Questions about blade brake cable connection on these new types of engines used on push mowers.

[PbBlaster]

I'm looking to replace a tired Briggs Intek 6 hp engine (about 1994) on my Snapper 21" Hi-Vac. These new Briggs equivalents are "pull and go" with no primer bulb or start/ stop lever control. Plus I see the carbs are now made of cheap plastic. And there's no oil drain plug on these engines. It's like Briggs is designing their engines now like throw-away appliances. Not worth fixing them when they break down. If I decide to go with a new Briggs engine (you can find them cheap on the internet if you search around, some offer free shipping) I have a question about the blade/engine brake cable connection.

I've always eliminated the hold down bar/cable that keeps the engine running just by wiring up the connection on the engine. The bar is one more thing you to have to grab on to when starting the engine. Gets to be annoying every time you stop to empty the bag. This is of course with my old Intek that has the "Start/Stop" lever.

So these new Briggs engines don't have the Start/Stop lever. It's pull and go as long as you're holding down the blade brake bar. I want to do do away with that like I did with my old Briggs. Is there a reliable method of McGivering this with an "on-off" type of bent up piece of heavy wire that can be hooked into "run" and then un-hooked to "stop" the once I'm done mowing?

Of course this would violate Federal safety requirements. Dealerships/ repair shops can't alter such a thing, but us home mechanics can.

Any suggestions or links would be appreciated. Note attached pic of my Briggs Intek 6 on the Snapper 21" Hi-Vac.

 

[StarTech]

The no oil drain plug has been around for a while now. Many shops now use a vacuum oil extractor. But the home owner are being instructed to drain the oil out the fill hole by turn the engine on its side.

And yes most of the engines can be converted to run without the brake an the addition of a new control assy with a kill switch. But personally I would stick with the current setup as I had to use the brake as a emergency stop several times over the years.

 

[ILENGINE]

I think it was Toro that built the deck with the small hole for the crankshaft and the hole for the oil drain plug but later removed the hole for the oil drain so you couldn't access the drain plug if you wanted to. Not too many years later Briggs removed the oil drain provision completely which resulted in having to turn the engine on its side to drain the oil. Which on push mowers isn't that big of a deal in most cases. What is fun is when they use the engine on tillers and have to turn a 200-300 pound tiller on its side to change the oil. Maybe that is reason for the move to no oil change engines.

I would leave the bail kill system just for ease of shutoff. There are ways around the kill system but they are not as easy to bypass as the old engines were.

 

[gotomow]

It's nearly off season, (at least here lol) why not rebuild your current engine or at least pull it apart and see what is needed?

 

[StarTech]

What is fun is when they use the engine on tillers and have to turn a 200-300 pound tiller on its side to change the oil. Maybe that is reason for the move to no oil change engines.

Try draining the oil on a log splitter. I got one customer where the replacement engine had to be mounted 90 degrees of the oil drain oil. The now brings the splitter in oil changes which I just charge for the oil; unless,they bring their own then it is a small service charge.

And I do remember my first oil on a MTD one wheel tiller before I got my vacuum pump. What a pain in the backside.

 

[bertsmobile1]

As luck would have it an oil pump came with the business.
When Allpower ( stens distributor ) went down the toilet they sold off the stock really cheaply so I bought 10 more and sold all of them within a month to motorcycle riding mates with Pommie bikes.

As for all of the PIA supposedly safety devices fitted to push mowers.
They are here to protect the factory from litigants , not the operator from any real danger .
Most are totally pointless and actually make the mower far more inconvienat to use .
If you really want the mower to come to a dead stop befor removing the ctcher then you bloody well need to make sure the engines restart reliably when hot .
Very few auto chokes seem to be able to accompulish this with any regularity .

 

[PbBlaster]

I'd have to order the bail bar and cable for this Snapper. I don't want do that. I did away with all that on my original late 80's Snapper and same with this 1998 model that's shown with the Intek engine. In fact this Intek does get extremely difficult to re-start after it's warmed up good and run for a while. And yes all the cooling fins are clear of debris under the fanshroud. It has to sit a while to cool down. Thanks for all the replies. I'll figure something out .I don't really want to fuss with tearing this Intek down.