deere 65 engine options?

Well, those little engines use $20 batteries but if you insist on pull starting you can just not buy one. I think the 8hp and under engines will all fit as long as the crankshaft is the same diameter to fit your pullys. They generally all fit the same mounting holes regardless of brands and your aircleaner and mufflers are the next headache areas to watch for as well as cable routing for the throttle.

The 65 I used to have did have a battery and electric start, but no charging system at all! You just had to charge the battery with a charger every month or so.

Oh, If you just want a butt buggy for your son to putt around on, you can stick about anything in it and put a pully and belt to fit. I have an old 68 in a shed that I modified years ago for my little nephew to run around the yard on and I put a 3.5 briggs on it and a small pully to speed it up with. The little thing was a bit touchy to start out on in 5th gear without killing it, but it would fly once you cranked it up! You would stick with around the stock diameter for stock speeds. Course i don't know if you were wanting to mow still. The 68 didn't come with a deck for the $10 I got it for.

He's corrcet,we discussed this in another thread on the Murray forum..

I have used push mower engines on riders and home brews by using a cast iron pulley ,heavy enough to offset the loss of the blade's "flywheel effect"..most push mower engines used a 7/8" bore crank PTO,so you will either have to buy a cast iron pulley with a 7/8" bore,or it might be possible to get away with using an original pulley if it was 1" bore with a bushing ,as long as its heavy enough to let the engine start and idle normally..

I have cheated and used the original blade adapter to mount a pulley,but drilling two holes in the pulley to match the two that held the blade to the adapter originally..its critical to center it good ,and one disadvantage to this method is the pulley is way at the bottom of the crank,so it'll be nessasary to used spacers between the engine and its mount to jack it up,and align the pulleys so the belt will stay on..

If you use a 3.5 HP Briggs vertical shaft push mower,a cast iron flywheel off a similar horizontal shaft engine might fit in place of the aluminum one and work..
I once had a mini-bike with a 3.5 Briggs and I tried putting a push mower aluminum flywheel on it--it kicked back like a mule when you went to start it,and it was diffucult to get started and to idle below 1500 rpms--but once you got it going,it revved up quicker than a top fuel dragster!..thing felt like a 10 HP..for about 15 minutes,until the connecting rod turned into nuggets!..

Thanks guys. If i can find a 8 hp brigg or less that crank starts and bolts right on i'l probably do that the lawn mower engine idea seems a bit complicated for my skill level. I appreciate the input cause i might have gotten my self jammed. Oh btw because of where i live parts and machines are really hard to find at good prices ( about twice the price for a lawn or garden tractor or mower ).:thanku: :OHCAN

I'd not be fearful of using a push mower engine,but I would also take the 6.75 HP ratings with a bit of skeptasism,because I have a Sears push mower with a 6+ HP rating on the sticker,but in reality,its less powerful than many of my older 3.5HP ones in deep grass!..its all about "numbers" and not actual performance..but if its just going to pull your son around one would work fine,many older "sit down" mowers had 3.5 or 5 HP engines and did OK..a smaller motor will burn less fuel too,an important consideration in todays economy..parts for push mowers will be more plentiful too,at our dump on any given Saturday,there is usually at least 3 of them in the metal piles,often noting more "wrong" with them than a busted pull cord,or a wheel rotted off the deck,etc..