Kawasaki or Kohler

I have a heavy duty zero turn mower with the 23 HP KAWASAKI----Like it a lot.
I am looking for the same kind of zero turn and found one with the Kohler motor.

Is one better than the other??????//

thanks

I had all kinds of trouble with the Kawasaki on my JD mower so I went with Kohler on new one. I have not had it long enough to know if there is a difference.

We put thousands and thousands of hours on toro Z's and I lean Kawasaki after several issues with kohlers. Kohler efi's are the exception and run forever though for me, I have 2 with 3500+ hrs

Go with the kawasaki! I put 3 kohler command 27hp engines on my exmark lazer z over 3400 hours. Worse mistake I made was buying gas in the first place. If i could go back I'd get the kubota diesels,.

Forgot to mention my other lazer z has the kawie, on it's second motor but the mower is a 03, the 05 z with the kohler fell apart with 1700 hours on it, the crank gear that runs the camshaft split, no keyway on the shaft.

We run both Toro and John Deere equipment at the golf course where I work locally. We have 3 Kohler V-twin engines all are 18-20 hp carbureted engines and together they probably have nearly 20,000 hours on them. I have replaced a couple of ignition modules on one due to a Kohler factory upgrade reccomendation. Rebuilt 2 carburetors for needle and seat wear probably due to all the vibration on these mowers. We have one Kawasaki single cylinder on a walking mower and it runs very little but gives almost no trouble. We have one Kawasaki 20 hp water cooled v-twin and it runs good and gives very little trouble but had to have a carburetor repair at 5,400 hrs. The float pivot post hole was worn so badly the needle would hang and not close and would fill the cylinders with gasoline. The top half of the carburetor which contains the float pivot post is NLA from the parts source, so we had to buy a whole carburetor from John Deere as this is an exclusive to them unit priced at $296 and change plus shipping making it over $300.00. we have 3 Briggs & Stratton 18-20 hp V-twins that have probably 20,00 hrs all together and have done a couple of carb rebuild and 2 starter replacements and replaced 2 ignition modules. We had one B&S V-twin that the cooling fins got clogged up and it locked down and we cleaned the fins out, we put a little oil in the cylinders and rolled it over by hand a couple of rounds and then put it back to work and it is still going strong. Spark plugs replaced in all engines. In the long haul the Kohlers and B&S V-twins have been dependable and delivered good service per dollar/hr of use. I personally like the Kohlers but the Briggs are good dependable and probably the least expensive engine. The Kawasaki is a good engine but expensive to buy and parts are expensive and usually have to come from the dealer for anything more than spark plugs and filters and are usually expensive.

Kohler used to be good engines. Any more I"m not so sure. I'd go with the Kawisaki if it were me. My Dad and I have a lawncare business on the side. Both of our mowers our mowers have Kawasaki engines. The 737 Deere has 18?? hours with nothing done to the engine and the Hustler has 283 hours on it but its just a year old this month.

Kohler make different grades of engines. The Courage is usually put into homeowner grade equiptment. I think the Courage is rated as an 800 hour engine,meaning that 50% are expected to fail at that time.