Sheila
07-15-2010, 12:18 PM
Dear Readers:
About four years ago, we decided to replace our Craftsman Garden Tractor that had a 26 hp Kohler Engine. The engine was still running strong and pulling trailers, etc. However, the deck and other parts were rusting and had been beaten with use. So we replaced in with another Craftsman Yard Tractor with a Briggs & Straten 24 hp Engine. Whole new world. We noticed right off it didn't seem to have the gump the old one did, but excused it because of the slight difference in hp. This year we went to run it and one day it refused to cut. DH, who is very mechanical and handy checked spart plug, push rods and low and behold one rod was gone. He tore it down a bit further and found the push rod down in the oil pan. (Luckily it didn't appear to damage anything as it went down through). DH ordered new gaskets, push rods, spark plug and invited the neighbor, who is an engineer and used to be a tractor mechanic to oversee the replacement of these parts. He also check with Briggs & Straten and they said the timing should be between .004 and .006, so he set it for .005. He couldn't get the darned thing to stay in time. He also discovered that the push rod that was in the botton of the oil pan was an exhaust one (and should have been steel not aluminum, which it was). Of course he notifited B & S, who said sorry about your luck 1 year warranty.
DH decided to replace said engine with a new one. Again went to B & S and was told that they didn't really recommend the 24 hp original engine, instead they recommended a 27 hp one for nearly $1500. So this tells me they knew they had made an inferior engine and were unwilling to accomodate to any extent their customers. We also contacted a highly recommended tractor dealer to do the work and the best gestimate they could give us would be about $500. Therefore, we went out and got a new Craftsman Garden Tractor with of course a Kohler Engine. I'm having difficulty understanding this because we have wood splitters with B & S Engines, etc. Has anyone else had problems with B & S and their customer service. Cause I have to say at this point, I will avoid any B & S engine on anything....:wacko:
About four years ago, we decided to replace our Craftsman Garden Tractor that had a 26 hp Kohler Engine. The engine was still running strong and pulling trailers, etc. However, the deck and other parts were rusting and had been beaten with use. So we replaced in with another Craftsman Yard Tractor with a Briggs & Straten 24 hp Engine. Whole new world. We noticed right off it didn't seem to have the gump the old one did, but excused it because of the slight difference in hp. This year we went to run it and one day it refused to cut. DH, who is very mechanical and handy checked spart plug, push rods and low and behold one rod was gone. He tore it down a bit further and found the push rod down in the oil pan. (Luckily it didn't appear to damage anything as it went down through). DH ordered new gaskets, push rods, spark plug and invited the neighbor, who is an engineer and used to be a tractor mechanic to oversee the replacement of these parts. He also check with Briggs & Straten and they said the timing should be between .004 and .006, so he set it for .005. He couldn't get the darned thing to stay in time. He also discovered that the push rod that was in the botton of the oil pan was an exhaust one (and should have been steel not aluminum, which it was). Of course he notifited B & S, who said sorry about your luck 1 year warranty.
DH decided to replace said engine with a new one. Again went to B & S and was told that they didn't really recommend the 24 hp original engine, instead they recommended a 27 hp one for nearly $1500. So this tells me they knew they had made an inferior engine and were unwilling to accomodate to any extent their customers. We also contacted a highly recommended tractor dealer to do the work and the best gestimate they could give us would be about $500. Therefore, we went out and got a new Craftsman Garden Tractor with of course a Kohler Engine. I'm having difficulty understanding this because we have wood splitters with B & S Engines, etc. Has anyone else had problems with B & S and their customer service. Cause I have to say at this point, I will avoid any B & S engine on anything....:wacko: