Briggs & Stratton discontinues all Snapper & Simplicity tractors & zero turns - 9/8/2023

[DinosaurMike]

Texas Chainsaw, Have you looked for a Lexmark printer for home use since Windows 10 came out? They don't exist and there is no Windows 10 driver for them. Just saying. It is too bad because I liked my Lexmark printer until I upgraded to Windows 10 and had to buy a new printer.

 

[dad7432]

Your comments here about how problematic battery powered electric outdoor power equipment can be are dead right. It will be a sad day when the ICE is gone, but like it or not folks the ICE's days are numbered. For so many reasons, but mainly b/c emissions controls and safety regs have made ICE machines consumers hate. I say its mostly b/c of fuel and quality of build issues that make starting difficult to impossible (For example my camping generator) when left for a few weeks.

As a consumer whose been using ICE equipment for 50 years, I'd say that anything with an ICE made in the last 10 years will break down, and be way more expensive to repair, if it can be repaired at all, than it would have been 20 years ago. Everyone I know shops at Lowz, Home Despot, Walferts, et all. They buy cheap junk because they think they can't afford better, or "why spend more when it's just going to break anyway". Even "expensive" zero turns fall into this. They then tire of repairs, especially rebuilding an ICE carb or fuel system after it's been sitting for 3 months. They hate dealing with fuel preservatives like Stabil and especially forgetting to use it when it won't start.

Even I love how quiet and easy to use my electric corded chain saw is, and its 15 years old. And sure in a few years (if we are lucky) these newfangled batteries will have to be replaced.... but more likely in 5 years there will be a new, smaller, lighter and faster, cooler (sales pitch) replacement. So yeah, we are a disposable society, but people throw throw their $800 phones away every 3-5 years, so why not their electric lawn mower?

As for me, I will be using my newish Craftsman walk behind and 20 year old all steel MTD Yardman Yardbug Rider for as long as I can get parts. Maybe my relatives will have to pull me and my dying hands off of the Yardbug, but more likely they will pull my dead body out of my SeaHunt boat with its 2006 2 Stroke Yamaha engine that sends up a cloud of smoke every morning I go out fishing.

If you are in the business, you all better find a way to sell or be using all this electrical stuff, or get out of the business.. because that's all there's going to be in 10 years. Nobody's going to be fixing anything but the most expensive equipment anymore. Think IPhone. Ugh.

 

[upupandaway]

Why do big companies keep buying other brands only to destroy them?? LawnBoy comes to mind. Now Snapper- or at least part at the moment. What a shame....

 

[GFC]

Just a few mos ago you could still buy a new Honda lawnmower now there are none to be found on line.

 

[JKQ]

So sad to see the decline of Western society and Innovation

 

[TobyU]

I became aware of Briggs doing this a few months ago but at first it was just their traditional walk behind mowers similar to the ninjas and their rear engine riders.
They're wanting to focus on simplicity is what they said.
It does become a problem for these large companies that absorb and suck up different names that used to be independent over the years because now you're using that name recognition and possible popularity competing against your own other products.

It really shouldn't matter to Briggs if you sell a simplicity, A fairest, or a snapper as long as you get the sale but I think it's called spreading yourself too thinly.

As someone else pointed out, snappers have already been subbed out years ago and I believe it was MTD was making a snapper but regardless it wasn't what I call a real snapper. Lol
The problem is, not nearly enough people know how good those old snappers were and the new ones are basically the same machine with exception of that lousy new Briggs & Stratton engine which I'm not really a fan of and certainly isn't going to be as durable and long lived as the previous Briggs it replaced.
But the machine, and the drive system is still some of the best quality available.
I will say I've had to repair a couple of welds because the old ones had a carriage bolt through it and might have been welded also but the new ones they just hit it with a little bit of weld and the penetration isn't so good so I've seen them pop up where they handle brackets mount to the deck but luckily that's a 3 minute fix because all you have to do is drill the hole through the deck since it's already in the bracket and put a carriage bolt nut and lock washer on it and it will be better than new.

Many times these companies retain the rights to the names and years later will bring them back kind of like a big rotation.

That's probably because they make such a bad image for themselves and their products the same way John Deere has had to change the name of their department store riders three or four times now.
When all the reviews catch up to you online then you have to start pushing another one of your products that doesn't have any bad publicity yet.

