26hp efi Kohler ratings?

[southside]

My Walker has the 26 hp efi motor,with 80hrs on it. No problems so far.Lots of power and torque and leaves the 25hp carb model for dead.
My question is, is there any truth to the rumour that the
26hp is really a 29-30hp motor? If so why rate it at 26hp?

Karl

[tlcgrounds]

I own Exmarks and I to looked into the 26efi. My dealer told me that exmark dynoed the engine out at 28.5 ponies but Kohler is only willing to call it a "26 horse" engine. I demoed a 26 hrs 72 inch lazer and it bushhogged 18" of prairie fescue and slung it a country mile. TOns of power!

[landscaper3]

Yes the real numbers on the 26H/P EFI are 29 to 30 hp to get more speed you can get a speedup kit $25 adds 2mph steering gets a little jerky until you get use to it or you can ajust the throttle up, my friends did there 26efi and siad that alone got 1-2mph HAVE A WALKER DEALER do this proceedure they have a tach to ajust it up, so you wont over rev.

[TLS]

Just wondering why a company (Kohler) would under-rate engine output? In cars, it helped the insurance rate, there were many muscle cars that were factory under-rated to either fool competition or beat ins. rates. I don't think Kohler is using this strategy (why would they?). However, the horsepower and torque may be applied across a wider RPM range, hence the powerful feeling. Also, fuel injection tends to give a 'crisper' feel to the throttle.

Any other thoughts?

Has anyone had headgaskets replaced on a 26 EFI yet? If they corrected the problem, its about time!!

[landscaper3]

They do this to meet the California and state emmision laws kinda like they did in the 60s and 70s with muscle cars you know LS7 454 450horse no more like 480. Plymouth 440 395 hp more like 460hp that was for insurance reasons but same idea

[John DiMartino]

I think that HP#'s are mysterious and not always equal from one company to another.I know there are at least 3 ratings for every engine.Peak,Interemittent,and continous.I know that most throw away Air cooled motors that we use are rated peak power only.Take the kohler 20hp aegis L/c,on their website they list all 3 ratings.The peak is 20hp,intermittent is 18hp and continous is 16.All 3 ratings are correct,they can choose which ever they'd like to use,depending if they want the engine to be underrated or not.I bet the 26EFI is rated correctly,its just that therearent many 26hp motors in our size equipment,so it does feel very strong.I'd like to try one,it must be much more powerful than my 25hp.Another thing that affects how an engine pulls is its torque.Torque is as important or more so than HP.We never ask how much torque it has,or at what RPM,but its the torque that gets things moving and powers us thru the thick grass.

[southside]

Landscaper3, I have the speed up kit fitted. I love the control setup.Only need 2 fingers to steer with. I tried a 25 carb model and the 26hp feels a LOT more torquier.The 25 felt very unresponsive,and very pricey to run,fuel wise.
I also like the electronic diagnostic system,you can get an
engine problem diagnosed over the phone.

Karl

[John DiMartino]

What does the speed up kit do?Does it just bring the maximum governed speed up?Doyou have a tach?if so how high are they set at after speed up kit?Does this affect the warranty at all?

[MOW ED]

You do go faster with the speed up kit on the 26 fuelie than the 25. The other thing you do faster is burn belts.
Southside, get yourself some spare belts , in particular the ground drive belt. I burnt my first one up at 138 hours. Thank God for the spares I carry.

[Keith]

It is quite possible that the extra power comes from the "tune" they put in the computer. I think the 26 hp rating is pretty much just baseline. They could increase or decrease output by just playing with the computer(hint, hint), and that way custom tune it for a particular application.

Maybe you could get a performance chip for it and up the power to about 31hp :D

[Scag48]

Not really sure if I know what I'm talking about but what about a tuned carbuerator? Two-cycle equipment can be tuned for maximum performance, can't mowers? I was talking with my Stihl dealer about trimmers and he said that one of them (I think FS120) had that Intellicarb system, automatic tuning of the carb. Is it possible to tune mowers peformance with the carbuerator? I believe the computer tuning though. Caterpillar does it when you have a dealer check up, they hook up a computer to your excavator and check the diagnostics. Kinda cool how they can do stuff these days.

[toddman35]

If i remeber right, the "26" kohler has onboard diagnostics too

[Jim Buessing]

The 26 efi is the same block as the 25 command series. The series has had nothing but trouble from it's conception and this may have the same. The best thing this engine has going for it is that its ignition system does not say kohler and no one at kohler has had their hands on it. It's all bosch!

[BUSHMASTER]

you bring up a good point.... the efi mayeffect the overall running temp of the engine therfore it's runnig cool wtch would ellimate the head gasket blowing from getting to hot

[Ssouth]

Just purchased the Lazer EPS. Wondering where I can find the speed-up kit for the 26HP Kohler.

[southside]

SSouth,
The speed up kit is a smaller pulley which runs the hydros. It's not connected to the motor.

Karl

[TLS]

Ha Ha, Ha Ha, your joking right? The speed-up kit is for Walker Brand mowers. It is a different size pully to speed up the drive tires. It does nothing to the RPM's of any engine. IT also does nothing for an Exmark Lazer EPS. What did you want to speed up? I think the RPM's are computer controlled and set at the factory on yours. But if you crouch down real low in a tuck position and keep your mouth closed (wind resistance) you may be able to get 10.1 mph !!!

Good Luck

[landscaper3]

We have installed speed up kits on all our Walker mowers including the 26EFI's what this kit is, is a smaller pully thats runs your hydros and motor its the pully that hooks directly to your engine by a belt then runs another pully to your hydro drives. After installing a few of these there getting to be a snap. The older 2000 Walker 26EFI does run a different computer than the 2001 the 2001 we have apperently can do on board diagnosis and reprograming. As far as installing these on other machines it will probly work since they do come off your motor and run your hydros but be careful if your going to fab one up.

[toddman35]

dixie1 you forgot to put it in neutral and go down the BIG hills lol