I love Briggs & Stratton motors!

[Cybrvanr]

Yesterday, it was a bit warm around here, so I decided to pull out the lawn mower, and run it over the yard to mulch up some leftover leaves. The lawnmower hasn't been run in close to 4 months, and I forgot to burn all the gas out of it. I had a sinking feeling when I pulled it out the shed that it was not going to run at all, and I was going to end up having to pull the carburator apart and clean out all the gummed up fuel.

I pumped the primer 3 times, and then pulled the cord. A small puff of smoke came out the exhaust pipe, and it purred to life with little effort! I bought this mower about 20 years ago from Lowe's when I was about 13 years old for $300. I used the lawnmower to maintain about 8 yards around the neighborhood, and it earned me enough money to buy my first car. The mower was great because it had a 5.5 HP engine on it. The largest engine on most mowers at the time was 4 HP. I would use it to go through insanely tall grass to clean up poorly maintained yards. It's got thousands of hours on the engine, yet still runs like the day I bought it! Outside of routine maintaince, nothing significant has ever been done to it!

Don't you just wish everything you buy these days could be made like this!

 

[tolivac]

the Sears Craftsman mower I have now has a B&S motor-unuaual for Sears.They usually use that OTHER Motor.I had a Toro that had the Other motor(Tecumseh)and it was excellent.then the Toro got stolen from my garage.I replaced it with the Craftsman I have now.Its pretty good-but the self propelled feature broke.Haven't had time to look at it.but its B&S motor works like a champ.I put a "Viper" gator style mulcher blade in it and that mower now shreds the leaves,pine straw and twigs in a single pass.Used to take several with the stocj Sears blade.If you can get a "Viper" or "Gator" blade for your mower-by all means do so-those will IMPROVE the mulching ability.The Viper blades are at Home Depot,Gator blades are at Agri-Supply.Both have teeth at the trailing edge of the blade and a longer cutting edge.the teeth generate air currents under the mower to keep grass clippings and the debris in front of the blade cutting edges for better mulching action.The Sears blade had a very Short cutting edge.I am glad you mower motr lasted 15 years-the big factor is you did take care of it.Most mowers and their motors die because the user does not do the maintenance-esp changing the oil.Oil is cheaper than motors-doesn;t matter if its your car or yard appliances.I have had two mowers stolen from my garage so I lock it up in the HVAC room in the garage.I would like another Toro-not so much the motor but the Toro has a better design.The motor on the Sears is something like 7.5Hp,22" wide cut path.I used to have a Snapper 33" mower-it had a 12Hp B&S motor on it.Had to change its blade drive belt-was something like changing the belt in a WP-KN belt drive washer!It sure worked better then-Got a Gator blade for it as well.That mower would grind up ANYTHING it ran over-yes including outdated credit cards.It was getting beat up so I sold it-but its B&S motor was in great shape-12.5 Hp industrial motor.When you ran over pine cones with at Snapper-what a Clatter!but reduced them to dust.Planning to get another sometime.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Speaking of Briggs & Stratton...

Briggs & Stratton is headquartered in Milwaukee...

I live about a half-block from from the Stratton estate household (probably a cottage compared to what the current execs are living in today), and most of the neighborhood I live in is what used to be the Stratton Estate's farmland.

~Fred

 

[drmitch]

B&S Engines

I work for a small plant that makes engine bearings. Last year we started making them for B&S engines used in Racing Carts. I had no idea how many they would be ordering but its turned out to be a good bussiness. They use a very thin babbitt lining and the tolerances are very close. The first ones we made every body in the plant (even the tool room) had operations to be done on each bearing which is about the size of a ring for your finger.

 

[tolivac]

I remember reading B&S's website and they had a separate part just for their racing motors.Was quite something.And these were specially designed for racing vehicles such as the go-karts.Quite a change when you were building a go-kart as a kid and used whatever motor was available.My dad told me when he built a go-kart as a child--he used the motor out of the Maytag washer(gas one)and was sternly told by his mother to put the motor back in the washer.As a child we built a go-kart and used a B&S motor from an old reel lawnmower-it worked well.Was able to carry two kids in the cart-wasn't fast but fun.

