# DR Brush Mower Issues.



## maxxmoto (Jul 14, 2019)

Hey everyone!

My wife and I ordered a DR PRO XL 34in 20hp electric start Field and Brush mower in early November of 2018. At just shy of $3700 with additional accessories, it's not an inexpensive purchase. The challenges began immediately, as after a week waiting for my order to ship, there was no change in the status of my order from "pending" to being shipped. A call to DR customer service revealed that my order was "on hold" due to the possibility of fraud on my bank card. I ordered the piece of equipment from Alaska where I work, and was having it sent to Arizona. DR had my email & phone number with the order, but never bothered to contact me to verify the order. Not a good start.

With the order confirmed, I tracked the shipping progress of the machine across the country to Phoenix where it was to be transferred to a different freight carrier for delivery to our home. This took about ten days, and after an additional week of waiting for the notification of pending delivery, I started contacting the freight company to find out where my machine was. I was informed by Yellow Freight that they had transferred my machine to the local carrier, and Central Arizona Freight said that they were still waiting for Yellow freight to deliver the machine to their yard. Our DR machine was lost in Phoenix.

After another five days of waiting, and numerous calls to both freight companies, my machine was finally located on the loading dock at Central Arizona Freight. The carrier said they would call my wife the day before delivery to confirm a drop-off time. The drop-off time was confirmed, and the truck driver called my wife shortly before he arrived at our homestead. When the machine got there, the shipping box, or what was left of it, was pretty much destroyed. The driver said that it was that way when it was loaded onto his truck, and asked my wife if She wanted to refuse the delivery due to possible damage to the equipment. Both my wife and I agreed that there was no way we were going to send it back after all of the waiting and BS we had already gone through! It's here, and we're keepin' it!!!

The initial inspection of the unit only found a few minor scratches on the plastic mower deck pulley cover, but when my wife installed the battery and attempted to start it, nothing happened. Further inspection found that the starter solenoid mounted under the battery tray had been smashed, and the housing came apart with the spring and other pieces hanging out of it. DR states on their website, that if any damage is found on your order, to call them right away to report it and get it solved. The guys in the parts department were all over it, and had the solenoid shipped out to us right away at no charge. My wife installed the part, and the machine was finally operable, and ready to use.

I have to say at this point, that every call made to DR customer service was handled with courtesy and professionalism. Their service and attitude were the best!

A very wet, snowy Winter and Spring in central Arizona prevented my wife from using the brush mower until the March/April 2019 time frame, and it was working fine up until late April when it started dying intermittently for no apparent reason. I would check it for spark, and there was none. I checked the battery and had a full 12 volts, checked the fuse, and it was good, checked the wiring harness as best as I could see it, and didn't find anything obvious. The unit now had spark, and would start and run fine. It quit again after a couple hours of use, and this time it would not crank. A check of the fuse found that it was blown, and after replacing it, the unit ran fine again.

These intermittent gremlins persisted and in June 2019, it quit again, no cranking, blown fuse. I replaced the fuse this time, and it would start but would only run for a few seconds then die again. I was getting frustrated with the thing, and was determined to solve the problems once and for all. I am an experienced mechanic, and an Electronics Technician for the last 33+ years, so I kinda know a bit about things and how they work. The unit had spark, but was acting like it was running out of fuel. There is a fuel solenoid on the carburetor float bowl that is activated by the ignition switch, and it was not operating with the key on. Everything happening was pointing me to a problem in the wiring harness, and while that might seem unlikely with a relatively new machine, it was the direction I was headed.

The wiring harness on this brush mower comes from the handlebar & control panel area and runs down the left side of the unit, into the main chassis frame, then comes out to the engine at a connector plug. A continuity check of the wires with the key on showed that 12 volts was not getting to the fuel solenoid on the gray wire. The harness is pretty much inaccessible in the chassis, so I cut all the zip-ties, unplugged the connector, and pulled the whole harness out of the chassis. The problem was immediately obvious, as there was a large section of the wire loom worn away, and the wiring inside was either partially or completely cut through. During assembly of the unit, DR had not secured the harness properly, and it had a loop that was too close to the main drive pulley of the engine. The harness contacted the pulley, and it cut through to the wiring causing all of the previous electrical gremlins with the machine.

I repaired two of the cut 14ga wires, and replaced the 10ga hot wire to the starter that was 3/4 cut through. I bought a new length of wire loom and secured the whole harness to the outside of the chassis out of harms way from brush and hazards, and where it could never contact the engine pulley again. The machine started and ran fine as expected for another couple hours of operation, and without any rhyme or reason, it quit AGAIN!

The fuse was good, and a check of the battery found it was dead, zero volts, DEAD. It seems as if the battery failed internally, and was acting as an open. Lovely!

The stock battery is a 10ah, Power Sonic battery that looked more like a fire alarm panel battery with spade connectors on it, rather than a starting battery for a 20hp engine. We replaced it with a larger, AGM lawn tractor style battery. It fit perfectly in the battery tray, and I just had to fabricate a new hold-down bracket, and put a couple new terminal lugs on the cables. The battery was done in the first part of July. So far it has had no issues, and I think it should be fine from now on.

Quite an adventure from day one. I believe the DR machine is a good one, and that the Briggs & Stratton V-twin engine is a really good engine. DR just had some issues with this unit that were hopefully not the norm! I will add that I purchased the three year extended warranty with the machine, and could have taken it in to the DR service center for the work, but I would have had to load up a 450lb machine and take it into Prescott, then wait Lord knows how long to get it repaired. Not gonna happen. I'm just thankful that I have the skills and abilities to troubleshoot and repair these things on my own.

I didn't set out to write a book, but i hope my experience with this machine might help someone else with theirs.

Cheers! Maxx :tango_face_smile:


----------

