By all means save this Mower with the Kawasaki engine! I've just saved ours, and when I got to looking into engine wearout, I was shocked to see that the valve adjustments held steady for 15 years, and are within .0005 of what the spec is! That is unbelievable, even cars don't hold tolerances that well as they undergo a lot of wear and tear. Your problem is probably the same exact same one that I had. It throws you for a loop for sure. MOST LIKELY it is your carburetor MAIN JET, that you need to actually unscrew and clean with nylon Fishing Line. Yes! My Jet actually looked great, with my eyesight, it had a very round opening and didn't look like any junk was blocking it. BUT ... there was uniform build-up of gasoline residues, that I was able to rough-out, but using fishing line and just running it through the jet maybe 10 times, and when I saw the opening getting larger, I knew I was onto something! The Fishing Line won't damage the soft brass jet, so don't worry about enlarging the opening too much. But once you get this back in, and your Carb back on, you will be amazed! As you throttle-up and then Engage the Blade Clutch, the Engine will pull strongly and NOT Stall-Out !!! Oh - There is NO replacement or rebuilt carburetor available, so treat it well, you can probably re-use the same gaskets, and maybe a little bit of gasket sealer -Automotive type is fine. Good Luck !

Hi tce. if it doesn't smoke like crazy when started it is prob a large carbon buildup in the combustion chamber.....If it does smoke heavily upon startup, it may be that there is a partial hydraulic lock from the mower being tipped the wrong way for viewing under deck. Let us know which situation is yours for further suggestions.....ET .....

Hi...... I have a good used transmission for you.I would let it go for $50 as I was keeping it as an extra for my 14sb. It came out of the newer green bodied mower.

1 Don't sweat it 2 It is easy to pull the rear wheels and gears to clean and lube +plus you can hopefully free the fitting up to get lube in the pivot 3 See #1 The coating you put on , no matter how it was prepped- will be sand blasted off. been there, tried that exact same thing on a new aluminum housing. 4 Just so it firmly engages. Standard cable lube is fine. deere.com may have an owners manual to cover this more precisely. 5 5 gear sets inside selected w/ shift keys. 6 Yes 7 Standard care will allow the engine to last for longer than ever required. Transmissions on these can get water in them for those than blast them w/ a hose to get clean. If the input shaft bearing seems ok, no signs of having been owned by Mr clean and the cable seems to actuate smoothly, the trans should be fine. If you want a yucky job, pull the case sometime and clean it up and re lube. Unfortunately, this year seems to be the demise of these. In my world , I've condemned 3 to death from housings starting to pit through. One wasn't too bad, but needed a clutch- which is not worth it for a machine that is decaying. Enjoy, as they don't make them like they used to.