What would you do?

Well today i ran across this guy, who well, TOLD ME NOT TO BUY A BRIGGS, THEY ARE JUNK.


ARE YOU KIDDING? I've been using briggs my whole life, well not whole but you get the picture, and he told me to go to harbor freight and buy a a honda clone engine, NEVER EVER, BRIGGS ONLY MAN BRIGGS ONLY, DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS.

mean yeah i know briggs is using cheap stuff now, but they still work, but the major key that everyone is leaving out,(not saying people on this forum) is the TLC of their engine, all around maintenance.

Ok so what im saying here is, what would you do if someone told you briggs is junk, buy a honda.
an adition to this topic, tell my any crazy stories that people tell you about briggs.

Thats a bunch of BS i would have been pissed.
I'm a briggs man too, would never have it any other way!

Id give em a big ol' country ass whoopin is wad id do id say " have you ever had a B&S? sheesh i cant believe anyone would say that. the guy probs had one left it in the snow a whole winter and the gas whent bad pulled it a couple times and decided it was useless. Hell, ive left a briggs sittin for two and a half years(no joking and after two pulls it fired right up


BRIGGS FAN FO LIFE!!!

I am a Briggs fan also . but i have nothing against Honda either. But the worst engine that ever sucked so bad is ...... Tecumseh worst engines ever every one i have ever had failed . i have 1 mower that used to have a Tecumseh motor in it i may had mowed my yard 2 times before it failed . that motor got tossed in the garbage and i bought a new Briggs 3.5 HP for the mower and never had any problems with it in the 2 years since i swapped motors.
I Hate Tecumseh with a passion.
Oh yeah Kolers are awesome also.

well i also have a kohler, its a 10hp cast iron engine, so its REALLY 'heavy, and it would run too if i could ever dig it out and put a new coil on it.

I may be a minority on the subject, but I think engines are engines. I have Briggs, Tecumseh, and Kohlers. They all run great.

I have mostly Briggs, push mowers, riding mowers, Roto Tiller, and a snow blower.

My main snow blower has a Tecumseh, and it starts in 0 degree weather first pull every time. It is a 1974.

My 1965 Case has a 10 HP Kohler in it, awesome engine. It has a fuel pump and a real carburetor, not these plastic pieces of crap on most mowers.

My new motor I just got for my go kart is a Tecumseh, haven't done anything with it yet but I know its a 1993 7hp, I need to fix or replace the carburetor on it.


As you can see, I'm all over the board, and if somebody told me that one engine is junk and another one is better, all I would say every motor is good if you keep it maintained. Most of the mowers that I get for scrap need a good tune up and they work fine. Its amazing what people will throw away, 90% of the time I can have most of the equipment I get running within 15 minutes.

yeah that's how it works with me, i found a lawnmower in the trash due to no pull start string, wow, free good working stuff, i like it. i also got a free riding mower cause the guy said the engine was locked up, but all it was, is that the starter gear was lodged on the flywheel, i tapped it a few times and it came free, and the motor turned over fine and i still use the same starter gear, idk what or how it happens like that but the guy managed to do that, and this rider is the one im working on in the project section, craftsman off road tractor, im not done yet, still waiting on my grandpa for the one piece i need for the transmission.

but you are right, engines are engines, but the quality of each engine is slightly different, i say Briggs and kohler are up top, and techemsy and honda are lower on the chain, for me anyway, you talk to this kid in my class and he will say subaru engines are better than anything and it done even run. Lol.

BUT IM SLOWLY GETTING ALL MY ENGINES WITH PRETTY MUCH A COMPLETE ALL AROUND TUNE UP, OIL, SPARK PLUG, AIR FILTER, COMBUSTION CHAMBER CLEANING, CARB CLEANING.

My friend got a lawn tractor from someone who said that he went to a mecanic and they said the tranny blew. After he got it home, he lifted the tractor he noticed that the belt wasnt on the transmission, so he put it back on and realized that that was the problem. A belt that fell off.

