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I have an older model 14.5 hp Craftsman riding lawn mower with Briggs and Stratton engine. I was told Husquvara made these mowers back in the 90's which is about when I purchased mine. Does anyone know what carburetor Briggs and Stratton used during this time? I was told they used a Walbo brand but want to be sure? How do I identify the carb I have? My mower runs good for about one minute then it starts flooding. It floods bad enough that the fuel starts to run out of the carburetor. The first time it did this it filled the crankcase with fuel. I cleaned the carb,which helped, but it is still flooding. I was thinking about buying a repair kit but seen the aftermarket carbs for almost the same price as the kit. Would I be better off rebuilding the original carb or going with an aftermarket one? The price of an original carb is over $100,which is a little more than i'm wanting to spend, and the aftermarket one is only a fraction of that. Is this a case of you get what you pay for? What would you recommend? Thanks Poppie

Did you put a new needle and seat in it?
99.9999% of after market carbs are cheap Chinese $&#&@.

Put up the model number off of your ehgine.

Knock off carbs bought from unknown vendors on line are a lucky dip.
Some are good and some are scrap
Knock off carbs bought from long time specialists tend to be good and will come with a warranty
The decision is yours.
And cheap carb rebuild kits are a bigger lottery.
Some are OEM spec parts while others are rebuild kits for the knock off which generally do not work or fail very quickly when used in an original carb.

Without the actual mower details we can not give any specific advice because it could be any one of 100 different engine and 200 different carbs.

I've bought a couple of the cheap carbs, had good luck with them usually combining them with parts from the old one. I'd say your old carb needs a needle and seat, or a float.

Fish said:

Put up the model number off of your ehgine.

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It is a Craftsman Riding Lawn Mower with a 14.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine, Model # 287707 --- Type 1255-E3 --- Code # 000828ZE. Thanks for all the replies, they are greatly appreciated.

It could have either a Walbro or Nikki carburetor, both were used during production depending on supply. The service replacement is Walbro. IMHO, unless there is severe wear rebuild with an OEM kit rather than messing with an aftermarket carb. It is 20 years old, time for a bath.

Romore said:

It could have either a Walbro or Nikki carburetor, both were used during production depending on supply. The service replacement is Walbro. IMHO, unless there is severe wear rebuild with an OEM kit rather than messing with an aftermarket carb. It is 20 years old, time for a bath.

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Rebuilding the old carb is what I was thinking would be best but wanted to see what others thought. I have two of these mowers,one is a 14.5hp and the other is an 18.5hp. Like you said they are about twenty years old but have never given any serious problems. The 14.5hp one was running perfect until all of a sudden it just started flooding without any warning. The 18.5hp is also having minor carb problems otherwise it's still performing like new. Thanks for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated.

Rebuild it,https://www.jackssmallengines.com/j...87799/287707-1255-e3/carburetor-overhaul-kits
Of course, you'll have to figure out which carb you have, Nikki, or walbro.
You can probably call ( good luck with that) or Email Briggs with your model number and Code and they should tell you.
Or you might can compare the diagram to yours by looking at it.

Poppie51 said:

Rebuilding the old carb is what I was thinking would be best but wanted to see what others thought. I have two of these mowers,one is a 14.5hp and the other is an 18.5hp. Like you said they are about twenty years old but have never given any serious problems. The 14.5hp one was running perfect until all of a sudden it just started flooding without any warning. The 18.5hp is also having minor carb problems otherwise it's still performing like new. Thanks for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated.

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My determining factor is slop in the throttle plate holes.
If they are still nice & round, it gets rebuilt
If they are flogged out oval then it is new carb time
I have bushed some , just to prove I could do it & it worked but not economical on a commercial basis.
Usually a sudden change is crud somewhere that it should not be.

The Nikki carb normally has to 2 phillips looking headed screws that hold the fuel bowl on even though they are a JIS screw and a normal phillips can strip the head. The fuel bowl on the Walbro is held on by the fuel solenoid or screw in the bottom of the bowl. The other this the Walbro will have Walbro on the carb body and the Nikki will have Nikki on the carb body.