DIYbanter - View Single Post - Which small Engine is Better

Pete C.

wrote:

Which small Engine is Better - Briggs or Tecumseh?

If you mow a city lawn and do it every few days this probably wont
even affect you. But I own a farm and mow heavy grass. Sometimes
it's a foot tall. Having had numerous push mowers, I have decided
that the Tecumseh engines are much better. When I was younger, it
seemed that every mower had a Briggs engine. Then I started to run
across mowers with Tecumseh engines. The last Tecumseh mower I had
was a 3HP model. That mower just went thru everything and rarely ever
stopped. Even when the blade was dull, it still kept going. I
finally destroyed it when I ran over some metal and bent the
crankshaft so badly the blade chopped the frame to shreads (because I
kept going). I just got another mower with a crappy Briggs engine.
Also a 3HP. Once again I got a mower that dies constantly, dont have
the guts to get thru even the lightest weeds, and takes me ten times
as long to mow. Considering both engines are 3HP, and the frames are
identical (meaning no powered wheels, etc), I will say the Tecumseh
has 3 times the power of the Briggs engine. And just for the record,
this new Briggs mower has less usage than that Tecumseh one had.
I already know that this POS will be going to the next auction. I
just cant stand these weak Briggs engines with no power and no guts.

Which do you prefer, and why?

Mark

You don't mention the ages of the engines in question, but it seems at
some point over the years that engine horsepower numbers went the way of
compressor horsepower numbers i.e. grossly inflated.

I have a quite old Deere 110 riding mower with a Kohler 10HP engine that
from every objective comparison I can make seems to have more power than
the new mowers with "18HP" engines.

Pete C.