I fear that Briggs will never be anything close to what they used to be since this holdings company owns them.
As mentioned by others, holdings companies just look at the bottom dollar and the only good thing is sometimes they do leave the companies alone to design and manage their products as they see fit but in this case Briggs was already doing a fairly poor job of that.
At the first sign of trouble or the first or second quarter of lower than expected sales, they will dump these companies etc.
They are not in it for the long haul. The same way I can't stand when restaurants are owned by holding companies or management groups etc.
These people didn't start it from the ground up and build a small empire with multiple locations in the state or around the country and they have no real vested interest in keeping the name and the tradition alive being the only way they have to make money.
When they going gets tough.. they walk!

 

[MowManMow]

Several yrs ago I needed a new Briggs engine for one of my Snapper SP's (rear disc drive not MTD specials). I owned 4 then, two 3&1 and two Ninjas. I noticed on Briggs site they had no push mower steel sleeve engines listed so I called them. They stated they just stopped making them the prior year. So I checked Ebay, Amazon none anywhere!

Well I called SmallEngineWarehouse where I bought parts before that actually had one left, a JD style with pressure lube oil system. I bought it at clearance price & ordered 2 cases of oil filters because I figured its mini filters may be hard to locate later or JD priced? It actually has an oil slinger in it too according to its parts breakdown so one can just block it off & change oil more if needed.
I used it on my front yard (20 min weekly) & mowed my back yard with my rider.
3yrs later we moved to the country where we live now (3 acres), partly wooded & I mow 2.5 acres all with my garden tractor(s).
So that ol Snapper is stored in my barn with my other 3 n 1 Snapper. Sold both Ninja models when we moved. I kept a few rear-ends & controls from rusted out curb finds if needed. The disc drive Snapper was the best self propelled mowers ever made, owned Toro, Honda, Deere nothing even comes close to their reliability.
I kept checking back for another new sleeved engine but never located another, those baby's sure dried up fast. Briggs engines was decimated long ago, but omg what a wonderful engine they once built. I thank every engineer that ever helped make them what they were. Seen so many that never had one oil change last over 20yrs back in the day. Crazy!
I'd liked to of handed these down to my boy but he dont appreciate anything old. Todays younger gens could care less about everlasting equipment.
Briggs Pres was asked during an interview almost 10yrs ago "Why did Briggs stop putting oil drains in their smaller engines" he answered "Our studies show todays generation does not want to do any maintenance, they just prefer to buy new again."
So Briggs put on plastic carbs, no oil drains, no sleeves etc.. Other words, Briggs built the p.o.s. they asked for so they buy new mowers every 2yrs vs a quart of oil & a hand wash.
Appears China rubbed off here sadly, all these big corps love people who buy n toss, buy n toss instead of fixing it? Saw one mower shops flyer for 30% interest over summer!...nutz!
Being one who learned math I'm just not that guy who buys stuff to throwaway days later. Sickening thought to me honestly. If Briggs sells a product no better built than China then why pay more for the Briggs? Buy a Harbor Lifan engine & toss it on an old Deck...Briggs shot themselves in the foot.

Fwiw- I still have my old Wheel Horses with engines/trans/frames made from old iron & maintain them so I dont spend thousands every 5yrs on todays throwaways. Oldest is 1976, newest a 1988, none have seen their first engine refresh yet, all Kohler K & Magnums but some Garden Tractors had iron Briggs back then. Hard to find old iron GT's for sale but as owners die they do get sold off!
Beware of Onan powered GTs people are dumping due to parts costs.

 

[Oskar]

Today, there is no competition with China. China has already WON! They have access to CNC machining that allows duplication of anything, but what they have improved upon is their creativity and imagination. On top of that, individual competition within their workforce doesn't exist! Americans are in a video coma, and they need to start thinking outside their boxes!

 

[dad7432]

Why do big companies keep buying other brands only to destroy them?? LawnBoy comes to mind. Now Snapper- or at least part at the moment. What a shame....

Because they can make lots of money doing it. Look what has happened to Sears since Lambert took them over years ago.

 

[BudTugley]

..... B&S declared bankruptcy, and should have sold off the brand names that were valuable.....

They tried to sell off their Lawn & Garden brands prior to bankruptcy, saying they were going to slim down to just engines & power generation. But no one would buy any of the lawn and garden brands because they were losing money. Then came bankruptcy, and now this.

The reason they bought the L&G brands to begin with was to protect their engine business from competition. But the demand for competing engines was so great that they had to start buying engines from their competitors to be able to sell their own mowers. Briggs engines are not the first choice for most consumers these days, and many flat-out refuse to own the brand.

In hindsight, they should have focused their investment on making better engines rather than chasing vertical integration trying to compete with mower manufacturers and OPE dealers.