917 allis

Can someone please tell me the approximate value of a 1980 allis chalmers 917 garden tractor with rear wheel weights  and a 17 hp kohler engine?  it is in good to excellent original condition...

Thank you Sir.  The guy says it has the rear lift asking $1000.   

Hope you bought it

Dusty, there are two V-twin Kohler engines that could be on that mower.  You want to check to see which one it is. One will say OHV for overhead valve the other will say OHC for overhead cam. The overhead valve motor is the good motor. I have been using Kohler V twins since the 90s.  Things to check would be the spark to make sure both sides have spark. Best way to do this is to loosen the spark plug wire and pull one at a time with a screwdriver that has an insulated handle.  Just let wire touch end of plug then take tip of screwdriver against wire back from end and move it away from plug.  If pulling one plug wire at a time makes the engine sound different, then both coils will be good. Coils were a problem with some years as I have had to replace them. They are getting kind of pricey at about $80 apiece. To replace the coils you have to pull the engine because the driveshaft goes through the shroud. The coils are located behind the shroud.  It might not hurt to do a compression test by Putting a compression tester in each spark plug hole and turning it over. I have had to put head gaskets in them as well. At the moment I can’t remember what the compression ratio should be but there will be a range that is acceptable. Once you know which engine you have, you could search that on the Internet and it would tell you. Otherwise just look for oil leaks. Valve covers can always leak and sometimes the front crankshaft seal leaks on them. Otherwise they are a very durable motor if the oil is changed and the cooling fans are blown out regularly. I didn’t mean to make this sound bad, but I’ve had really good luck with them. However once they get high hours they do need some maintenance like the coils and the head gaskets. Oil consumption does not seem to be a big issue as most of mine are very high housed and have still not been rebuilt.  Some Sovereigns had hour meters and some did not.  That is always an indicator. Overall condition of machine is a tell tale sign.  Look for signs of paint work, as it could be redone.  You said it looks nice, so that is a good sign.  I currently have 2 Sovereigns and they are in my opinion the best mower for the money.  Both of mine have unknown hours and have been used a lot!  You will not find this build quality in today’s mowers without moving up to a Simplicity Legacy.  Hope this helps.

I just bought a sunstar 20 that has that weird OHV motor in it!---first one I ever saw. it probably is junk--anyway I got 3  20's in package deal for parts only for the 20 that I use all the time. 2-speed is great, and I kinda like the diff. lock on them--takes me up on the roadsides that nothing else will touch. Also the power steering spoils ya! lol!