Kohler Engines for Small Equipment.... Might Be Going Away

[WinterDeere]

Shame. I had those old Subaru/Robin EX27’s and the like on a few pieces of equipment. Always perfectly reliable and strong little engines. Also, just nicely built and engineered, with features like a drain cock on a cast carb float bowl, and air cleaner cases that don’t break after a few changes. Reasonably quiet, too.

Compare that to any Briggs I’ve owned in the last 20 years, with cheap useless stamped steel carb float bowls, and air cleaners that soak themselves in oil, in housings that snap the third time you try to change the air cleaner, etc. The maddeningly-loud intake noise on this latest model just being icing on the cake.

Maybe Briggs makes some better stuff today, but they’ve worked so hard to ruin their name for so many years, that it's really tough to look at that badge and assume it's anything better than total junk.

 

[5030]

Kubota uses the Subaru OHC engine in their 4 stroke side by side, we have one of the early models and the valve covers still say Subaru on them. I was under the understanding that Kubota bought the entire engine line from them and will build the engine themselves and I imagine they will remove the 'Subaru' cast in designation on the valve covers. Don't know if the engine is made in Japan or here, however, I would think in Japan.

 

[5030]

My philosophy on disposa engines is buy at HF. Cheap, reliable and when it pukes, toss it and buy another and still be ahead.

Last Honda I had, puked in under 10 hours, tossed a rod through the block casting and the local Honda dealer refused to warrant it, said I ran it out of oil which was interesting in as much as it had a low oil shutdown on it. Done with Honda, replaced it with a cheapo HF Pred and it's still running fine after 5 years of hard use and poor maintenance on my part. On my hot water pressure washer that gets run hard every time and always put away wet.

 

[jyoutz]

Good to know. If I ever get around to re-powering this log splitter (again), maybe they'll have something in the Vanguard line that fits. It's a vertical shaft, and if I recall (5 years ago), none of the Honda or Subaru options were configured quite right for an easy drop-in on the existing mounting.

A friend of mine who owns a Stihl dealership and small equipment repair business told me that during the supply chain shutdowns, the only parts he could get were Stihl and Briggs. Kawasaki was hard to get parts for. This has changed now of course.

 

[tomplum]

Part supply chain and availability could be a whole other thread. I'm seeing more common Briggs parts leaving the chat and becoming NLA. Hunting for HOP parts is an interesting past time. During the plague, our friendly JD dealer had some backorders, but for them Stihl was problematic. I'm curious with all the shuffling at Deere , what parts pricing and availability will be as the dust settles.

 

[dadohead]

Engines is a brutal business. All makers can build a wonderful, high life, good performing engine but customers won't buy it. They buy HP, width of cut, and price... period. In Deere's customer questionnaires they ask "what engine brand is in your mower?" In more than half the responses: John Deere. Ha! (JD doesn't built an engine for L&G). They can pit one brand against another on quality/price and the customer doesn't care as long as it works well. Honda doesn't even want to play in that business and has few offerings... brutal.

That said, just before I retired (2016) KHI offered up an EFI, e-governor variant on their big-block engine that replaced the liquid cooled (out of production) for our flagship models. The big-block had just exceptional life and super low warranty claims. THAT E-GOVERNOR WAS A BEAST!!! I swear it pulled like a diesel. Very impressive engine.

 

[RandyT]

Part supply chain and availability could be a whole other thread. I'm seeing more common Briggs parts leaving the chat and becoming NLA. Hunting for HOP parts is an interesting past time. During the plague, our friendly JD dealer had some backorders, but for them Stihl was problematic. I'm curious with all the shuffling at Deere , what parts pricing and availability will be as the dust settles.

The bankruptcy didn't do Briggs any favors. But I wouldn't be surprised if they are not discontinuing the all the L head parts. Heck I tried ordering a carb repair kit for my nephews Big Block Vanguard 35 hp and it is NLA. Have to repair with complete carb only. And this like a $300 part.

 

[WinterDeere]

I'm curious with all the shuffling at Deere , what parts pricing and availability will be as the dust settles.

You hope that present/new management is always aware that parts availability is the backbone of their L&G business. I’d go so far as to say it might be as much as 50% of the overall buying decision, when a customer is trying to satisfy themselves on why they’re paying more for Deere, versus a competitor.

Lose that massive and legendary access to parts for even very old models, and it could spell the end of Deere, as we know them. The trouble is that these customer opinion scenarios play out on the decade time scale, and management decisions in many companies are based on interest in profit over much shorter time scales.

 

[dadohead]

IDK... with all the shuffling I still got engineering friends at Deere that are supporting legacy parts just like they always have. They tell me the formula for parts hasn't changed one bit. Wouldn't worry too much.

I read posts here about the high cost of service parts and that manufacturers are price gouging. Makes me shake my head. As an engineer, I remember getting calls all the time asking me to evaluate an application where an old service part meets criteria, is out of stock, we have an order, and the supplier doesn't offer the old one anymore. Will the new variant(s) work? Would it work with modifications? If not, can we buy a 'lifetime supply'? At what cost? Should we send out for quotes? Now multiple this scenario times xxx for the multitude of old service parts... nobody is getting rich here!

 

[tomplum]

IDK... with all the shuffling I still got engineering friends at Deere that are supporting legacy parts just like they always have. They tell me the formula for parts hasn't changed one bit. Wouldn't worry too much.

I read posts here about the high cost of service parts and that manufacturers are price gouging. Makes me shake my head. As an engineer, I remember getting calls all the time asking me to evaluate an application where an old service part meets criteria, is out of stock, we have an order, and the supplier doesn't offer the old one anymore. Will the new variant(s) work? Would it work with modifications? If not, can we buy a 'lifetime supply'? At what cost? Should we send out for quotes? Now multiple this scenario times xxx for the multitude of old service parts... nobody is getting rich here!

People have said for decades that JD knows what that green paint is worth when referring to parts $$. In what I do which is consumer OPE, while that can be true in some cases- the costly ones for parts are cheap ones you buy. I'm looking at you B@D AKA MTD.

I always thought back in the day that Toro was fair. And in many things they still are. But both Deere and Toro know to charge nicely for some of their legacy parts. Which is a better than NLA when you need it. Carb parts as mentioned w/ Briggs, pretty common stuff is NLA.