I've been posting various updates on this rig periodically, specifically the engine since there is seemingly little info out there - I meant to do a 100 hour update but obviously I'm a little late..
This mower is mainly used to maintain my neighbor's yard which is about 2 acres with LOTS of trees! Last I counted, there were 110 things to go around (trees, buildings, garden, fire pit and so on). Typically takes about 1.5 hours. My wife tends to horn in on the fun and mows our yard with my old Deere L110 and since she's such a team player, she'll help with the neighbor's place too... I guess it's a good problem to have
I serviced the ZT2800 hydros at around 75 hours with Amsoil Hydrostatic Transmission Oil and OE Hydro Gear filters, but they didn't seem to notice much. MAYBE a little more responsive. The mower itself has received nothing but grease in the zerks and blades (I actually keep a spare set and just rotate them out). The engine is still running like a champ. It gets an air filter once a season and starts easily and the couple of cold start quirks like surging are gone - as soon as it fires, I push the choke off and it's just happy to be alive. I always let it idle for at least 5 minutes or so just off low idle before advancing the throttle and mowing (I generally feel the rocker cover and/or the oil filter for temp). I'm using Amsoil Small Engine 15w50 which went in at the same time as the hydro oil and am on my second season without adding oil - it'll come out at the end of this season with somewhere around 80-90 hours on it. I finally got around to checking the valve clearance yesterday and they in fact were in need. The spec is .004"-.006" and 3 were at almost .012" and one (an exhaust) was at .007"-.008" Now they're at .005", but really I don't notice much of a difference - maybe a little less tappy sounding. I pulled the plugs (Champion) for the first time yesterday and they're juuuuuust starting to round the edges off the electrodes - I'll probably toss a set in at the end of the season.
In short, this thing is a solid running twin that's relatively easy on fuel with lots of power and I consider it to be the best small engine that I've owned so far - it has definitely changed my mind about Briggs OPE.
This mower is mainly used to maintain my neighbor's yard which is about 2 acres with LOTS of trees! Last I counted, there were 110 things to go around (trees, buildings, garden, fire pit and so on). Typically takes about 1.5 hours. My wife tends to horn in on the fun and mows our yard with my old Deere L110 and since she's such a team player, she'll help with the neighbor's place too... I guess it's a good problem to have
I serviced the ZT2800 hydros at around 75 hours with Amsoil Hydrostatic Transmission Oil and OE Hydro Gear filters, but they didn't seem to notice much. MAYBE a little more responsive. The mower itself has received nothing but grease in the zerks and blades (I actually keep a spare set and just rotate them out). The engine is still running like a champ. It gets an air filter once a season and starts easily and the couple of cold start quirks like surging are gone - as soon as it fires, I push the choke off and it's just happy to be alive. I always let it idle for at least 5 minutes or so just off low idle before advancing the throttle and mowing (I generally feel the rocker cover and/or the oil filter for temp). I'm using Amsoil Small Engine 15w50 which went in at the same time as the hydro oil and am on my second season without adding oil - it'll come out at the end of this season with somewhere around 80-90 hours on it. I finally got around to checking the valve clearance yesterday and they in fact were in need. The spec is .004"-.006" and 3 were at almost .012" and one (an exhaust) was at .007"-.008" Now they're at .005", but really I don't notice much of a difference - maybe a little less tappy sounding. I pulled the plugs (Champion) for the first time yesterday and they're juuuuuust starting to round the edges off the electrodes - I'll probably toss a set in at the end of the season.
In short, this thing is a solid running twin that's relatively easy on fuel with lots of power and I consider it to be the best small engine that I've owned so far - it has definitely changed my mind about Briggs OPE.
