Kohler Smart Choke Problems? Convert It To A Manual Choke On Command Pro & 7000 Series

[00:00:00]Hey everyone and welcome back to the channel. Today I'm taking a look at this Big Dog mower. It's one that I purchased for myself. I'm doing a bunch of maintenance items to it and I realized that this has a Kohler Command Pro engine, which is the same as the Kohler 7000 and it's got the smart choke. Well, I don't prefer that at all. I prefer the dumb choke, a standard choke and that's what I'm going to convert it to that way I don't have issues in the future.

[00:00:22]Hopefully this will help you out if you need to do the same on yours and it'll be quick and easy with just a few parts needed. Don't forget to hit those like and subscribe buttons as we go along if you enjoy the content.

[00:00:46]In order to do this, we've got seven >> [snorts] >> 8 mm screws that need removed, four on the housing and three just under the air filter cover and then two 10 mm screws that are holding on the fuel pump.

[00:01:01]Once those are removed, the whole shroud comes straight up and out of the way.

[00:01:07]There's a couple nuts and a screw to remove to see the rest of the smart choke assembly.

[00:01:16]I like to use a 10 mm deep well to get to the nuts.

[00:01:21]Otherwise, a standard socket will not get you quite all the way there.

[00:01:27]Now another 8 mm.

[00:01:35]Get a pair of needle nose and just pinch and we'll push that forward just kind of out of this metal bracket.

[00:01:47]And then pulling straight back, we can remove this portion of the smart choke assembly.

[00:01:53]You pull it back and then it kind of comes out at a little bit of an angle here.

[00:01:59]I'm still in the side. I'm still kind of locked in, but that's your whole smart choke assembly.

[00:02:06]This we're going to toss in the trash.

[00:02:08]We're not going to use it for anything.

[00:02:10]And all we have to do is unplug it there. That wire can stay hanging.

[00:02:18]To remove the rest of the air filter base, pull straight down.

[00:02:23]Get that line out of the way.

[00:02:26]And then the crankcase breather line, that's the EPA line I call it. It's just for fumes off of the tank coming back.

[00:02:35]They want to make sure that it gets engulfed and re-combust instead of going into the atmosphere for some reason.

[00:02:44]Now that there's a good view to the entire auto choke system, I'll tell you what happens.

[00:02:53]This thermal disc is supposed to heat up and only allow the choke to come back so far when it's hot. So, it'll only allow the choke to come back to say maybe here if it's hot, so the choke stays partially open. It also works in conjunction with the fan. As soon as the fan starts spinning, it opens all the way.

[00:03:13]It's just not a real good design. I prefer to have mine manual, which is pretty simple.

[00:03:19]From here, a T25 and the screw holding the wind vane on will allow you to take it off.

[00:03:30]Just using a pair of needle nose or something, you can kind of pry straight up.

[00:03:39]It's got kind of a barrel that sits down in. We're not going to use any of this anymore, though.

[00:03:45]That whole wind vane, just kind of to the side.

[00:03:49]It's all eliminated. All of the smart components are now gone.

[00:03:55]Again, this you can just kind of set it to the side or set it down here right next to where the choke wire is or just kind of leave it hanging.

[00:04:04]Wherever it's not going to hurt anything or touch back to ground.

[00:04:09]There's three main parts that you have to install to make this work.

[00:04:16]The first one is going to be the choke linkage. This is a 24079-22-S.

[00:04:25]It's the choke linkage that basically allows our manual choke to work.

[00:04:31]And it goes in there's a hole right under this tab.

[00:04:35]It goes in that hole.

[00:04:37]But you've got to be from the bottom.

[00:04:40]So if you're over here from the bottom in that hole and then just kind of let that dangle at the bottom side here until we get the other remaining pieces on. The next thing we need to replace is this whole control assembly because we've only got one control here and that controls the throttle.

[00:05:00]We need one that has two controls. It's got one for the choke and one for the throttle.

[00:05:08]Place for both cables.

[00:05:11]And that is a 32 536-08-S.

[00:05:22]To make it easy with your springs, take note of exactly where they're at or mark them.

[00:05:31]We do black on the bottom. We do black on number three and black on the bottom spring.

[00:05:40]And then on the top I'll use yellow. Just a yellow paint marker.

[00:05:45]Of course this one's not wanting to work right now.

[00:05:52]There we go.

[00:05:55]That way if you lose track of where they go, you can see pretty clearly exactly which hole it went back in. Those are the only two pieces that could fall off as you're doing this.

