Had to buy a new mower last weekend. Ended up with a Husqvarna with the
149cc Kohler Courage engine. Decided to buy from the local dealer rather
than the big-box this time, and the version with the Kohler was 50 bucks
cheaper than the one with the Honda GCV160, which gave me recurring carb
problems on my old mower.

Anyway, I stopped by Tractor Supply later, on way home from grocery
store, on my quest for the screwdriver bit described in another thread.
I happened to glance down at their couple of low-end Huskee push mowers,
and noticed the PowerMore engine looked a whole lot like my shiny new
Kohler. Went home and looked online, and apparently there is an OEM in
China that makes utility engines for a lot of different equipment
companies. So pretty clearly my new engine was born in China. My
question would be, do these OEM companies build them any better for name
manufacturers? Or are small engines totally a commodity at this point?

Kohler web site, of course, is silent on where they get engines from.

(insert standard lament about nothing being made in this country any more)
--
aem sends...