4 dead motors

[Mudrig150 298]

Well I've been trying to get my little tractor running, and I've found out that both 8 hp briggs I have are junk. Because of course they are. The one has a horribly scored bore from being run with the low oil switch bypassed, and the other has a warped block around the valve seat. Someone bent the seat when installing it, then it was replaced again, but now the block is warped around the seat.

 

If I buy another briggs, which I probably won't, it'll be briggs #3 and engine #5 for the Burns.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Mudrig150

[ZXT 2,394]

7 hours ago, Mudrig150 said:

Well I've been trying to get my little tractor running, and I've found out that both 8 hp briggs I have are junk. Because of course they are. The one has a horribly scored bore from being run with the low oil switch bypassed, and the other has a warped block around the valve seat. Someone bent the seat when installing it, then it was replaced again, but now the block is warped around the seat.

 

If I buy another briggs, which I probably won't, it'll be briggs #3 and engine #5 for the Burns.

Sounds like your issues are due to human error and aren't the fault of the engine itself. Briggs engines are just about indestructible. Don't get me wrong, I love Kohlers, but I've seen far more blown up Kohlers than I have Briggs. 

[Stepney 2,314]

Faulting an old engine for operator error isn't the way to do things.. an act left only to those who can't outsmart a Tecumseh   

The older B&S engines were a great unit. I've had many high-hour examples that still ran well. IMHO the only 'bad' B&S design was the Magnematic ignition with the coil under the flywheel. Those had some old age issues. 
Engine number 5 on a Burns..? What are you doing to this Burns? I should think the rear end would croak long before an engine. Mine is still running the original flathead 6 from 1958.

[ebinmaine 62,979]

Do you know the entire previous history of all these engines?

Did the previous owners do all the proper maintenance?

Are you doing all the maintenance?

Are they being overused or run hot?

If you're getting old engines that have been sitting for awhile or others are selling them dirt cheap there's a reason.

 

Something is amiss....

 

I gotta agree with the others....

I've seen great luck with Briggs' older engines.

 

[Mudrig150 298]

The original 6 horse engine blew up 20 years ago.

It was replaced by a wisconsin 5 horse which got ruined from sitting.

(I got the tractor)

The first 8 horse briggs I found has a warped block around the valve seat because someone tried to use a hammer to pop the seat loose, bending it

The second 8 horse was ruined because the original owner gave 0 sh*** about the motor and ran it many times without oil. The rod and crank are in terrible shape and all the gears have chewed up teeth.

[ebinmaine 62,979]

Okay so going back in analyzing what your writing...

It sounds like the first engine had a reasonable life span of 20 or 30 years.

The second engine, Wisconsin, did not go bad from sitting. Engines just don't do that. They go bad because somebody did not care enough to either keep it indoors or fog it so it wouldn't rust.

 

So that's previous owner blame number one. Not the engine.

 

Your other two engines are seemingly issues that were caused by a careless or uninformed person.

 

so the way I add that up you've got one engine that may have been okay and three that were sadly abused.

 

I think approximately 0% of the fault lays with Briggs & Stratton or Wisconsin.

 

I'm not at all sure how many Briggs & Stratton engines I've had over the years. Maybe a dozen?

While I will admit that the updraft carburetor design can be a bit challenging to clean, if done correctly they are a great running machine.

 

[Mudrig150 298]

I'm not blaming briggs. I'm blaming the people around here who are too lazy to care for anything. That's why all 3 of my tractors are in awful shape. They all sat out for years and years and were not covered at all.

[ebinmaine 62,979]

Agreed. Unfortunately it seems like most people don't have the appreciation for their equipment that most of us on this particular site and other sites do.

It's important to remember that to many of the people that bought these machines back 30, 40, 60 years ago....That they were "just a mower." 

 

Nowadays we can take it up upon ourselves to do a better job of repairing and maintaining them for the future.

[Mudrig150 298]

18 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Agreed. Unfortunately it seems like most people don't have the appreciation for their equipment that most of us on this particular site and other sites do.

It's important to remember that to many of the people that bought these machines back 30, 40, 60 years ago....That they were "just a mower." 

 

Nowadays we can take it up upon ourselves to do a better job of repairing and maintaining them for the future.

 

Doesn't help that most people never read the manual and oil changes weren't mentioned anywhere on pretty much any engine. Imagine how much much nicer 90% of engines would be if they just put a little sticker on tractors that said "Check oil before starting".

[Mudrig150 298]

11 hours ago, Stepney said:

Faulting an old engine for operator error isn't the way to do things.. an act left only to those who can't outsmart a Tecumseh   

The older B&S engines were a great unit. I've had many high-hour examples that still ran well. IMHO the only 'bad' B&S design was the Magnematic ignition with the coil under the flywheel. Those had some old age issues. 
Engine number 5 on a Burns..? What are you doing to this Burns? I should think the rear end would croak long before an engine. Mine is still running the original flathead 6 from 1958.

