OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines 16 inch Mowers with Briggs Motors

I seem to be getting a steady stream of these useless/cheap and nasty Sprinter type mowers recently that some moron came up with the idea that a 300 gram bar blade would be good enough to get mugs to buy them from the shop before they find out they are a pretty useless mower. The Briggs motors are not the problem, the problem is the lack of spinning weight . I have fitted a number recently with round blade carriers from who knows what, they are just smaller diameter that the 18 inch ones but at least they give a lot more spinning weight. Problem now is I am running out of these carriers and the matching boss to suit. Now I have to figure out a way I can cheaply add some type of disc cheaply to increase this weight. I'm thinking of getting discs laser cut out of 5 or 6mm plate that I can fit above the blade bar on the top side of the boss. Not sure what these would cost to get made but I guess I would need to get as many cut out of a sheet as possible to keep the costs down. This is going to be an ongoing problem as this is the type of junk Briggs are now dishing up on mowers they are badging as Victas Just a disgraceful way to treat the iconic Victa name that was built on building quality products. Any thoughts

Never thought I would say this but I just fitted a Honda 4 blade carrier to another Sprinter and boy does it transform the feel of the machine. Instead of feeling like a rag doll when you go to start it and once it is running it has a nice solid feel to it, like it now is the real deal not just some toy useless mower. Good thing is I had a couple of Honda blade carriers (they are 260 in diameter) and bosses so the change was fairly straight forward, except and there is always an except, I had to machine out the boss from 22 mm to 7/8th and narrow the keyway about 1mm to suit the Honda boss. Another happy little vegemite

Beauty Norm, I have a spare Honda carrier here - just need to get a boss and I will rip into it. They have a good engines but are just ruined by that blade.

Mine came out of the shed for the first time since may a couple weeks ago, filled it up and went first go. Was trying to clean up leaves, but unless you rev it flat out there isn't enough vacuum to throw into the catcher.

There's another 16 inch victa out at bunnings now with the bar as well (vantage) and then the same thing in black at mitre 10 called the hawk

Looks like they are here to stay unfortunately

Yes Tyler, the one I did today was a Vantage, same as the Sprinter but as I said to the bloke that they were the mowers that get left behind on the hard rubbish. Anyway he was stoked with it, it completely transforms them into a decent mower. Other problem with them is they usually don't come with a catcher for some reason. Only issue in using the Honda boss is that it has to be turned out to fit the Briggs shaft

Ok I got a bit carried away because I had a few Sprinters and the small Gardenline mowers here and as always the body/wheels are good (because they usually have only done a little amount of work) and they usually don't come with a catcher so I just push them into a corner for parts if I ever need them. I had a bit of a look at them and with very little modification I can fit Victa hard catchers to them. Then I decided that if I fit a Briggs to them with a real blade carrier with 4 blades they would make a great mower for smaller yards as they are smaller and much lighter than the Rover/Masports. With the blade carrier and 4 blades it is hard to describe how much of an improvement it makes to these mowers that were once being left on the hard rubbish piles if they were spotted because they were the joke of the mower world. Now I have to find more small blade carriers as I have used the 6 I had here. I might have to see how much it will cost to get some lazer cut out of 5mm plate, that should give plenty of spinning weight happening

You're an intrepid man, Norm. I have always avoided those 16" mowers at my recycle centre. The problem is that they are more and more common now.

Hi sparker,
my latest creation is a Gardenline. I always avoided them but a few ended up here and I decided I had to do something with them to get rid of them. This turns them into a great little mower. This Gardenline has ended up with a round Victa blade carrier on it with 4 blades, only problem is they have had to be cut back to 75mm long. At least it has plenty of spinning weight. I will have to find a lawn that needs cutting to see how it goes.I do have a Weso and another Gardenline still and another Gardenline that a bloke dropped here a couple of years ago, said he had only used it once and had lost the docket and could I see if I could get it going. He hasn't come back so that one might get fitted with a Briggs as well. Seems like demand for smaller lighter mowers with a reliable motor is out there. Most new estates have very small lawn areas The problem with these was the motors were a bit small and no spinning weight and carbys on them were very problematic

Can we see how the blade carriers look under them?
Genius move getting Victa steel base catchers to fit. They are everywhere as they outlast the bases. Good to put them to further use while also making the cheapo mowers half decent now.

Norm, what about Vortex blades - from memory you can get short stubby ones for their different disc

Hi MF and Tyler,
This is what it has ended up like, looks a pretty rugged unit underneath. If a manufacturer decided to build something like this I am sure they would fly out the door instead of being the joke in the mower world. The little Chonda motors were let down by the bar blade that rendered them pretty useless. Photo is a bit deceptive, looks like there is a lot of clearance between the end of the blade and the body but it is 410 across the blades and I had to nick a bit off the back of the blades to allow them to clear the skirt at one point. With the catchers I cut the front edge off which is good because this section is often damaged and this allows the catcher to sit flat on the bottom inside tray and I get to get rid of damaged catchers I couldn't bring myself to throw out

Thanks Norm. That looks over engineered now!! Must be an improvement by a factor of 20!
It would be interesting to try Tyler's suggestion of the Vortex blades. They would probably be just right.

Hi Norm,

I was always under the impression that there should be around a 10mm clearance between the end of the blade and the mower skirt so as to provide a good pick up suction.

If I recall correctly the carrier you have there was originally Victa's mulching blade carrier and used the wide blades opposed to the standard narrower blades that generally are fitted on Victa's.

Cheers,
BB.

Plenty of clearance there BB it was just that on one section near the rear left wheel the deck must not have been pressed perfectly round. See if the next one is the same but it certainly cuts and mulches the dandelions with ease, cause that is all that is growing here at the moment. Every lawn around here is a sea of yellow. Somebody must go round at night spreading dandelion seeds everywhere

Just checked, Vortex are 76mm long as opposed to 95mm, but they are a stepped down blade - the outer end is lower than the carrier

The other issue is you can't get a good deal online like generic victa blades

In that case then it's the angle grinder method.
I think B_B is right about chunky blades going on the mulching disk.

The blades I buy cost me $4.50 a pair, they suit the 19/20 inch so I have to cut them back but they are a much better, wider/thicker blade than the standard 18 inch ones

Not sure if anybody can help with this one. It is a Briggs I have had sitting here for a number of years, it was originally on a Sprinter with a bar blade and it ran well but every now and then it would give a very angry kick back and would rip the pull start out of my hand. I put is aside and decided I would try it with a real 4 blade blade carrier. I have tried this and it is working fine but as before every so often it decided it won't turn over and the resistance is strong enough to lift the mower up off the ground,(at least it no longer tries to rip my fingers off) pull it again and it will start straight up. When it is running it seem as if it has higher compression than all the other Briggs by the crispness of the exhaust sound. Any thoughts about fitting a decomp plate?

Put up with it? Think of it as a souped up Briggs. A wind up starter would solve that!

Ok this is still bugging me anybody have any other thoughts?

I had the exact same issues on a Robin engine that I could never solve and then I sold it as is.

Cheers,
BB.