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i have an old John Deere Sabre lawn tractor that is probably about 12 years old. It came with a 15.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine and a 38 inch deck. My closest John Deere dealer is about 35 miles from my home and never has the parts in stock that I need, not even belts. I prefer to buy locally rather than order and pay shipping charges and wait on parts.
I recently bought a Honda HXR217VKA self propelled mower that I love even though I have to walk behind it rather than ride it. My Honda dealer is a mile and a half from my home and can order parts for all lawn mowers except John Deere. I have been considering buying a Honda GXV390 commercial engine with a recoil starter to replace the B&S 15.5. I assume my two biggest concerns will be 1) if the engine is powerful enough to propel the tractor and turn the blades at the same time and 2) if the engines turn in the same direction at about the same rpm so I won't end up with 4 reverse gears and one forward gear. I have no problem with replacing belts, spindles and pullies if necessary and even the deck for a smaller one if needed. The Honda website says the 390 is 389 cc with 10.2 net horsepower at 3600 rpm's and 17.8 ft-lbs of torque at 2500 rpm's. Our first lawn tractor was a Craftsman that was new in 1969 with a 12 hp engine that drove a 48 inch deck with 3 blades, so 10.2 hp doesn't seem under powered to drive 2 blades with a 38 inch deck. Besides, who knows how the horse power was measured and by whom. 10.2 sounds like it was measured by engineers where 12 and 15.5 sound like they may may have been dreamed up by the marketing department.
I have very little experience working on lawn mowers but do light maintenance on cars and have first class hand tools. I very much want to get a Honda engine, not another brand. Will this one be adaptable to my Sabre? Since it has a recoil engine, will I be able to remove the battery, starter and wiring which has been my biggest problem since day one.
I have 3.2 acres to cut but will only cut half per week. I have also considered a smaller deck with only one blade because my yard has always looked better when cut with a smaller deck. I prefer a better looking yard to a faster cut. As far as the engine goes, I demand reliability.
This is a link to the Honda 390:
http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gxv390
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
I recently bought a Honda HXR217VKA self propelled mower that I love even though I have to walk behind it rather than ride it. My Honda dealer is a mile and a half from my home and can order parts for all lawn mowers except John Deere. I have been considering buying a Honda GXV390 commercial engine with a recoil starter to replace the B&S 15.5. I assume my two biggest concerns will be 1) if the engine is powerful enough to propel the tractor and turn the blades at the same time and 2) if the engines turn in the same direction at about the same rpm so I won't end up with 4 reverse gears and one forward gear. I have no problem with replacing belts, spindles and pullies if necessary and even the deck for a smaller one if needed. The Honda website says the 390 is 389 cc with 10.2 net horsepower at 3600 rpm's and 17.8 ft-lbs of torque at 2500 rpm's. Our first lawn tractor was a Craftsman that was new in 1969 with a 12 hp engine that drove a 48 inch deck with 3 blades, so 10.2 hp doesn't seem under powered to drive 2 blades with a 38 inch deck. Besides, who knows how the horse power was measured and by whom. 10.2 sounds like it was measured by engineers where 12 and 15.5 sound like they may may have been dreamed up by the marketing department.
I have very little experience working on lawn mowers but do light maintenance on cars and have first class hand tools. I very much want to get a Honda engine, not another brand. Will this one be adaptable to my Sabre? Since it has a recoil engine, will I be able to remove the battery, starter and wiring which has been my biggest problem since day one.
I have 3.2 acres to cut but will only cut half per week. I have also considered a smaller deck with only one blade because my yard has always looked better when cut with a smaller deck. I prefer a better looking yard to a faster cut. As far as the engine goes, I demand reliability.
This is a link to the Honda 390:
http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gxv390
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
