What is your favorite brand of small engine, and why?

[jteuban]

Yes Twall I know what you mean I have never personally owned 1 for any time to run into major problems but I have worked on them for years and I will never buy one. A man gave me one a few years ago so I said why not, Ill give it a try. I DID, it took 9 pulls and when it finally started I used it for about an hour and it overheated. I was so mad at it I did not even bother to fix it. I just gave it to my friend who needed some parts from it.

They put them on snowblowers which is a big mistake because they will not even start in the hot weather so there is no way they can start in the cold.

 

[mumptia]

Not a huge fan of Tecumseh, but mainly because parts aren't as readily available as other brands. There is a briggs, kohler, or kawi behind a shed or grainery on every farm in this area. Tecumseh is a Sears engine and the nearest Sears is 5 hours away:tongue:

My biggest peeve is companies like MTD, Yardman and the like putting out lawn care, snow blowers etc with systems that may as well be considered disposable. If they malfuntion internally, parts can be a bugger to track down and sometimes individual parts can't be bought. You have to buy the crank, rod and piston as a set.

I have a Kawi, Yami, stihl, briggs, tecuseh, Polairs, Josered and a Honda on my yard and as long as I look at them eveynow and again:wink: they work ok.

 

[JDgreen]

Not a huge fan of Tecumseh, but mainly because parts aren't as readily available as other brands. There is a briggs, kohler, or kawi behind a shed or grainery on every farm in this area. Tecumseh is a Sears engine and the nearest Sears is 5 hours away:tongue:

My biggest peeve is companies like MTD, Yardman and the like putting out lawn care, snow blowers etc with systems that may as well be considered disposable. If they malfuntion internally, parts can be a bugger to track down and sometimes individual parts can't be bought. You have to buy the crank, rod and piston as a set.

I have a Kawi, Yami, stihl, briggs, tecuseh, Polairs, Josered and a Honda on my yard and as long as I look at them eveynow and again:wink: they work ok.

I have bitched many times here about what a ripoff parts prices are, it is usually more cost effective to just buy a whole new item instead of repairing...such encourages a throwaway society.

 

[mumptia]

I have bitched many times here about what a ripoff parts prices are, it is usually more cost effective to just buy a whole new item instead of repairing...such encourages a throwaway society.

Agreed. I find people are taking a more hands off approach because of how difficult these engines are to fix / maintain. Like many other industries its a racket. I drive a 3/4 ton cummins and I changed out the brake rotors not long ago. $250 each at the dealer or go to the local parts store for a jobber and it was $50 each. Go figure. I know some jobber parts aren't as good as OEM parts but that ia another thread.....

Seasoned journeyman partsman ( Journeyman Parts is a ticketed trade in Alberta) have a hell of a time finding parts for the "blue" honda. I know mechanics who consider it a throw away engine. Who would have ever thought of Honda as disposable?

Handy thing about being a shop teacher is that I get the oldest, most give-up on engiines on the planet coming into my shop. The dads are coughing up engines with full intentions of never seeing it again because its pooched ( or at least they think it is). Many times ( not all) we get em running mainly because they are so old and the parts of older engines are easier to get ( and my stash of parts id for older rigs anyway)

I guess having a throw away engine line will allow us to build up a pretty good cache of parts in a hurry eh?