Kohler or Briggs and Strattion

Grass ala Mowed

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The drive mechanism has blown up for the second time on my White mower and I have a bad hip; walking a 1/2 acre is okay, but dragging/pushing the mower isn't.

I've pretty much decided on a Toro Super Recycler at my local outdoor power store. It comes with an aluminum deck, wash out port, personal pace self propelled, a real easy on/off bagger, 5 year warranty and they cover everything for 5 years, including belts and cables and sharpening my old blade once a year for the 5 years if I bring the mower in or just give my a new blade if I take the old one off and bring it in with the coupon. I know, I want to see all that in writing before I hand them my money.

Comes down to this a 7.0 torque side valve B&S or a 7. 0 torque OHV Kohler for $30 more. I know both companies have made a lot of engines, a lot of good engines, and some junk. What is the current situation; is the B&S good, is the Kohler $30 better?

I stand corrected; the 5 years of free blades is the Owner super advantage from Toro and it's $30 more
 
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07drummerboy

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i would choose Briggs&Stratton good long lasting easy to work on reliable Engine
 

indypower

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The Kohler is a much better engine. I would choose Kohler over a Briggs in a heart beat especially for only $30.
 

DaveR

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The only Kohler I have had was on my Troy Bit tiller. Never had any problems with it, just a gummy carb after last winter. Pretty easy to work on generally speaking. Can't go wrong with briggs either.
 

jenkinsph

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I am going to recommend the Kohler engine, I have gone through alot of this stuff and it seems the oldest working stuff has Kohler engines on it. Their both good though.
 

KennyV

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I will have to agree the Kohler engine should be worth the $30 more... :smile:KennyV
 

Grass ala Mowed

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I reread the sales literature very carefully, the B&S engine claims 7 lb-ft GROSS torque, the Kohler claims 7 lb-ft NET torque. It may not be huge, but the Kohler should have a little more power. Every now and then we get 2 weeks of rain here and when it finally dries out you can't have too much power. Also the Kohler lists a cast iron cylinder and forged crankshaft and the same mower with the Kohler is 12 pounds heavier, so I think I'll go with the Kohler. My first experience with Kohler was in a John Deere 110 and the engine outlasted everything, 2 teenage boys, mowing about 5 acres, snowblowing feet of snow (upstate NY snow belt) off a 500 foot driveway for years. Transmission finally went out from speedshifting it. Did I mention 2 teenage boys?

Thanks for the opinions.
 

173abn

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just curious on what the price is on the machine? russ
 

JDgreen

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The drive mechanism has blown up for the second time on my White mower and I have a bad hip; walking a 1/2 acre is okay, but dragging/pushing the mower isn't.

I've pretty much decided on a Toro Super Recycler at my local outdoor power store. It comes with an aluminum deck, wash out port, personal pace self propelled, a real easy on/off bagger, 5 year warranty and they cover everything for 5 years, including belts and cables and sharpening my old blade once a year for the 5 years if I bring the mower in or just give my a new blade if I take the old one off and bring it in with the coupon. I know, I want to see all that in writing before I hand them my money.

Comes down to this a 7.0 torque side valve B&S or a 7. 0 torque OHV Kohler for $30 more. I know both companies have made a lot of engines, a lot of good engines, and some junk. What is the current situation; is the B&S good, is the Kohler $30 better?

I stand corrected; the 5 years of free blades is the Owner super advantage from Toro and it's $30 more

For small engines, have always had Briggs or Tecumseh going back 30 years, got my first Kohler engined mower last year. Love it, will try to buy Kohler from now on...very pleased with easy starting, overall design, reliability, and power, use it hard but very strong and oil tight. Stingiest engine I have ever had for it's size with both fuel and oil. I'd pay $60-70 more for the Kohler if all other factors were even.
 

Grass ala Mowed

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To 173abn, $529 with the B&S, $559 with the Kohler. The spec are identical except for the engines; Kohler mower is heavier, mentions the cast iron cylinder and forged crank and the Kohler is 7 lb-ft NET, not GROSS torque. Same wash out port, same self-propelled ground speed, same 5 year warrenty, same 5 coupons for a free blade sharpening ... Sometimes just posting something and going back and reading it makes the decision for me. Unless something really bad happens to Kohler in the next month, when I get my tax refund I'm getting the Toro Super Recycler with the Kohler engine and never looking back.

Thanks to all for putting up with me thinking out loud on this forum and thank you for your opinions.
 
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