briggs selling off more

[billypumper]

I have two JD SB14 silver deck self propelled walk behind mowers, one I mow with all summer long and one for backup in case a cable breaks on the throttle, transmission selector, or brake clutch, never have I had to break down the engine on either motor, both 5 hp, both were bought in the early 90s, 91 and 93, these mowers will last another 20 years, you get what you pay for each retailed for over $ 600.00 apiece . holy grail for a walk behind.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Bushfire came through here in 1999 and two people who would become my customers got burned out.
Both of them claimed for a mower on their insurance
One bought a Honda , the other a Murray Sentenial .
The Honda mowed about 4 acres plus was used for towing & general yard transport.
It cost the same down here an the cheapest 2 seater car.
In the 20 years it has required no work other than the replacement of blades, belts & king pin bushes, all standard service parts.
The Murray mowed 3/4 acre averaging $ 500 / year in its last 6 years , got a new engine ( 2nd hand ) new deck ( 2nd hand ) and finally died completely in 2015

 

[billypumper]

Was the Honda a riding mower ? Murray could have a couple different engines, the part about Briggs selling, Briggs is in bankruptcy, with 900 million debt, being bought by some huge conglomerate, not sure who's going to run the company, but they need to make some serious changes.

 

[ILENGINE]

Was the Honda a riding mower ? Murray could have a couple different engines, the part about Briggs selling, Briggs is in bankruptcy, with 900 million debt, being bought by some huge conglomerate, not sure who's going to run the company, but they need to make some serious changes.

The are making changes. Most likely milking the company for what they can and then will dump the ashes

 

[VRR.DYNDNS>BIZ]

And for me the plastic ones were is Kawasaki and Honda. Supposedly two of the better engine brands.

There are so many reasons B&S was top dog for years. They got caught by many OEM's who could not pay thier bill so they sucked them up. All USA competition still cannot hold a candle to the total of the B&S line which has a product for every class and is working to meet the on coming EV market in big strides. The only reason bankruptcy fell on them was the CEO's in charge took options out and gained in the sale but had to make it happen to get there. Not long ago it was the cash richest company in the USA and world, although not the biggest. Even today there sales extend well into the future which is why competition appeared on the market, as they could not meet demand alone. So the troubled history of B&S has not been kind to the company but it is not because of the product. Yes they have had some troubled models, but hardly ever had a model that mechanics swore at as much as others. Take Honda with the steel key crankshaft to flywheel for push mowers! Quality versus stupidity. I only hope as it seems so far that the current owners know what they have grabbed and propel it forward cause every other maker in my book falls well short. But I have only been doing this for 55 years so my opinion go es back to when they were the only big dog except Tecumseh on snow blowers and Craftsman.

 

[StarTech]

I figure it was more poor management than poor products myself. Top management can't be greedy at the expense of their company nor make bad decisions. It didn't help companies like Sears and Wal-mart stop carrying some the product lines. Once consumers get burned by lack of support it is hard to get them back too.

At one time Murray Ohio made the Craftsman riders then Sears change manufactures which put Murray in a bind and when Tecumseh went under it was the straw that broke Murray as most their equipment was built around Tecumseh products. For several years we had beg for parts until Briggs took over the name and some of the parts manufacturing.

Briggs lease out the Murray name to companies like Husqvarna and MTD so it is slowly making a come back. When Brigg purchased Snapper mower they lease that out to Husqvarna for frame manufacturing or at least the Snapper rider and ZTR that I have under my wing are using Husqvarna parts. Briggs actually lost part sales as Husqvarna have put their part number on the parts so brought the parts from Husqvarna for about 1/2 - 2/3s of the Briggs price. Even at those reduced prices the customer still complains about costs [it is normal for them to complain about anything that is not free].

The long term part back orders is what hurting me here. I had a Coleman generator in the shop for 2 months now and instead waiting the carburetor repair kit to get back in stock (still on back order) I had order individual parts which still took a month to get. But at least the unit is back together awaiting a start-up which is delayed due rainy weather here and now wet snow. The customer came by yesterday saying he been to other shops that say they can get the kit which I know they can't. Most Coleman generators have Tecumseh engines but this one has a Briggs.

I see how current Briggs deliver parts so as I just order for parts for both stock and oil pump screen for a 49M I have torn down for sump gasket replacement. The screen was so full of paper gasket material that actually rip the screen off the plastic holder.

Here is the small order I just placed with A&I. It would have been more but I had already off load nearly $1500 of the order to other vendors as they were not Briggs or another vendor had better pricing cost wise. I would order 3 camshafts but I just found 2 that were in the wrong bin so save me $110.


Now that A&I has raise their after market parts prices most the parts lower at their competitors especially when you add in their retail UPS shipping rates for anything under $200. Boy I hated getting billed $45 on a $192 order because they wanted to ship out 3 different warehouses.

 

[Mower King]

We just got 4 2022 Ferris mowers in last week of a 21 mower order of Ferris so, B&S is not dead yet!
They appear to be built the same as the 2021 but Ferris has changed the paint scheme for 2022 and they DO LOOK GOOD!
We'll see this coming spring & summer how easy ordered parts will arrive!

 

[bkeller500]

I'm a typical homeowner that has purchased and replaced various mowers, tillers, snowblowers and choppers. I have had John Deere, Simplicity, Cub, Toro, White, Honda and MTD units. They either had Honda, Briggs, Kawasaki, Kohler or Tecumseh motors. Never in any of those units did I ever have a motor problem or repair. I see a lot of opinions on this forum and most of them are well earned opinions based on performance, observation or experiences. I, like so many others appreciate the many options we have to choose from. Some of them are stronger than others and that is usually reflected by pricing. I would like to see a pull-back from dependance on China and reestablishment of American labor and engineering. I would rather pay more for good quality than pay less for equipment that is going to disappoint me. I hope Briggs and the others survive and continue to build quality products.

 

[StarTech]

As with all things not all will have problems or the same problems. It all depends the users and the equipment usage. I got customers that simply wear things out without any major problems and then there the ones that are constantly having problems. People are the same with some us rarely needing to see a doctor and others that are constantly going to one.

You have heard or read that some swear by JD and then later heard other that hate them.

Either way when they do break being able to repair then is usually important which why there is a lot complains lately because how hard it is to gets parts quickly.

 

[ILENGINE]

Briggs and most of the other domestic engine and mower companies need to get out of the mass merchant box stores, and concentrate more on their higher end dealer products. The Chinese products are going to dominate the box store market and the domestic companies will be fighting tooth and nail to even survive in that market. And if Briggs is going to farm out their homeowner lines to third party companies like Husqvarna, MTD, Ardisam, then they need to just sell off those lines. The last Snapper and Murray mowers I saw at my local Walmart were made by a company with no contact information past parts@chinese company.com