 

[wiskybill]

When I moved to an apartment 3 years ago, I gave my dad the 2 lawn mowers that I had at the time. One was a new TroyBuilt w/6.5 hp B&S that I never really liked. I should have taken it back to Lowe's. The other was a 30year old Snapper self-propelled w/3.5 hp B&S that I bought at an auction. it was my favorite.

Dad was a bit skeptical of the old Snapper, but now he would not part with it. He gave the TroyBuilt away. Two pulls of the rope and that old B&S springs to life, and it has a real throttle control, not the one or two speeds of most new mowers.
He has decided if it ever dies that he will have it rebuilt, but then the older ones were made that way.

Bill...

 

[myhooverco]

I agree you just can't beat those old B&S machines. I bought a new Snapper extra tough 21" self propelled mower in 1985. It had the cast iron sleeve and the chrome paper element air filter. I just got rid of it 2 years ago after almost 20 years of grueling use. I too mowed lawns...model home lawns and other lawns much less well kept. I kept up with 10 to 12 yards per week. Not to mention mowing our yard and my grandparents' yards. I made enough money from that $500 machine to buy my first car, buy car insurance, and put myself through Kent State University. I kept the machine to mow my yard when I bought my house. I would have kept it but the parts just could not be replaced anymore. The motor never smoked or knocked. I only went through ONE magnetron magneto! It even still had the original ball bearing wheels on it. I still have the owners manual. My new Snapper is pretty good with a B&S motor but will probably not last quite as long...much more plastic on this one. Long live the classic B&S machine!!!!

 

[goatfarmer]

One of my other hobby's (AKA hole to dump money into)is Simplicity/Allis Chalmers garden tractors. I have about a dozen of 'em in various states of repair,and a shedful of parts/attachments.
Briggs bought Simplicity about a year ago.So far the marriage is working out good.

kennyGF

 

[sudsmaster]

The newer B&S motors seem pretty good too. I have a 5.5 HP B&S powered lawn mower. Bought it about five years ago - it starts without fail every time. It's a side valve motor, but that design is time-honored and very durable. I keep the mower in good shape by hosing off the underside after every mowing session. This removes grass clippings (it's set to mulch) that otherwise would trap moisture against the steel deck and corrode it faster.

I also have two vintage B&S motors on the shelf in the workshop. They are at least 25 years old... one looks like it's been completely rebuilt (new paint, etc) and the other is of unknown status. These were left by the previous home owner.

 

[tolivac]

Snapper mowers are popular around here-their factory is in Eastern Tenn.You see LOTS of Snapper riders,tractors,and walk mowers out here-The riders and walk mowers seen to hold up well.

 

[kevinpreston8]

I love all types of gas engines

You may have remembered my post a while back with a video link of my insane Cox Shrike .049 gas powered propeller tether car.

Since then, I purchased a Cox .049 early radio controlled van. The RC was antiquated and didn't work right, so I cobbled together a new servo/remote from leftover bits and pieces of my stash and setup all new RC controls for it...total fun.

Next, I purchased two, modern, gas powered R/C "stadium trucks". Talk about wild, one of them does 50 MPH!!!! I race them in my backyard, then (not so legally) take them out in my front street for full acceleration runs. INSANE.

There is skill and patience required with these gas powered hobbies, and one reason why they are so satisfying.

A guy down the street got his kid's full sized gas go-kart running and we were dragging down my street. Great fun.

 

[petek]

I grew up in the 60's pushing a big honkin mower around with a B&S engine. My dad was still using it up until he died in 94. That being said when I got my own first house a friend gifted me with their almost unused 21" Toro, what a blessing that machine was, so light and it always always started on the first pull, I never drained it in winter either. Ran for years till we bought this place and needed a tractor so I just put it away, it'll probably still start 12 years later. We got a Sears tractor with a 14hp Kohler and it's been great for 12 years of abuse. Also got a used Troy Bilt tiller with an 8hp Kohler, when we bought this place 12 years ago and it runs beautifully still, I believe it's almost 20 now and I've only had it into the shop for a tune up twice.