in Texas. In short --- looks like the motor needs to be replaced. My small engine guy called me this afternoon and broke the news. Currently, it has a Kohler 25 HP engine. This has been a very good engine. I purchased this mower "used" about 6 years ago. Since then I have mowed about 4 acres weekly during the peak mowing season.

My question is: Can I replace this 25 HP engine with a 30 or so HP engine? Can I find a larger HP engine that will mate up with the mounting brackets, all the wiring, etc? Also, will any of the drive train (pullys, belts, etc need to be altered in any way?

thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

 

[J_J]

You can probably use any engine that will fit in the physical space. In not, redrill new mounting holes.

Here is the link to Small Engine Warehouse. They have good prices.

http://www.smallenginewarehouse.com...=Categories+:+Engines+:+Gas+Engines,+Vertical

I used Dixie Choppers for 20 years, and still have a couple of 25 HP, 60 in.

I have purchased the 22 HP engines for about $750, and the 25 for about $1150.


He says, boy, how come you cut so fast. I says , because I can.

 

[pharmvet]

I contacted Dixie Chopper today and was told that I could replace the 25HP Kohler with a 27HP Generac. What are your thoughts on this brand? My local hardware dealer can bet a Briggs and Stratton. I really don't know much about small engines, but Im sure some are bound to be better than others. I would love to hear from some of you who have strong opinions. thanks

 

[pharmvet]

I contacted Dixie Chopper today and was told that I could replace the 25HP Kohler with a 27HP Generac. What are your thoughts on this brand? My local hardware dealer can bet a Briggs and Stratton. I really don't know much about small engines, but Im sure some are bound to be better than others. I would love to hear from some of you who have strong opinions. thanks

 

[ssls6]

I have an old Dixie Chopper 60" zero turn lawn mower that has mowed enough grass to feed every cow in Texas. In short --- looks like the motor needs to be replaced. My small engine guy called me this afternoon and broke the news. Currently, it has a Kohler 25 HP engine. This has been a very good engine. I purchased this mower "used" about 6 years ago. Since then I have mowed about 4 acres weekly during the peak mowing season.

My question is: Can I replace this 25 HP engine with a 30 or so HP engine? Can I find a larger HP engine that will mate up with the mounting brackets, all the wiring, etc? Also, will any of the drive train (pullys, belts, etc need to be altered in any way?

thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

There is a used 30HP Kawasaki on craigslist Ft. Worth. Low hours from what I remember.

 

[JasG]

I contacted Dixie Chopper today and was told that I could replace the 25HP Kohler with a 27HP Generac. What are your thoughts on this brand? My local hardware dealer can bet a Briggs and Stratton. I really don't know much about small engines, but Im sure some are bound to be better than others. I would love to hear from some of you who have strong opinions. thanks

Generac makes a great motor, they are used in a lot of products. Briggs, Kawasaki, Generac, all 3 brands are used in a lot of stuff and I don't think you can go wrong. Just see if the motor output shaft is the same size. It would make it easier so you wouldn't have to replace anything. If it is different, then anything connected to your old motor shaft would need replacement. Probably just a pulley or 2, so it isn't a huge deal.

 

[Kernopelli]

I believe bigger is almost always better but sometimes price wins over size. The great thing about Kohlers is that they have a lot of crossover and it's easy to figure out what other engines they produce will work in other applications. My Deere had a CH20 that shot craps and I started watching Ebay auctions. Ended up finding a new 23 HP CH670 for about $600 from OPE engines ( the 20 HP "Deere spec" engine was around $2000). Two commercial seasons later, itis still running BETTER than new! Many of the engines in a Kohler series use the same block and major components. When you go to Kohlers website, you can look at engine diagrams w/ measurements and you can look at the spec numbers of every series. Usually, the main thing when looking for a replacement engine w/ different spec number is to check the website and make sure it has the same crank diameter and length. You can then be assured that the physical size, bolt up and pulley/or drive alignment is the same.

Kohler uses a very standardized wiring system too, so if your engine has "special" wire plugs/connectors ( like my F680 did) it is easy to simply trace them on your old engine, cut that connector off and splice it onto the new motor. www.kohlerplus.com is an awesome site. enter as guest and look your engine up. You can then start going through the site and looking at other engines with same/similar specs. From there, you can decide what engines/spec numbers will be compatible. For instance,OPE listed a CV730-014 as a 25 hp Dixie Chopper ZTR replacement engine and I assume this is your motor (BIG bucks!!). Partsplus shows it has a 1 1/8" crank that is 3 5/16" long. When you look up the crank, you can go to the top right of the screen and click on the part number then another screen opens up and you can click on "where else used" and look for other CV series engines with a 1 1/8"x 3 5/16" crank......any of those engines would work. There are probably 25 CV730 engines, 10 CV740 (27HP) engines and several CV745 (28HP) engines that would bolt right in, you use your old exhaust, wiring connectors etc. as needed. Once you know what engines you can use, you can search the net for availability or hopefully find a bargain price.

 

[Glenntrotter]

I have a Dixie chopper and it came with a 25 HP Generac motor I just placed a 30 HP briggs motor on it. It fits like a dream I have yet to do the wiring I have a friend of the family that works for a mower company and he has done this before so he is going to run me throw the wiring in the morning my Generac motor has a shorter down shaft it is a horizontal and or vertical with a set of exploded piston rods my new briggs has a loner tail shaft then the generac but the generac came with a excitation the briggs has to have a ford solenoid to make up for the generacs starter with solenoid all you need is two bolts to bolt it to the left side finder holes are predrilled when you take the pulleys and clutch off the generac motor keep it in the same order but throw away the excitation the Briggs was 1359.99 out the door and a Generac was 2300.00 before taxes so to lose some wiring and just add a solenoid was worth not paying that extra and my 30 HP Briggs has a 2 year warrantee.

