Kubota ZD21 zero turn mower starter issue ?

[Cycledude]

I am the very well satisfied owner of a Kubota ZD21 but it has been suffering with a starter issue for several years and I would like to fix it.
The starter motor seems to run fine but the gear very often doesn’t engage to turn over the engine, do you think just replacing the solenoid or whatever you call that thing sitting on top of the starter would fix it ?
Amazon has several choices for a complete new starter for what seem like pretty reasonable prices so maybe I should just go that route ?

https://www.amazon.com/kubota-zd21-starter/s?k=kubota+zd21+starter

or maybe someone more mechanically inclined than me has some helpful advice ?

Thanks for your help !

 

[Roadworthy]

You may have a bad Bendix but it's also possible your starter doesn't spin initially with enough speed to throw the Bendix into the ring gear in the engine. A complete starter may be a better way to go. Of course it's also possible your starter isn't getting full voltage when activated. You may want to compare that voltage against the battery voltage and be sure all terminals including frame ground are clean and tight.

 

[Richard001]

Or maybe you just need to clean the bendex. They can become gummed up and not move up when the starter spins.

Richard

 

[Cycledude]

Well I ordered the brandnew starter from Amazon for $68 delivered.
Arrived yesterday, today I installed it and so far it’s working perfectly !
I like to support my local dealer but they wanted $205 plus my old starter.
It was a fairly easy job to replace it but in the process I discovered one of the hitch bolts was missing its probably been missing since the machine was new, replaced the missing bolt cost $1.29

 

[RjCorazza]

Glad to hear you're up and running. I have had good luck with the sub $80 starters on Amazon. I recall the OEM starters for my ZD326 And previous ZD331 being more expensive, like in the $300-$400 range.

 

[Cycledude]

Glad to hear you're up and running. I have had good luck with the sub $80 starters on Amazon. I recall the OEM starters for my ZD326 And previous ZD331 being more expensive, like in the $300-$400 range.

Well then apparently starter failures aren’t really very unusual ? This is the very first time I ever had trouble with a starter. Yesterday when I stopped at hardware store to buy the replacement missing hitch bolt I parked next to a older Chevrolet pickup that had a box of tools and a starter laying next to it, the guy said he had replaced the starter a couple months ago but it failed again yesterday while parked at hardware store, the starter came with a lifetime warranty so the outfit he had bought it from were supposed to be bringing him another new starter.