Man, people are just plain ignorant and stupid(not trying to offend anyone) but a lil thing like that causes you to give away a 500 dollar tractor

im nae exactly fixed on one engine type if anyone came to me and said "here have an engine" i would get it running and then make my opinion on it.

i have to say though that my 11hp briggs and stratton when i got it i was like "wtf whats briggs?!" but nnow i know they are a great working engine and mine has never failed to start, my engine starts every time with one or two seconds on the starter and stays running with no choke, its a great engine!

my uncles quad has been around for ages and it has a 350cc engine 4 wheel drive and its only ever had minor problems that he could fix (he is a mechanic) i love that big red honda and try and go on it every time im down at his house, although he always has something planned for me to pay him back for the fuel...

as i say im not picky!

The new hondas nice, but dont think there as heavy duty as some of the older briggs. I think people like the hondas because there eiser to pull start, quiter and produce less emmisions. I'd rather not work on one though, I read somewhere that they have a timming belt inside the motor now... Whats wrong with pushrods? I guess they're more worried about engine noise then reliabilty nowa days.

well i know honda still uses a chain but its ohc and they sucks as, hard to work on cause the dumb timing you have to screw with, briggs in the block cam, 2 marks BAM your set, but nooooooo, have to do this turn it this way then do that. retarted. I would like to try briggs new valve design they have, haven't really seen any yet, and idk if you guys heard but its called dov or direct overhead valve. look it up on briggs site, its pretty neat, no push rods, no belts, chains nothing, just 2 basicly beefy extened rocker arms, one cam lobe, and gear, suppost to be WAYY quieter, according to briggs description.

soon enough they are going to have magnets on the fly wheel telling solenoids to open and close for the valves.

If briggs motors are junk- then why does my nearly 40 year old ORIGINAL never opened 5HP briggs still run like new? Most my other engines are going on 10-30 years old - all original ( well besides tune ups/oil changes) .
Teccys are an irratating motor to work on - i have a 12HP that runs, but pukes oil, and 2 other teccys that dont.
That lil 5HP honda motor i got free works pretty darn good for just some minor tweeking/cleaning.

Never had a kohler motor.

Newer briggs motors im sure arent built as good as older ones - being half plastic inside and made in china- that 2003 16HP briggs is a pain sometimes- ran crappy till i disabled the anti fire solenoid- but still has a issue of dieseling when i shut it off- probably needs a new ign switch or separate magneto kill switch.

motorhead45102 wrote:

well i know honda still uses a chain but its ohc and they sucks as, hard to work on cause the dumb timing you have to screw with, briggs in the block cam, 2 marks BAM your set, but nooooooo, have to do this turn it this way then do that. retarted. I would like to try briggs new valve design they have, haven't really seen any yet, and idk if you guys heard but its called dov or direct overhead valve. look it up on briggs site, its pretty neat, no push rods, no belts, chains nothing, just 2 basicly beefy extened rocker arms, one cam lobe, and gear, suppost to be WAYY quieter, according to briggs description.

soon enough they are going to have magnets on the fly wheel telling solenoids to open and close for the valves.

One cam lobe? Thats weird... It sounds like a good simple design though. Maybe briggs motors will make a comeback

ok everyone who wants to know more about the DOV engine click here

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engine_power/engine_features.aspx#


then click on dov technology and watch video. pretty neat

motorhead45102 wrote:

ok everyone who wants to know more about the DOV engine click here

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engine_power/engine_features.aspx#


then click on dov technology and watch video. pretty neat

Thats really cool! I want to get my hands on that one!

i know there is one on ebay for about 100 bucks less than retail
its a pretty good design, less parts for sure

Less parts but probably twice the expense for replacement pieces , since its a new technology .

I like how they say " reduces oil consumption" - sounds weird to me cause none of my old motors use any oil .....

yeah i dont get that part "lower oil consumption" cause more parts or less, it uses the same oil and my engines do not loose oil at all, if i never changed the oil and used it, it would still be full, but i will never not change my oil.