Did You Do A "Break-In" Oil Change On Your Riding Lawn Mower/Zero-Turn?

Kawasaki says change engine oil after 5 hrs. its in my owners manual.

Hydos first change at 100 hr

Id change that engine oil ASAP.
 
My first oil change had some sparkles of metal. The hydros are sealed units. :(

I plan on an oil cooler and a set of gauges before the start of this season. Need to get busy on that. Mounting the oil cooler above the engine air cooling screen is the issue.
 
Bill Judson said:
That's why I run oil filter magnets to keep that trapped in the oil
filter to remove it from circulating in the engine. (Filter Mag.com)

I run these on the oil filters of both of my pickup trucks as well.
Click to expand...
Do you just add magnets to the case of the filter? I used to do this on my LSX engines. I have a VW GTI now which has a filter insert with a plastic housing, so I have not been able to replicate this with my current setup.

I know not the same thing dealing with small equipment, but the same idea. I found it to be a good solution just in case.
 
SHOZ said:
My first oil change had some sparkles of metal. The hydros are sealed units. :(

I plan on an oil cooler and a set of gauges before the start of this season. Need to get busy on that. Mounting the oil cooler above the engine air cooling screen is the issue.
Click to expand...
I called hydro gear and they said you can't add a cooler if it didn't come that way from the factory. Not sure if that's true or not since I never looked for a port myself. I highly doubt they wouldnt just cap it off if the manufacturer didn't request a cooler.
 
SHOZ said:
My first oil change had some sparkles of metal. The hydros are sealed units. :(

I plan on an oil cooler and a set of gauges before the start of this season. Need to get busy on that. Mounting the oil cooler above the engine air cooling screen is the issue.
Click to expand...
You talking about the engine or the hydros?
 
The motor guy said:
I called hydro gear and they said you can't add a cooler if it didn't come that way from the factory. Not sure if that's true or not since I never looked for a port myself. I highly doubt they wouldnt just cap it off if the manufacturer didn't request a cooler.
Click to expand...
Most of them don't even have a port to cap off, as the sealed hydros and the ones with cooler ports are completely different.
 
Torrid said:
Do you just add magnets to the case of the filter?
Click to expand...


Yep. I got mine at Filter Mag.com and they have a variety of sizes that are curved to fit different diameters

Their magnets are placed on the side of metal oil filters and one can verify that they are collecting stuff as you can cut your filter open and see on the inner wall where the magnet was located that debris is stuck on the inner wall of the filter.


The motor guy said:
I called hydro gear and they said you can't add a cooler
Click to expand...
That's because they want to sell you some new units soon!
smile-grin8.gif
 
Bill Judson said:
Yep. I got mine at Filter Mag.com and they have a variety of sizes that are curved to fit different diameters

Their magnets are placed on the side of metal oil filters and one can verify that they are collecting stuff as you can cut your filter open and see on the inner wall where the magnet was located that debris is stuck on the inner wall of the filter.



That's because they want to sell you some new units soon! View attachment 207281
Click to expand...
The zt3400-5400 series has a cooler option. I just find it hard to believe it wouldn't have a bung for the cooler hose to thread into.
 
I just bought a new zero turn radius mower that has the heavy duty Parker hydraulic transmissions.

It's a $10k mid-grade mower but it has the Parker trans and they are fully serviceable with removable oil filers.
I was thinking of putting a Harley Davidson engine on it and starting an outlaw lawn mower gang
smile-grin11.gif
 
john_pifer said:
With about 20 hours on my new 2022 Gravely ZT-XL (42", 21.5 HP Kawasaki FR651V 726cc air-cooled v-twin, Hydro-Gear ZT-2800 transaxles) that I bought in September when we moved into our new-to-us house on 1.1 acres, I'm considering going ahead and changing the oil and filter soon.

I've decided to use Mobil 1 15W-50, since the oil temps on these air-cooled engines can get pretty high (around 260*F from what someone posted here), and the Kawasaki engines have been known to use a bit of oil, and also because the hydrostatic transaxles' factory fill is, from what I understand, M1 15W-50, and it'll simplify things just to use one oil for both.

The engine did use a few ounces of oil in the first few hours of use, and I topped off with M1 15W-50. However, since that first few hours, it's used very little (not enough to need topping off).

Anyway, with mowing season now in full swing, I'm mowing every week, and daytime highs will soon regularly be over 90*F. So I'm leaning towards going ahead and draining the FF in the next few weeks and filling with the M1 15W-50, despite the fact that the Kawi engine manual doesn't specify an oil change until 100 hours, and a filter change is not required until 200 hrs.

I haven't made a decision on which oil filter to use and I'm open to suggestions if there's something better than the OEM Kawi 49065-0721.

So, what did you guys do?View attachment 158561View attachment 158562
Click to expand...
My Kawi FRV731 called for an oil change at 5 hours. I used Amsoil Small Engine 10w40 at that point and ran it to 144 total hours. I used an XG3600 because I could get it into place with about 1/8” clearance from the frame. I also changed both hydros at 5 hours to Amsoil 20w50 Hydro oil.

At 144 hours, I changed over to HPL Small Engine Life 10w40 and Tractor Life 20w50 for the hydros. That was right at the end of last season, so only 2-3 hours on HPL so far, but the hydros don’t have the slight whine that Amsoil had.

But realistically, both of these brands are overkill for a non-commercial ZT that sees 35-40 total hours per year. 👍🏻
 
john_pifer said:
What did you get?
Click to expand...

I got the 2023 Spartan Mowers RZ-HD 54 in mower with the Kawasaki FR691V 23 hp that retails for - $9089, plus tax

Getting ready for the 2024 year model, they had them on sale for $7700 so I figured I'd blow my stimulus check on this.
 
Everything I buy new gets an early oil change or two depending on how the oil looks when it’s drained. If I can see metallic swirls in oil it gets changed again soon.
It’s only new once!
90cummins
 
This is why it's a good idea to run a couple of magnets on the outside of your spin
on oil filter to help trap those shavings in the oil filter to remove this from the engine.

Yrs, draining the oil helps get some of that out, but trapping this stuff in the oil
filter helps get even more of it out.
 
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