 

[Sportsman762]

My only concern would be that if the motor has given up the ghost then there is a good chance that the hydro motors are not far behind. Older hydrostatic Z turns are finicky, It is hard to tell when the hydros are going to go out, but if the machine has seen lots of hours then there is a good chance that they hydros are on their last legs. I have always thought that a air cooled gas engined zero turn was perfectly balanced. When one part (engine or hydro) was about to go out the rest of them where too. This is just my observation from watching state owned z turns get a new hydro one your, the other then next and a engine that year or the one after. (That is ok as long as it is not a capital expenditure....) It would have been cheaper for them to replace the entire mower rather than one part at a time. This is just my opinion.

 

[J_J]

My only concern would be that if the motor has given up the ghost then there is a good chance that the hydro motors are not far behind. Older hydrostatic Z turns are finicky, It is hard to tell when the hydros are going to go out, but if the machine has seen lots of hours then there is a good chance that they hydros are on their last legs. I have always thought that a air cooled gas engined zero turn was perfectly balanced. When one part (engine or hydro) was about to go out the rest of them where too. This is just my observation from watching state owned z turns get a new hydro one your, the other then next and a engine that year or the one after. (That is ok as long as it is not a capital expenditure....) It would have been cheaper for them to replace the entire mower rather than one part at a time. This is just my opinion.

There is no logic to your statement, for things to fail in sequence, or any order. .

Just because an engines dies, is no indication that the hyd system is going to fail.

OH craps, someone broke a car window, dam it, now I have to replace all the windows.

What if that analogy were true in tires, if one blows out then the rest are gong to blow pretty soon.

Same analogy on the human body. What if you break your leg, does that mean the other leg is soon to go.

When something breaks, you fix what is broke. If you did that in doubles triples and quads, you would be out a lot of money and have a lot of spare parts.

 

[Sportsman762]

JJ
I never meant to suggest that they fail in any order. What I was trying to convey is that they failed in a repetitively short time of one another (a season or two). I gave that as an example of what I had seen happen. They would fail in any order, normally with they hydro's failing first.
You are correct in saying that just because the motor failed that there is no proof that a hydro will fail. It is just that I have seen that when one (hydro or engine) then the others are not far behind. However it is difficult to tell when a hydro will fail as they have a tendency to fail catastrophically. My post is not as cut and dry as 2+2=4, but that my experience has shown with hydrostatic zero-turns with air cooled gas engines the engines and hydros have about the same life.
I hope this has shed more light on my original post.

 

[JRobyn]

The logic would be that once the ENGINE had accumulated enough run time/wear and tear, the hydro and all the other components will have ALSO accumulated the SAME run time and wear and tear. There is a great deal of engineering that usually goes into a product to determine what the time-to-failure is so that components can be matched as closely as possible (translated - made as cheaply as possible). The designers and engineers would get canned if they put out a product with an engine designed for 500 hours of life coupled with a hydro that was designed for 5000 hours of life. Remember the finding on Tuff-Torque K46 hydros that MTD INSISTED that TT NOT spend a dollar extra by using synthetic oil vs the cheaper dino?

- Jay

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I have a Dixie chopper and it came with a 25 HP Generac motor I just placed a 30 HP briggs motor on it. It fits like a dream I have yet to do the wiring I have a friend of the family that works for a mower company and he has done this before so he is going to run me throw the wiring in the morning my Generac motor has a shorter down shaft it is a horizontal and or vertical with a set of exploded piston rods my new briggs has a loner tail shaft then the generac but the generac came with a excitation the briggs has to have a ford solenoid to make up for the generacs starter with solenoid all you need is two bolts to bolt it to the left side finder holes are predrilled when you take the pulleys and clutch off the generac motor keep it in the same order but throw away the excitation the Briggs was 1359.99 out the door and a Generac was 2300.00 before taxes so to lose some wiring and just add a solenoid was worth not paying that extra and my 30 HP Briggs has a 2 year warrantee.

Dude, mix in some punctuation. That paragraph is one sentence that is impossible to read.

 

[Sportsman762]

The logic would be that once the ENGINE had accumulated enough run time/wear and tear, the hydro and all the other components will have ALSO accumulated the SAME run time and wear and tear. There is a great deal of engineering that usually goes into a product to determine what the time-to-failure is so that components can be matched as closely as possible (translated - made as cheaply as possible). The designers and engineers would get canned if they put out a product with an engine designed for 500 hours of life coupled with a hydro that was designed for 5000 hours of life.

Thanks this is what I was attempting to say, and failing at explaining.

 

[J_J]

My rebuttal is that I used Dixie Choppers for 20 years, and still have 3.

I never replaced a hyd pump or hyd motor.

I did replace one or two engines. All my engines were Kohlers.

I did replace two decks.

The thing I replaced most was front wheel bearings, primarily because of the sand here in florida.

I do believe I can speak with some experience on the Dixie Choppers.

I also don't believe they match wear factors into the setup.

You primarily match the powertrain for HP and torque to a rugged frame..

I never wore out a tire. but I patched many a tire , and then I installed that green slime and that helped a lot.

I also use MobileOne as the hyd fluid.

 

[JRobyn]

From JJ's experience, it would seem that Dixie Choppers indeed DOES use very high-quality hydraulic components designed for VERY long life. I stand corrected!

- Jay

 

[Sportsman762]

My experience was with Toro, Exmark and Scag. They seem to go kaput all at once.