[00:06:16]Take the keeper for the throttle cable out.

[00:06:21]It's another 8-mm screw and keeper.

[00:06:26]We will go back in the same hole with this, but honestly, it really doesn't matter.

[00:06:30]You should always be able to see which hole it goes in anyway, but if you're unsure, throw a little paint mark on that, too.

[00:06:39]And one on your table.

[00:06:42]Two 10-mm bolts hold these on either side. Depending on what kind of exhaust you have, some are easier and some are more difficult if they're right below. Sometimes you can get just a right angle in there or get an impact from the bottom and remove them right away.

[00:07:00]Not sure if I have enough room to do that here, but I'm sure going to try.

[00:07:50]>> Now that it's free, just kind of move it to the backside and take the springs off.

[00:07:58]You can take them off either at the governor or at the control.

[00:08:05]I like to just take them off at the control. It makes it easier. Remember which way they came out when doing that.

[00:08:20]Kind of the same thing here as it goes back together.

[00:08:24]Put it back in the same way it came out and in the same spot.

[00:08:31]We should be perfect. You shouldn't be binding up or anything when you hold it back in the right position.

[00:08:38]This choke lever has to go on the choke rod.

[00:08:43]So, that's the one that springs back and it goes to this outside edge.

[00:08:49]So, you can kind of twist it.

[00:08:53]And you can do that one before you do the springs, too. I find it easier to do it after I get the springs on. Now, this spring here has kind of came down into my number two.

[00:09:05]Make sure that that doesn't happen and that everything is still sitting good there.

[00:09:12]So, when we're here and we hit that, you can double-check and make sure that the choke butterfly at the top is actually closing when you hit that when it's in place.

[00:09:25]Got a little better view.

[00:09:27]You can see it's closing each time I hit this there.

[00:09:32]That's how it's supposed to work.

[00:09:36]Start these just like the other ones came off.

[00:09:45]There's a plate here. It usually doesn't move much.

[00:09:59]I have all four started before tightening them up.

[00:10:13]That's still not quite tight.

[00:10:26]Spinning a little bit.

[00:10:51]Throttle cable needs to go in this bottom hole, remember. All of this should already be set the same, and if it's not, you can adjust that later.

[00:11:01]Bottom hole installed.

[00:11:04]I don't want to hit on that screw for some reason.

[00:11:19]It's hitting just barely on the screw.

[00:11:22]Going to pry it out just a hair in between the screw and the piece. It'll still work exactly how it should. Ran into that a couple times before.

[00:11:33]There go. Now we're not hitting.

[00:11:38]I'm pulling that back. Everything should be free.

[00:11:47]Use our same keeper as before. And I told you we were only going to need three things.

[00:11:53]Really, you're going to need four. I guess five cuz you're going to need another screw and the keeper to hold that other cable in place.

[00:12:03]All I'm doing is I'm pulling this all the way to full throttle.

[00:12:07]And that's where we'll tighten this down at.

[00:12:14]If we go right in between the screw and where the hole is again at full throttle that's where you screw it in.

[00:12:26]And it's not threaded from the factory.

[00:12:31]So, you do have to put your own threads in as you do this. I'm going to get another angle. It's kind of right in the way of where my impact needs to be.

[00:12:39]Full throttle, fully pulled and installed straight away.

[00:12:47]As long as you're straight here everything should go on smoothly.

[00:12:53]You have to line up that hole as you're screwing it in.

[00:13:04]Now that I've got the threads started, it makes it a little bit easier.

[00:13:08]I'm going to go just a hair off full throttle as I pull it just to make sure it comes all the way back to full throttle when pulled.

[00:13:20]Good.

[00:13:21]Now low throttle and high throttle.

[00:13:29]All the action seemed good.

[00:13:33]Of course, to use a cable, you have to figure out which one you need.

[00:13:39]These universal cables, this one's about 60 in long almost, will almost work for everything out there. And they come with the nut on the cable. Some of them don't, so be careful if you don't. This is an Oregon 60-053.

[00:13:57]I was actually going to order the Excel one, which is quite a bit shorter, but it wasn't going to be here in time for this video. Okay, so you've got the cable, right? Well, where do you put it on the operator station? There's almost always a hole, if you feel around, should be able to feel a hole somewhere that the cable should go. There's a big notch out here. If I push right here, I can feel something should be able to poke through there.

