John Deere Walk behind JS48

I have always said pretty don't cut the grass, a tough motor does and the Briggs just ain't tough motors,never have been, but the public love them because they are a 4 stroke. Give me a Victa 2 stroke any day, even the little 125's will blow the doors off all these new fancy looking mowers on the market now. The people are being dudded and they don't even know it

G'day Norm,
The Kirby-Lauson and Kirby-Tecumseh vertical shaft 4 stroke engines were much the same, on the 1960's models.
By the 70's, most of them had gone to the scrappies, and the two-stroke Victas of that era were still getting repaired, and soldiering on.

Cheers,
Gadge

"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."

"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."

Re: John Deere Walk behind JS48

Gadge #84062 25/03/17 09:29 PM

Joined: Jun 2013

Posts: 407

Likes: 2

Garvoc, SW Victoria, Australia

LRT

Qualified Junior

Originally Posted by Gadge

Originally Posted by Mowerfreak

SO that means the old school Briggies with the exposed spinning top and side starter, around since the 50's, is a good one.
The 50s was quite a good era for enduring engine design. Ford's Windsor V8 and the Buick V6 to name a couple.

Well, nope; the alloy block/alloy cylinder bore ['KOOL BORE', in Briggs-speak] Briggs engines first came out in the early 1960's, IIRC. As did their first vertical-shaft engines. I'm sure CyberJack will know for sure.

See further the excerpts from 'The History of Briggs & Stratton Corporation' (Form no. G-8751-4/89) page 7 below:

"In 1948, The Briggs & Stratton Engineering Department, with Leo Lechtenberg having responsibility for the project, requested permission to begin work on a die cast aluminium engine to meet the need for a lightweight, four cycle engine for the small rotary lawn mower"

"The chrome plated pistons were tested successfully in cast iron engines with aluminium alloy cylinder sleeves, in sand cast aluminium alloy liners and finally in 1,000 pre-production sand cast prototypes before the Briggs & Stratton aluminium die cast engine was introduced in July 1953"

A newer PDF of Briggs & Stratton's history 'CELEBRATING OUR FIRST 100 YEARS THE HISTORY OF BRIGGS & STRATTON' (MS-8751A-11/07) is downloadable off the internet.