Briggs & Stratton files for Chapter 11

[Richard230]

Briggs & Stratton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Monday. Here is the story: https://www.revzilla.com/common-trea...-11-bankruptcy

[notacop]

Oh, no What will I do for a lawnmower? Buy a battery powered cuter?

I can see it faltering. Doing the English motorcycle thing same as Harley. Never change or modernize just keep building simple dinosaurs.
Japan and the Chinese, probably the Indians provide better more powerful engines that are dead reliable too.
i guess the old motor I pulled out a dying mower I should have bronzed and put on the mantle?

[Daboo]

I had a lawnmower with a Honda engine in it. I gave it away finally a month ago after owning it for over 20 years. It still ran great.

I went looking for a new lawnmower...and bought one with a Honda engine in it. Same basic model engine, even. I actually shied away from the Briggs & Stratton powered mowers. I knew the Honda would be trouble-free and reliable.

Chris

[TheMeteor]

It is sad to see an iconic brand die but they have not adapted to the times. For ICE engines/tools, the likes of Honda have a better product at the high end and at the other end, Chinese engines may be perfectly good enough at low cost or disposable if they break. The bigger threat is maintenance free electric with no gas or oil to futz with on mowers and yard tools.

A couple years back, I paid nearly $200 for a weed whacker with a two stroke motor. My yard is small so very light strain and hours were put on it. And, of course being the Northeast, it is only used 7-8 months of the year. After the 3 or four years, the pull start mechanism broke. No repair shop would work on it (was a name brand) and parts were hard to find. I replaced it with an EGO electric a couple years ago and best decision. No gas and premix. No maintenance except changing trim string.

I bought my first snow thrower last year and went with an EGO too. Worked great on couple snows we had. I plan to replace my crappy Craftsman mower next spring with an EGO too. I can use the batteries and charger across devices.

[Richard230]

I am glad that I have never owned a gas-powered mower or other garden tool. I used to own a corded electric mower and a couple of years ago I replaced it with a Greenworks 40V lithium battery-powered electric mower. It will mow both my front and back yard lawns only using about 1/3 of the 4 AH battery and requires no maintenance other then cleaning the underside from grass cuttings.

But I ran into an unexpected problem when trying to give my old electric mower to a local charity. They were worried that it might be a gas-powered mower. They told me that they could not accept any gasoline mower or other ICE garden tools which have oil and gas residue in them as they are considered hazardous materials and can not be disposed of without great expense. Fortunately, after calling their main office I was able to convince them that my electric mower did not contain any oil or gasoline and was not hazardous. They finally accepted the donation.

[notacop]

Snafu, A friend had the same issue with a pressure washer at the local dump. Guy said no gas motors. I finally showed him it was electric. Then it was into the bin, no problem.
There is a shame that disposal of so called hazardous materials is such a bother to deal with. So the stuff gets tossed in the bin when no one is looking.

[N4HHE]

Briggs & Stratton failed by their own hand. Bought Simplicity/Snapper in 2004. Other low quality brands followed as a captive market for engines. Started selling the lesser mowers under Snapper name to department stores.

Other brands immediately quit purchasing B&S engines. Kawasaki, Honda, and Kohler easily absorbed the slack. Plus their customers were happier.

B&S cheapened and ruined brands they purchased. The iconic Snapper Rear engine rider “Comet” started in 1966 was recently “evolved” from a robust tube chassis to an unexceptional stamped steel commodity department store rider.

I have a B&S engined Snapper Ninja self propelled walk-behind from 2013. The wheel height adjustment on right rear is impossible. Lever travel is limited by other hardware. Requires screwdriver to pry out and force to make adjustment.

Gas cap on engine is designed to trap cut grass so it will fall into the tank when opened to fill.

Engine has an automatic choke which which activates 5-10 minutes after engine has been turned off. This prevents restart for 30 minutes. No manual override.

Engine burned oil from new. Requires oil every tank of gas.

Is amazing they lasted this long.