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Kohler or Briggs and Strattion

#1

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

The drive mechanism has blown up for the second time on my White mower and I have a bad hip; walking a 1/2 acre is okay, but dragging/pushing the mower isn't.

I've pretty much decided on a Toro Super Recycler at my local outdoor power store. It comes with an aluminum deck, wash out port, personal pace self propelled, a real easy on/off bagger, 5 year warranty and they cover everything for 5 years, including belts and cables and sharpening my old blade once a year for the 5 years if I bring the mower in or just give my a new blade if I take the old one off and bring it in with the coupon. I know, I want to see all that in writing before I hand them my money.

Comes down to this a 7.0 torque side valve B&S or a 7. 0 torque OHV Kohler for $30 more. I know both companies have made a lot of engines, a lot of good engines, and some junk. What is the current situation; is the B&S good, is the Kohler $30 better?

I stand corrected; the 5 years of free blades is the Owner super advantage from Toro and it's $30 more


#2

07drummerboy

07drummerboy

i would choose Briggs&Stratton good long lasting easy to work on reliable Engine


#3

I

indypower

The Kohler is a much better engine. I would choose Kohler over a Briggs in a heart beat especially for only $30.


#4

D

DaveR

The only Kohler I have had was on my Troy Bit tiller. Never had any problems with it, just a gummy carb after last winter. Pretty easy to work on generally speaking. Can't go wrong with briggs either.


#5

J

jenkinsph

I am going to recommend the Kohler engine, I have gone through alot of this stuff and it seems the oldest working stuff has Kohler engines on it. Their both good though.


#6

K

KennyV

I will have to agree the Kohler engine should be worth the $30 more... :smile:KennyV


#7

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

I reread the sales literature very carefully, the B&S engine claims 7 lb-ft GROSS torque, the Kohler claims 7 lb-ft NET torque. It may not be huge, but the Kohler should have a little more power. Every now and then we get 2 weeks of rain here and when it finally dries out you can't have too much power. Also the Kohler lists a cast iron cylinder and forged crankshaft and the same mower with the Kohler is 12 pounds heavier, so I think I'll go with the Kohler. My first experience with Kohler was in a John Deere 110 and the engine outlasted everything, 2 teenage boys, mowing about 5 acres, snowblowing feet of snow (upstate NY snow belt) off a 500 foot driveway for years. Transmission finally went out from speedshifting it. Did I mention 2 teenage boys?

Thanks for the opinions.


#8

173abn

173abn

just curious on what the price is on the machine? russ


#9

JDgreen

JDgreen

Grass ala Mowed said:
The drive mechanism has blown up for the second time on my White mower and I have a bad hip; walking a 1/2 acre is okay, but dragging/pushing the mower isn't.

I've pretty much decided on a Toro Super Recycler at my local outdoor power store. It comes with an aluminum deck, wash out port, personal pace self propelled, a real easy on/off bagger, 5 year warranty and they cover everything for 5 years, including belts and cables and sharpening my old blade once a year for the 5 years if I bring the mower in or just give my a new blade if I take the old one off and bring it in with the coupon. I know, I want to see all that in writing before I hand them my money.

Comes down to this a 7.0 torque side valve B&S or a 7. 0 torque OHV Kohler for $30 more. I know both companies have made a lot of engines, a lot of good engines, and some junk. What is the current situation; is the B&S good, is the Kohler $30 better?

I stand corrected; the 5 years of free blades is the Owner super advantage from Toro and it's $30 more
Click to expand...

For small engines, have always had Briggs or Tecumseh going back 30 years, got my first Kohler engined mower last year. Love it, will try to buy Kohler from now on...very pleased with easy starting, overall design, reliability, and power, use it hard but very strong and oil tight. Stingiest engine I have ever had for it's size with both fuel and oil. I'd pay $60-70 more for the Kohler if all other factors were even.


#10

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

To 173abn, $529 with the B&S, $559 with the Kohler. The spec are identical except for the engines; Kohler mower is heavier, mentions the cast iron cylinder and forged crank and the Kohler is 7 lb-ft NET, not GROSS torque. Same wash out port, same self-propelled ground speed, same 5 year warrenty, same 5 coupons for a free blade sharpening ... Sometimes just posting something and going back and reading it makes the decision for me. Unless something really bad happens to Kohler in the next month, when I get my tax refund I'm getting the Toro Super Recycler with the Kohler engine and never looking back.

Thanks to all for putting up with me thinking out loud on this forum and thank you for your opinions.


#11

Wayne195

Wayne195

I definantly rate Kohler over B & S, but Briggs and Stratton engines can be fine if they're maintained properly.


#12

JDgreen

JDgreen

Grass ala Mowed said:
To 173abn, $529 with the B&S, $559 with the Kohler. The spec are identical except for the engines; Kohler mower is heavier, mentions the cast iron cylinder and forged crank and the Kohler is 7 lb-ft NET, not GROSS torque. Same wash out port, same self-propelled ground speed, same 5 year warrenty, same 5 coupons for a free blade sharpening ... Sometimes just posting something and going back and reading it makes the decision for me. Unless something really bad happens to Kohler in the next month, when I get my tax refund I'm getting the Toro Super Recycler with the Kohler engine and never looking back.

Thanks to all for putting up with me thinking out loud on this forum and thank you for your opinions.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking the other day how common the Teks and Briggs are so it's easy to find maintenance parts for them, not sure if that is true for Kohlers. But about all I have ever had to replace on any of my small engines are filters, plugs, gas hoses, starter ropes, etc. Most of those have to be pretty generic items.


#13

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

The outdoor power equipment store I'm looking at used to be able to get any parts I needed for my pre-MTD Troy-Bilt tiller and was able to repair a bunch of items after a fire in my garage. As a selling and servicing Toro dealer I'm sure they can get me parts. Really, with the warranty all I should need for 5 years is air filter, gas filter, spark plugs and 10W-30 service SJ detergent oil - as you said pretty generic.


#14

2810guy

2810guy

I've had a lot of small engines and they were always B&S. I bought a miller bobcat welder/generator and it had a kohler 16 hp on it. I was sold on Kohler from that time. My new Skaq ZTM has a kohler 25 hp and runs 10-12 hours at a time nice power responce. My opinion Kohler all the way! . . .John :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


#15

J

jenkinsph

2810guy said:
I've had a lot of small engines and they were always B&S. I bought a miller bobcat welder/generator and it had a kohler 16 hp on it. I was sold on Kohler from that time. My new Skaq ZTM has a kohler 25 hp and runs 10-12 hours at a time nice power responce. My opinion Kohler all the way! . . .John :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


I have a Miller Trailblazer with a 20 hp Onan about 12 years old now and runs great. BUT! I have heard that parts may be difficult to obtain for serious repairs and retrofitting another brand is also difficult. Mine doesn't get alot of use but I am a little wary of it.


#16

G

gravelyhead

07drummerboy said:
i would choose Briggs&Stratton good long lasting easy to work on reliable Engine
Click to expand...

Kohler much better Engines


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