Kawasaki almost stalls when engaging PTO

[sprogk]

Hello and thank you for accepting me to this forum!

I joined to ask a question.
I have the 21.5HP Kawasaki LT 54" Deck. It has 40 hours on it.
Worked flawless since 2021 but recently the PTO is putting too much Load on the motor.

At full throttle it sounds like the motor is about to cut out. It does not Cut out but sounds awful. At 3/4 Throttle the motor stalls.
Once the blades turns everything seems normal.

I pulled the deck off and cleaned it real good and checked all pully's and blades. Everything turns freely. The blades pully system is "Maintenance Free" & I cannot grease them. I don't know if the resistance of the deck pully system has increased as I have noting to compare it to.

I took it in to dealer and they cleaned out my Carburetor and showed me the choke trick. It engages just fine with the Choke a little pulled.
With choke pulled it PTO works perfect at 3/4 throttle even 1/2 throttle.
According to my dealer everything is good on my tractor.

My question is why do I now need to pull the choke to engage PTO?
Never needed it before. Is this acceptable? Normal?

FYI Regular Maintenance is done every winter. Everything has been replaced last week before taking it to the dealer. (Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter Cleaned)

[Farmall450]

The new engines run so lean that they often react to a big load...poorly. Especially low hour ones like yours that might not be 100% broke in yet.

[sprogk]

Thanks for the replay.
So just use the choke then ?

[Farmall450]

Originally Posted by sprogk

Thanks for the replay.
So just use the choke then ?

I would.

[Red Dave]

Originally Posted by Farmall450

I would.

I don't have a Kawasaki, I have a B&S V-Twin on my LT 2180, but it has the same issue. If it isn't warmed up enough when I pull the PTO switch, the engine stumbles like it's going to die. I give it about half choke and then take it off when the blades are up to speed (a second or two).

Been doing it that way since it was new.