New Briggs Vanguard 40 hp EFI

[ILENGINE]

Briggs the last few years has been farming out their brand names to 3rd party companies. Murray made by MTD, Husqvarna, and a Chinese company without a parts or service network, not even a workable website. Their only contact is by a email account. Brute made by Amerisun, Pulsar and Ardisam. Brute and Briggs log splitters by the same company that makes Black Diamond for Rural King. Snapper products sold at Walmart made by MTD and I think another Chinese company.

And keep in mind that Briggs doesn't provide parts, service or warranty for those 3rd party manufactured products other than maybe the Snapper at Walmart products.

 

[highvacboy]

Been waiting on a $6 part for a Craftsman/Briggs and Stratton pressure washer since September

try jacks

 

[ILENGINE]

try jacks

This was a new model for 2020 and in the beginning of the year Briggs didn't list all the parts numbers in the system to even be ordered. And with Briggs there is only one Distribution system nationwide so my backorder is nationwide. Jacks doesn't show it in stock either. Says 2-10 days which I am sure would turn into the same waiting list I am on now.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I don't see Briggs going away anytime soon in the US at least. Even if they were to start cutting parts availability for old engines, we're talking about a current model here, not something made 50 years ago. The big block Vanguards are excellent engines in my experience and I would take one over a Kawasaki. Just my opinion, and no I'm not a Briggs dealer, just like their Vanguard engines.

So how long did it take for Tecumseh to vanish off the face of the planet ?
Here today & gone tomorrow
File another chapter 11 and no longer need to make parts available for engines in mowers yet to be sold let alone stuff that is a year old.
And it will be the latest models that will be the hardest to get parts for as aftermarket parts will not be available for them yet .
Unless there is a massive change in the mentality of the population of the USA which will allow people to be proud pay to have paid more for a better product rather than demand everything gets cheaper every year , B & S is doomed to become a very minor player which is why they decided to take over distribution of Oregon products and they have made an absolute pigs breakfast of that so I would imagine when the contract period is over Oregon will go back to doing it themselves lest B & S drag them into the trash pile as well.
Gator blades are NLA down here and RGS sold thousands of sets each month before the take over .
Briggs got Oregon products into Bunnings down here ( sort of a cross between Harbour Freight & Lowes over there ) but they dropped all Oregon products in less than a year.
Only mower / chainsaw or tool shops that are not franchised to Stihl or Husqvarna can carry Oregon and all the rest are places like Walmart where people go to pay almost nothing for landfil quality products.

 

[bertsmobile1]

And there is a big quality cloud over USA made Vanguard due to the different management philosophy to the workers between Japanese factories & USA factories.
Japanese workers are really valued by the management and having to sack a single employee is seen by the management as a gross failure of their management.
Thus the workers have pride in what they do and go out of their way to to make the best quality products that they can.
They also fell secure in their employment and respect the management , the company & the product.
USA management considers floor workers as nothing more than a "Variable Production Cost " to be reduced to the lowest possible level thus do not respect them and this goes two ways.
Workers have no security , do not feel valued and in general do the least they possibly can and do not care about the quality of the work they do .
AFAIK Lincon Electric is the only USA company that has a profit sharing arrangement that goes all the way from the office right down the the factory floor cleaners.
So Lincon workers know their bonus is tied to the welders they make and thus ensure everything that leaves the factory is top quality.
The reputation of Vanguard engines was built on the same ethics that exist in most Japanese factories which is missing from most USA factories.

Decades ago I was sent to Japan and had a look at their steel industry.
I was amazed that the QC department was almost non- existant yet their products were held in high regard.
When having a chat with one of the QC managers about the lack of final product inspection and his reply floored me.
"the workers on the line will not allow any bad products to get to despatch so as long as we keep the quality of the inputs in check the output requires no inspection."
The particularly USA idea of a Friday afternoon - Monday morning defective "specials" is not known in Japan.

So getting back to the original question
Forget the Vanguard
Eventually B & S will either get the message or go the way of the Do-Do.
With a bit of luck, Kohler will rise to the occasion and take up some of the business that does not go to Chinese factories.

 

[cbs123]

Thanks everyone for chiming in. Been a few days since I checked this thread. I think the novelty and history of the Vanguard is what drew me into the thought of giving it a shot. But until it is proven in the field, I believe i am going to pass on it and stick to tried and true FX Kawasaki motors or Kohler Command, which have a good long history of quality and dependability.

As has already been mentioned a few times, Briggs is just going through too many troubles right now to take the chance. I feel they only have themselves to blame. They did make some terrible engineering mistakes in their cheaper motors. Plastic flywheel gears, plastic starter gears, cheap camshafts, carbs that leak gas, air filters that don't seal properly, etc. etc.

The only briggs that I would care to brag about is the old Japanese Vanguards. Until they have proven to be good engines, it's just not worth the risk.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

Of the Tractors & Utility vehicles i've ran on the farm, i can say that a Japanese product (kubota or kawasaki) hasn't let me down when i needed it.

 

[slomo]

Covid is here. Parts are not maybe??

slomo