The Gravely Mower

Do you ever have a day when you should just not do anything? I had such a day last week Friday. From not fully sealing the container of berries I put on my oatmeal and then getting berry juice over the floor, wall and fridge as I flung it around to put in the fridge, to mower  issues. The biggest issue is with a brand new Gravely zero-turn mower, most specifically its Kawasaki engine. 

I mow property my sister owns, and it has been a trail this spring. Nothing ever seems to go easily and that was exacerbated on Friday. First, will be the Gravely, which issues should give pause to anyone looking to purchase such a piece of equipment with a Kawasaki engine. Next, will be other issues that arose.

How I wish it would be this easy. 

My sister brought down to Sun Prairie from La Crosse a new Gravely a few weeks ago. One garden tractor mower (2004 Legacy Simplicity) was in need of repair to the mower deck (sourcing a discontinued part 5" long spindle for the blades which got bent was difficult but my sister found one in Ohio), another 2019 Legacy had a broken wire that led to the mower height not being adjustable. I thought I would try to mow with the brand new Gravely mower.  Well, just under two weeks ago it took a bit to get started. My sister had to use starting fluid to get it started, which should have been her first clue as to what a piece of S#@t the Kawasaki engine on the machine is. I mean a brand new engine and machine and you have to use starting fluid? Well, after trying, and trying, and then having to wait several minutes for it to sound decent I started mowing. I was able to mow about 1 hour and 30 min until the machine stopped, for no reason at all. I could not get it restarted, so for the last few minutes I pulled out the 2019 Simplicity Legacy tractor that had the issue with the broken wire (I did not know the wire was broken two weeks ago, but my electrician brother in  law noticed it later that day). I finished mowing with the 2019 Simplicity, and then was able to get the Gravely started and promptly put it away.

I thought, perhaps it was getting some use and would finally work. Wow, was I wrong!  This past Friday I tried to start it, as my wife used the 2019 Simplicity and I would use the Gravely. Well, it took a long time to get it started and keep running. It would start and quit, start and quit and repeat several times. It is a brand new machine with just over 2 some hours of operation time. When the engine sounded like it was finally running well,  after several tries and carefully moving the choke in very gradually, I turned on the mower only to find the engine bogged down and quit. Several minutes later I let it run losing precious minutes mowing due to the Japanese engine. My wife in the meantime is easily mowing with the 2019 Simplicity and its Briggs and Stratton engine which has electronic choke so need to worry about a choke. I finally get the mower running and within 10 minutes it stops. I get off figure I should check the oil because who knows how much oil a the Japanese engine might use with only 2 hours on it, and find the oil fine. After about 15 minutes it starts and I start to mow again, and within about 35 minutes it stopped. It would not start after sitting 15 minutes, and later 45 minutes. I finally got it going and when putting it away, it, of course stopped again. Once again I had to wait to move it the 30 feet into the garage.

The Gravely and its Japanese engine are supposed to be good equipment. I will believe it when I see that it can promptly start, engage mower shortly after starting without the engine stopping and mow five acres without stopping, It could not run for a few minutes even to put it away. I have filled it with 91 octane premium gas, and the last fill was with gas only a week old. Perhaps this shows how tender Japanese made products really are. 

From Gravely website
False advertising? Maybe if you can get the engine running

I am sure my when my sister bought it she thought it would ease the pain of mowing but it only has made it worse. Any savings she had when she bought it last year, she got a deal when a friend also bought a Gravely, has now quickly disappeared. I told her not to buy it as it would be just another machine to maintain. Perhaps I need to rig something up so I can put a blast of starter fluid in the Japanese engine every five minutes to keep it running, although I am not sure that would work. A brand new machine and engine should work, and this one does not. I am thinking it is a LEMON!!  If this was an American badged engine, people would forever complain, and not buy it again. Well, I told my brother in law not to buy a Gravely because its Japanese engine cannot be counted on. 

As my wife finished mowing with the 2019 Simplicity and I fumed using a variety of cuss words over a piece of crap red colored Gravely mower that cannot be relied on to get started, or stay running, my brother in law and sister arrived. He then spent three hours trying to fix the wire, without taking the deck off the 2019 Simplicity as that is quite a chore. Hey, at least it works. He eventually got the mower deck fixed after using a wago connector from the wires on a trailer. This trailer was needed for yet another chore. The connector was borrowed after completing the chore of getting the mower deck for the 2003 Simplicity. This leads to the story of the trailer and wago connector.

In between attempts to fix the wire, I decided to go get the mower deck for the 2003 Simplicity that was being repaired. I went to hook it to my Jeep, but it did not fit the ball. That trailer uses a 1-7/8" ball, and the one on my Jeep is a 2". My brother in law said to use his Chevrolet truck, but he had 2". But, he was prepared as he had a second receiver with three different sized balls. So, we take off his 2", put on the multi-ball receiver hitch with the 1 7/8" ball for the trailer, only to find wire harness plug would not reach the trucks four pin connector. I then took my hitch tightener and receiver hitch with the two inch ball out and put on my relative's multi-ball receiver hitch. Well, the connector still did not reach on my Jeep. My brother in law then rigged up extensions on the trailer to allow it to work and off we finally went to get the repaired mower deck from Prairie Power. We also stopped at Menards to get some wago connectors, but the type Menards carried did not work to repair the broken wire on the 2019 mower deck, so a variety of other methods were attempted. Then my brother in law borrowed the wago from the trailer and it was done within a few minutes, showing that the right connector is important. I did not know there were different types of wago connectors, but leave it to Menards to sell insufficient electrical connectors. Maybe Menards should team with Kawasaki. 

It is not much good when a brand new mower fails to work and that Gravely, with its Kawasaki engine fits the bill of a unit simply taking up space and not available for its intended purpose. Perhaps it only requires a quick fix, but as the situation has devolved over two weeks, that seems unlikely. Luckily there are two Simplicity tractors available for use. The thing is, would it have been better to go with an electric mower where one no longer needs to worry the likely issues related to a Kawasaki internal combustion engine that does not work? There are manufacturers who make a 60" zero turn mowers that run on battery power. Get extra batteries and more than likely be able to fully cover the acreage mowed.

Gravely is made by Ariens, and I own an Ariens snowblower with an Ariens engine. Too bad they cannot develop their own engine for the Gravely. Maybe Kawasaki was the low bid to supply engines. If so, it shows.

In the end, a zero turn machine that was supposed to make mowing easier, and perhaps quicker, is in fact a piece of equipment that has led to a great number of swear words used due to the inability of the Kawasaki engine being unable to start timely, run timely, and not even mow without stopping.  In other words, it is not performing its due function. At least something went well that day, we de-winterized our small camper, and had no issues. But the Gravely and the other mower issues, offset the good occurrence. With the Gravely raising blood pressure, the Gravely may be wanting to send me to an early grave.