On Wed, 16 May 2012 14:47:26 -0500, wrote:

On Wed, 16 May 2012 13:30:36 -0500, Steve Barker
wrote:

On 5/16/2012 8:56 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:

Must be something in the air... following the 'mower engine blowout'
thread a few weeks ago, my trusty ol' mid-'80s B&S lawn tractor engine
decided to call it quits yesterday:

http://www.patooie.com/temp/eng.jpg

Upon initial inspection the valvegear and crank seem to have escaped
damage, so I think the failure was limited to the balance weights (with a
bit of collateral damage due to things bouncing around inside the
crankcase)

cheers

Jules


nice. it's not your daddys briggs anymore.

I noticed that the old Briggs push mowers with 2 to 5 HP engines will
last forever, even if they are not kept up properly, but the larger
Briggs engines are notorious for blowing rods, no matter how well you
care for them. Of course that includes all the lawn tractors because
they all have at least 8hp engines, often up to 20hp.

Larger (just bought a 24).