New Briggs Vanguard 40 hp EFI

[ILENGINE]

Hammer, what makes this worse is the fact that this is a missing part for a new out of the box, never run pressure washer.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

A few years ago the local tractor supply approached me to do warranty work for them on their Husky brand. I heard that the shop they were using was dropping them because of parts availability. Don't need the hassle. I heard they have lots of new out of the box failures.

 

[bertsmobile1]

TWice I have rung the local warehouse for expected delivery dates and twice I was told "Not an authorised dealer then None of your business"
Rang to ask if a particular Ariens Zoom gators are available, got told "Not in stock and not going to be added to the inventory which is too big already " .
Gripskies apparently had no problem stocking them up till 2 years ago.
Waited 18 months for a 31 series cam shaft ( bought 3 from China , arrived in 15 days and so far 2 of them have been working fine ) .
Waited 12 months for the current model 9A stator , fortunately had a new engine to pinch one from
Waited 11 weeks for 3 blower fans.
Waited 2 months for a rectifier/regulator ( current model )
Put the order in for that blower housing I posted about a few weeks back, it is yet to ship so one must assume again not in stock .

So it is no more B & S engines for this little black duck.
I will hazard a guess that the new money men running the company will slash the inventory of old parts which IS the only thing B & S had going for them.
Down here I can get Loncins, Ducars & Liffans for around 1/3 the $ / Hp .
Loncin have just opened a warehouse so it looks like they are not terrified to carry inventory like B & S Aust is .

 

[cbs123]

lot of good thoughts. I appreciate the advice. I'm a little concerned also, the reason I started the thread. May not be worth the risk. I'm definitely not a fan of most Briggs engines. The cheaper versions are not good, IMO. I thought the Vanguard might be the Crème de la Crème. But don't want to end up in a nightmare. Briggs has been through its share of problems as of late. May just have to stick with the FX1000V from Kawasaki.

Thanks for the help

 

[primerbulb120]

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.

 

[CaptFerd]

Kohler is taking over the small engine industry. Cummins Onan are using lg Kohler motors found in RV generators and construction type equipment as well as Miller generators and welding. Tuff engines by far more superior than Briggs.

 

[mechanic mark]

where are B&S VANGUARD ENGINES MANUFACTURED - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

 

[ILENGINE]

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.

What will end Briggs is the dealers having issues with parts availability. Dealers waiting on parts for months will make dealers skittish about selling or recommending Briggs engines. Everybody seems to think that the Briggs parts issues started recently and they tried to blame it on the Pandemic but in reality dealers have been seeing issues since 2017. Then they didn't even admit there was an issue until 2019 when they tried to blame that on software update issues.

Vanguard engines have been historically top tier excellent engines over the years, but if dealers are worried about parts supplies or Briggs financial issues they will not purchase Briggs engines on equipment that they sell. They will order their stocking orders with Kohler, Kawasaki, or Honda engines.

 

[Mowergal]

Late last summer I almost bought a new Scag Turf Tiger with 35 hp B&S engine. I'm OK with my late model Scag with Kohler EFI, just wanted more horsepower. I decided not to trade in for the new one as I was concerned about B&S bankruptcy, possible parts and repair issues in the future. Also, why is the company in bankruptcy? A poor product that is not being bought/used by equipment manufacturers?

 

[Scrubcadet10]

briggs chapter 11 at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Late last summer I almost bought a new Scag Turf Tiger with 35 hp B&S engine. I'm OK with my late model Scag with Kohler EFI, just wanted more horsepower. I decided not to trade in for the new one as I was concerned about B&S bankruptcy, possible parts and repair issues in the future. Also, why is the company in bankruptcy? A poor product that is not being bought/used by equipment manufacturers?