Opinion

lacrosse_24

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Last summer I fixed a handful of mowers, I used cheap China aftermarket carbs from Amazon. Was very frustrated because they rarely worked. So I focused on cleaning the originals or
Replacing them with originals. My opinion question is:

Does Stens make a quality replacement product?
 

slomo

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For carbs, best bet is the OEM OG carb. I call those Chinese ebay and amazon carbs the "Gambler Series". Some work but most are a waste of money. Just as you found. You actually spend more money and time trying to make that Gambler Series work than what the OEM carb costs.

Think Stens makes good filters and some blades like edger blades. They are not Oregon (Chuck Norris) quality. Get what you pay for.

slomo
 

bertsmobile1

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The carbs that Stens, Prime Line, Oregon & Rotary sell all should have undergone some sort of quality control at source.
as such they all have a warranty
BEcause these are specialist mower parts suppliers when they tell you that it fits something then it will be the right carb for that application.
A lot of the stuff sold on Amazon & Ebay are the carbs that Stens, Prime Line, Oregon & Rotary rejected as not being up to their quality standard
 

Hammermechanicman

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Oh the carburetor roulette game. Since kohler thinks their carbs are made of gold. I have rollled the dice and running around 50%. Steer clear of the $h/t craponeese tune up kits for 2 stroke hand helds on Ebay. I have seen coils with wrong timing, carbs with wrong lingage, wrong fuel lines, $h/t fuel lines, carbs that just don't work, bad spark plugs, fix the OEM carb if you can. The only reason i can't fix a cube carb is bad check valves. I have installed lots of chineesium Honda carbs and never had a problem. Go figure.
 

7394

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I have a chinese carb on my vintage Honda mini-tiller. (Tiller was being thrown out by neighbor. I snagged it, w /his permission.) carb works good, but a lil rich, & I see nowhere to adjust to lean it out.

Anyway for $9 shipped with new fuel lines, I shouldn't kick too much, I only use it 1 x a year. And that's when the mrs gets after me to get the garden beds ready.. LOL
 

SlopeMan2

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For carbs, best bet is the OEM OG carb. I call those Chinese ebay and amazon carbs the "Gambler Series". Some work but most are a waste of money. Just as you found. You actually spend more money and time trying to make that Gambler Series work than what the OEM carb costs.

Think Stens makes good filters and some blades like edger blades. They are not Oregon (Chuck Norris) quality. Get what you pay for.

slomo
Hi slomo - I have had a couple of cheap carbs also. But, I lucked out on a chinese carb for my 10 year old 26hp Briggs. The fuel shut off valve quit on the original, so I just replaced the whole carb. I guess I am lucky, because it is running as good as ever. Thanks. Enjoy everybody's input.
 
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