[00:14:27]Every single operator station that I've ever found always has a hole in it that'll work for these cables.

[00:14:38]Use a knife, cut that out.

[00:14:40]You have to take off the nut.

[00:14:48]And we'll throw it through.

[00:14:50]With this, with the routing of it being super long, I'm probably going to go down and go just as long as I can, kind of straight.

[00:14:59]You shouldn't ever really have to take off the operator station in most cases anyway, in order to get this installed.

[00:15:08]Most of them you can reach up underneath and just get that on.

[00:15:16]Just get that nut onto the cable and come up underneath and tighten it down.

[00:15:21]If you needed to take this off, it's not a big deal. There's just one I think it's a I think it's an 11.

[00:15:29]It is.

[00:15:32]>> [snorts] >> I'm loosening my nut.

[00:15:46]And again, it depends on what mower you're working with.

[00:15:49]For some of you though, it's going to be a lot easier just to do it this way.

[00:15:58]But in most cases, it's not actually needed to happen.

[00:16:02]That goes right in.

[00:16:07]I'll use, I believe, a 9/16 or a 14 mm, either way.

[00:16:12]Should tighten it up.

[00:16:22]Just going to hold this part with a pair of vise grips.

[00:16:28]Tighten up the nut.

[00:16:31]Now we're installed.

[00:16:34]And you can kind of route it halfway decent from down here, if you're worried about the routing and how you're going to do it.

[00:16:41]You can see it pretty good.

[00:16:44]And then come kind of over through and around the tank. Again, just because I have so much room.

[00:16:58]Depends on what size cable you're using.

[00:17:00]Most of them you'll want the most direct route possible.

[00:17:11]Just going to put a dab of anti-seize on here.

[00:17:21]>> Seems like those bolts always want to get caught.

[00:17:26]This mower only has 138 hours on it.

[00:17:31]Looks like they really rode it kind of hard though.

[00:17:36]Make sure whatever you do that this isn't going to get anywhere close to a hydro fan or something that spins.

[00:17:42]Whatever model or brand you have it on.

[00:17:46]And you can zip tie it in place.

[00:17:48]If it's not sitting in a good spot.

[00:17:52]Now the cable has to be in the choke hole, which is this top one, because we're pulling it from the left side.

[00:18:00]You could in a certain instance pull it from the right side. Then you're going to have two cables right there next to one another. I don't really recommend it.

[00:18:09]Get our cable in.

[00:18:11]When you look at the cable itself, you want the choke pushed all the way in.

[00:18:16]And that's going to be your open.

[00:18:19]Which is right there.

[00:18:22]I like to always go with the one where the hole for the keeper goes on the bottom.

[00:18:31]Did not order these. I knew I had some sitting around.

[00:18:39]These are not new.

[00:18:45]Again, choke pushed all the way in. I like to leave it just barely out. So, almost all the way pushed in.

[00:18:54]That way we make sure the choke opens all the way.

[00:18:57]Now it's on there. And when I pull the choke, see what happens. It actuates.

[00:19:04]It pushes the lever up, which in turn pushes the choke to the closed position.

[00:19:11]Show that another angle.

[00:19:14]Open.

[00:19:15]Closed.

[00:19:16]Open.

[00:19:17]Closed.

[00:19:19]It is pushing everything exactly where it should be.

[00:19:23]Now we have a manual choke.

[00:19:25]For the cable, you don't want it too close to the exhaust. They seem to really take a beating if you have them close to the exhaust. I'm going to come up just to my little tab to keep it as far away as possible with a zip tie.

[00:19:41]You still want it mostly straight, but that's not too much of a curve.

[00:19:47]If you don't have a choice or if your cable's not long enough to do that, don't worry about it, but it still works perfectly fine just like it is.

[00:19:56]Down. Open.

[00:19:58]Closed. Open. Closed.

[00:20:01]Open.

[00:20:02]Of course, clean everything up and then put it all back together.

[00:20:28]One thing I'll do, just because the seal's been broken from the carburetor to the back gasket, I will replace that.

[00:20:38]You don't have to, but it's never a bad idea if that's been pulled away to get a new gasket on there. That way you don't have to pull it back off at any point.

[00:20:49]Pulling the carburetor off to replace that gasket is pretty easy. The black piece for the governor linkage just goes to the right if you push it.

[00:20:59]And then your governor arm will pull straight towards you.

[00:21:04]The spring just comes down and out.

[00:21:10]If you have this on low throttle, it makes a little bit easier, not as much spring tension.