All 4 previous engines were ruined by impatience, neglect, uncoordination, and pure laziness all in that order.

Blown during oil change, left outside uncovered under trees for 14 years, damaged during valve seat replacement, and run without oil due to being worn.

You never did show me your Burns. I wanna know mine isn't alone in this world.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Mudrig150

[Stepney 2,314]

I think I'll take the cake for 'oldest running B&S'

There are mowers for sale now that you don't even check the oil. No drain. No level rod. Just drop the bottle on top of it. Seen a few locally. I'm sure riding mowers are coming this way.. 
I replace rocker arms by the monthly on a Kohler 20 a neighbor has. Its a shame how flimsy they are now..

[Stepney 2,314]

4 minutes ago, Mudrig150 said:

 

You never did show me your Burns. I wanna know mine isn't alone in this world.

It's an old photo. But here she is. It's been in storage and occasionally used at a friend's place, but a bit of a trip from here. 

 

Burns 2 was repowered with a Hercules engine. 

 

 

[Mudrig150 298]

Huh. Never seen em in red. Mine was green with white accents.

 

WAS is the key word.

 

I believe Burns had green, gilson had orange?, springfield had red and white.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Mudrig150

[Stepney 2,314]

2 minutes ago, Mudrig150 said:

Huh. Never seen em in red. Mine was green with white accents.

 

WAS is the key word.

They never came in red to my understanding. My older Burns was originally a metallic green and white color. Someday I'll get it painted right. 
The later ones sold under Gilson were the usual Gilson Orange. I have an original Burns ad somewhere if I can find it. Shows them in a bright green livery. 

 

[Mudrig150 298]

Oh, okay. Mine will get painted correctly eventually. Luckily they only painted the body and not the chrome. You can see the green on the dash under the throttle/choke plate and the entire inside of the hood.

 

Here's original color:

Edited September 12, 2019 by Mudrig150

[Tractorhead 8,577]

Waaaah, 😱

the PO must had a green yellow contract....

what a horrible color scheme, i guess that‘s the reason for.

Briggs love red and max. Red- black or red white.. 😎

 

the only issue i‘ve had with B&S Engines was an smaller Types (2&3 HP Types)

died ignition Coils. 

One B&S ( the original Engine on my tiller) was killed by PO, while 3 years outside without Sparkplug in...

No problem from Briggs.

 

It is horribly to see, how carless somebody store the engine, even more if the await the Engine shall start immediately.

i agreed to the others, a minimum on care, and you got a reliable Engine for decades.

 

[Mudrig150 298]

A color scheme that deifinitely does not work is orange, green, white, and black. I'll try to reconstruct the bad paint scheme without rust and then the original one.

[Stepney 2,314]

The original color was somewhat similar to Ford Calypso green. An older Penfield Suburban in our club that was restored went with that color and it looks pretty accurate. 

[ZXT 2,394]

15 hours ago, Stepney said:

I think I'll take the cake for 'oldest running B&S'

There are mowers for sale now that you don't even check the oil. No drain. No level rod. Just drop the bottle on top of it. Seen a few locally. I'm sure riding mowers are coming this way.. 
I replace rocker arms by the monthly on a Kohler 20 a neighbor has. Its a shame how flimsy they are now..

Nice looking FB (or is it an F?)! I've never seen one in person but I wouldn't mind having one. I have an FH but it isn't nearly as cool to look at.

Edited September 13, 2019 by ZXT

[ebinmaine 62,979]

2 hours ago, ZXT said:

Nice looking FB (or is it an F?)! I've never seen one in person but I wouldn't mind having one. I have an FH but it isn't nearly as cool to look at.

 

That guy has lots of fun stuff!

 

[Mudrig150 298]

Looks like ford calypso green is a bit too blue for my liking. I need to just find a good normal green paint.

[Stepney 2,314]

7 hours ago, ZXT said:

Nice looking FB (or is it an F?)! I've never seen one in person but I wouldn't mind having one. I have an FH but it isn't nearly as cool to look at.

B&S FB, serial on the flywheel dates it as a 1921 model F, however the engine is definitely a 23/24 FB. I have a feeling it's a bit of a mutt.. but it's also nearly 100 years old. 

[Mudrig150 298]

Just checked. The original green is dark. It's like john deere green a bit with less yellow. The original tractor has a pretty interesting paint scheme... I'm going to be redoing it with some slight modification.

[ebinmaine 62,979]

15 minutes ago, Mudrig150 said:

Just checked. The original green is dark. It's like john deere green a bit with less yellow. The original tractor has a pretty interesting paint scheme... I'm going to be redoing it with some slight modification.

Please be sure to start a thread when you do so

[Mudrig150 298]

12 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Please be sure to start a thread when you do so

I already have a thread. The Burns B-60 thread.