John Deere F932 and F935 mowers.

[Flying_gage]

Hey all,



Over the course of 6 months I picked up the above mowers from different places. All told I have $1500 into both machines. These kind of deals find me and might put me in divorce court someday, yet I digress.



The first one was the 932 (gas) which is relatively low hours at 1600 and runs great. Need to fix a couple things on it, but she mows like a monster and and is great in some tight places that I have on the property. But she loves to drink fuel!!! Which got me to thinking about picking up a Yanmar for her and doing the swap. Low and behold, craigslist coughed up a F935 2500 hr machine not too far away. For $350 I couldn't pass it up.



The ole crusty dude who sold it to me said the motor was junk. As I looked closer though, I don't think he ever tried to start it... I say that because I can't get the thing to turn over. So the first question being, by applying 12v to the starter, (bypassing everything) I should get it to turn right? I fought with all the switches and relays and just went this route, without success.



The second question is any experience with rebuilding these Yanmars? A cursory search showed they can be pretty pricey? This in the event the motor is junk. I will say when I pulled the valve cover, it looked as though it was brand new.



So thoughts and info appreciated!

 

[TFucili]

I was a Deere dealer when those machines were in their heyday. The F932 gas engine is also a Yanmar. Be careful not to get carried away with a power washer, as the ignition system has three crank triggers and three coil packs, and a minute bit of corrosion will have it spitting and sputtering in a hurry. Yanmar parts are costly, but not any more than most other makes. I'd pull the starter on the 935 and bench test it. If the starter spins up OK, then you'll have to trouble shoot the engine further. Once they are running, there are some weak spots. The steer axles ride on chintzy bushings that wear quickly, instead of trunnion bearings(like they currently went to)that would last. Also the rod ends and PS cylinders were failure prone. Bear in mind, most of these were in the hands of landscaper employees who jumped curbs regularly, and a lot of those machines were equipped with PECO Baggers that put lots of extra weight on the steer axle. The brackets on the PTO layshaft are subject to break regularly. The various safety micro-switches are also repeat offenders. Don't take me wrong, they are great machines, but like anything, if you work on them every day, you find the weak spots.

 

[Flying_gage]

TF,

Thanks much for the response. I am in the midst of having to repair the mid ship carrier bearing on the 932. Nothing a little welding cannot fix. Is it correct that the shortblock of the diesel engine is the same for both?

 

[TFucili]

TF,
Is it correct that the shortblock of the diesel engine is the same for both?

I'd be lying if I said I could remember that, but it wouldn't surprise me. The Yanmars never gave much trouble whether gas or diesel. Had the head off a gasser to do a valve job, that's about it. We did an engine swap on a diesel, but it was because the owner, a huge nation-wide shopping mall owner, was too cheap to pay for service, so they had their own Einsteins do it... sort of. They left out the wing nut on the air filter element and totally dusted the engine down at very low hours. It was scrap, and was clearly a non-warrantable deal, but their brass called Deere brass, and Deere coughed up a complete drop-in engine. Sometimes stupid does pay.