[00:21:16]Make sure that that doesn't fall out. Do not lose that. If you're going to have this off for a long period, unplug your fuel solenoid. Now is not a bad time to clean the carburetor if you feel like you're having issues.

[00:21:31]The whole carb pulls straight towards you and it's off, out of the way.

[00:21:37]Of course, we still got the linkage hooked up, but I'm not worried about that because all I'm doing is replacing that gasket.

[00:21:45]Looks like it came off pretty clean from the carburetor side.

[00:21:50]Came off really clean from that side, too.

[00:21:54]There's any kind of remnants left on either side, replace that. This one comes with a sticky piece, which I never quite understood, and it's a little bit different design.

[00:22:09]Just going to stick it right there.

[00:22:12]Yeah, this is super clean.

[00:22:15]Nothing on there.

[00:22:22]I've got my spring.

[00:22:24]The governor stuck. Okay.

[00:22:28]Back in.

[00:22:30]And my choke linkage is still hooked up.

[00:22:37]All of that's still good.

[00:22:40]Fuel doesn't smell the best. Had a little leak out when when that was just happening.

[00:22:47]And this front gasket, not a bad idea to replace it, too, just so you don't suck anything in.

[00:22:58]That one didn't come off as clean.

[00:23:08]>> Guess I failed to give you the number.

[00:23:13]The back gasket is a 2404191-S.

[00:23:20]And the front gasket here is going to be a 32 04104-S.

[00:23:38]Look at that.

[00:23:40]Down here I usually like to get the spring into the hole first.

[00:23:46]Seems a little bit easier to do without it hooked up.

[00:23:50]Got the linkage hooked up anyway.

[00:23:53]See if I can show you a good angle of that.

[00:23:58]Trying to do it with these needle nose, which is more difficult than holding it by hand in my opinion.

[00:24:07]Yeah, there we go.

[00:24:16]Governor linkage back in.

[00:24:18]And swing that. It won't go all the way until you kind of swing that most of the way back around.

[00:24:25]And then lock it in.

[00:24:31]There's no reason not to clean up your air cleaner base real well.

[00:24:47]Out out of Simple Green, and I'm not sure that I have any left.

[00:24:52]It's a lot of on the garbage on this.

[00:24:58]Cleaner is always better.

[00:25:02]All over that nice new garage floor.

[00:25:07]>> [laughter] >> Got to love it.

[00:25:10]At least I was the one to get it all dirty.

[00:25:14]Guess that counts for something.

[00:25:45]Pretty clean.

[00:25:46]Wipe it out just real quick one more time.

[00:25:50]And you're obviously still going to get dirt in here.

[00:25:52]Most important part though is anything down in the intake cuz that's going to suck right in into the engine.

[00:26:02]All right. Just kind of move that out of the way.

[00:26:06]Little down.

[00:26:09]Two 10-mm nuts.

[00:26:13]That bracket that had the assembly for the quote-unquote smart choke on it. You can put that back on if you want.

[00:26:25]You can take the torques out and remove this from the bracket and reinstall the bracket for some added stability, but it's not needed. The ones that do not have this system don't have it anyway.

[00:26:38]There's [snorts] never any problems.

[00:26:48]If you were able to get away without using a deep well 10 the first time, you're going to need one now.

[00:26:56]That goes back on and then so does your other EPA line.

[00:27:08]Slides right back up on. Never a bad idea if you want to snip just the end just a hair so it fits better. These fit extremely well.

[00:27:16]So, I'm not worried about it.

[00:27:19]Cover back on.

[00:27:27]I always oil my pre-filters and I think you should, too.

[00:27:31]Most of them don't call for it anymore, but it helps out a lot with the life of your filter. It's going to catch everything before it gets to the filter.

[00:28:03]Firing it up.

[00:28:51]>> Well, hopefully this has helped you out if you wanted to do the same delete and get rid of the smart choke. No need for this sticker anymore. That can come right off of there.

[00:29:01]And it can be right back to a dumb manual choke, which is how they all should be. We started doing this delete quite a while ago just because of all the problems people were having with it not starting after it was heated up or if they get off to, you know, move a stick or something, go to restart it and it just sit there and and choke itself out instead of actually firing up. There's been many different problems with them not returning over the years and all kinds of stuff.

[00:29:29]Hopefully this has helped you out again.

[00:29:30]Don't forget to hit those like and subscribe buttons if you haven't already and have a great rest of your day.