kohler 12.5 engine swap

[wellabee]

I have a ez go workhorse has anyone every put a 12.5 kohler in oneand is it a good idea?

[COURTESYCART]

anything is possible.

few things to think about. do they make a clutch for it? does it turn in the right direction? Is it horizontal shaft?

[army]

It's certainly possible and might even be a fun project. I have an almost new 12.5 Kohler off a Cub Cadet and considered doing what you're talking about. Ended up buying a 13 HP clone engine.

You'll need a 90 degree angle drive gearbox though or some other way of matching things up to the rear end's horizontal shaft pulley. If you decide to go ahead one option might be to use an older lawn tractor transmission (not a transaxle) and a jackshaft. They have a belt pulley on the bottom for the engine to drive the tranny and a chain drive sprocket on the side to drive the back axle. I have a tranny like that from a little 57 John Deere that I was going to use. It would have provided the angle drive component and also 4 fwd gears plus reverse. Doesn't look strong enough to me though. My 1990 EZGO looks to be about 3X as heavy as the JD 57 mower.

Keep in mind you're stuck with the engine's shaft rotation. You can't turn the motor orientation 180 degrees to change the crank direction like you can with a horizontal motor. Unless your Kohler will run upside down.

As an aside one of my JD garden tractor buddies changed a vertical shaft engine to horizontal by flipping the engine on it's side and swapping some parts from a horizontal engine. Not a practical solution but he had fun doing it.

[Dylandekam]

Okay we've got a lifted 2008 Ez-Go golf cart and a brand spanking new Kohler engine lying around, (Dad bought it because it was surplus and cheap), heres the specs:KD625-3
Hp:36.9, Shaft:Horizontal, Cylinders:Three, Cooling Type:Air, Fuel Type:Diesel. He says i can try and put it in with my own money. What we want it to end up to be is a Kohler 36.9 mated to a four speed tranny with manual clutch and manual shifter. we have NO budget limits. Thanks all suggestions are respected.