Most small Gas Engines are specified at 3600 RPM for rated power. I would check if there is a manufactures manual for your engine. I know that the John Deere Manual for my 445 is not the last word for some aspects on the Kawasaki engine. I found a manual that added some more info JD didn't include. Unfortunately the 445 engine is proprietary to JD so the Fuel Injection system is not in the Kawasaki manual. If I had the 425 the manual was written for, there is a lot more information on the engine and Fuel System. I am sure you could find a manufacturer's engine manual for your engine with Google. Maybe even the actual Manufacturer's WEB Site.

 

JD specs lower than the engine manufacturer, ie 3500 ish vs 3600. My X534 maintains the same fast idle RPM (3500ish) with the PTO one, minus about 50-100RPM. If yours is dropping down to 2600, your governor is probably not right.

 

It's not uncommon to sit 200-300rpms less with pto engaged and blades going. 700+ is definitely on the excessive side

 

I have my FD611V in myGX345 is set to 3600 RPM, JD calls for 3550 +/- 100 RPM. With the mower deck engaged I see 3450 - 3500.

Any chance the governor spring is weak or somehow stretched?

 

I have my FD611V in myGX345 is set to 3600 RPM, JD calls for 3550 +/- 100 RPM. With the mower deck engaged I see 3450 - 3500.

Any chance the governor spring is weak or somehow stretched?

Actually, yes. After further investigation I am highly suspicious of the governor spring and the entire control panel. All the springs and arms seem a bit wonky. I tried to straighten everything out as best I could and there was no improvement. Funny thing is the tractor ran great until I tore into it. This machine is new to me as of last fall and I have yet to mow with it, but I ran the snowblower all winter and I don't recall the drop in speed when I brought up the PTO.

Anyhow, I ordered a new control panel and all associated links/springs. Hopefully that solves it else I will need to pull the engine again to split the case and find out what is happening with the governor gear.

 

Are the springs/rods in the correct holes? Some engines I have, there are multiple holes that they can be put into, and you have to use the right ones for the system to work properly.

 

I believe so. With the throttle plate and carb on the FD590V there is only one hole for everything

 

I ran into a similar situation some years back. I'm not saying that this your issue but this is what I have encountered. I had a machine come in with a leaky sump gasket. Tractor ran great before the repair and ran great after the repair. Go out to test and tune and sure enough engage the deck and the RPM's drop and don't fully recover. What the heck did I do wrong? I knew the internals were good, customer wanted pictures of the internals to see if the previous mechanic replaced everything like he said, so that was good to go. I kid you not I went through everything, governor adjust, heavy spring change, jet the carb, and I even pulled the flywheel thinking it has retarded timing. Nothing worked and it only ran well when it was back to the original settings. So I call the customer and told him I'm fighting a low RPM issue with the mower deck engaged and don't know why. He tells me it's cold blooded and takes a few to get warmed up. I'm thinking ,yeah ok what ever, there has to be something I missed. So long story short I took his advise and sure enough as the engine heated up the RPM's went up. I just never ran it under load long enough. It was a true learning curve for me. Since then I make sure all water cooled engines get up to operating temp before any adjustments are made.

 

Thanks for the insight Dave & rw. I ordered a full throttle plate and governor set. Going to install the plate first to see if it takes care of it, will make sure it is fully warmed up before making adjustments! Hoping to not have to yank the engine and split the case again...

 

With my 46 deck on my 322 (water cooled), I can start, engage pto and, any throttle position, dies. Restart, let engine warm for 3 or 4 minutes, at 1/4 throttle, move throttle 1/3 to 1/2, engage pto, and no issues! Go WOT and mow! The "nature of the beast" I guess. Bob

 

Welp. Split the case and found the issue. Apparently you cannot use a new governor gear with an old governor sleeve. At some point they changed the design - the opposite side of each counter weight lifts the sleeve, presumably the new sleeves are different to match. What I think was happening was the sleeve got stuck up on idle, and when the revs dropped due to the added load from the pto, the weights were stuck too, didn't move in at the lower speed.

I should have inspected closer when I assembled! Now waiting on new parts to attempt round 2.

Thanks to all for the insight!

 

Bummer. Isn't that sold as a complete assembly?

 

Nope. Governor assembly is the gear with the counterweights. Sleeve not included.

 

New gear installed and all is well!

Just need a decent bagger and I am on my way!