# Briggs vs Tecumseh



## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

Just my observation from a winter spent playing with snowblowers....I'm very familiar and comfortable playing with the Tecumsehs....but they just idle faster then I'd like to hear a machine idle...someone on a recent post said they are made to be set 1500 -1800 RPM if I remember the post right. The few Briggs powered machines I've tuned are unbelievable how slow and steady they'll idle. I don't have a tach...but I swear they sound almost like a heartbeat. Has anyone else noticed this or am I hallucinating?


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## bwright1818 (Dec 2, 2014)

I can usually get my Tecumsehs down pretty low if I want to; but on a blower, it really serves no purpose. While on the subject, while I think Briggs engines are a bit more durable (Not as many thrown rods) I will take Tecumsehs all day long, due to their carbs being about ten times easier to clean.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

i would be careful with to low of an idle on a splash lubed engine. jmo


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## 404 (Feb 1, 2015)

It is possible that at low rpm a splash lubed engine may not "splash" enough inside.


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## 94EG8 (Feb 13, 2014)

Briggs & Stratton built a better engine if you're comparing flatheads to flatheads. They're more refined and they're a lot more tolerant of being run with low oil. 

You don't want the idle too low though, run them too slow and they'll overheat.


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## Bob Cat (Jul 15, 2014)

You can't beat the sound of an all cast iron B&S at idle. They purr like a kitten.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

Keep in mind that B&S made different grades of engines. They have commercial versions of aluminum engines that have steel sleeved cylinders and bearings vs the box store ones that were just aluminum. Not to mention the cast iron days...... Tecumseh on the other hand stuck to the same designs for many years. They both have their good points. I can't complain about the quality of one over the other. I see about as many failures come across the operating table in either of them. Briggs seems to have more trouble on the Vertical shaft mower engines - but Tec never got into those so it'a a moot point. Tec's 2 strokes are probably the better ones for light weight and dependability. I like both. If I can be picky I would prefer the steel sleeved B&S - but they are few and far between comparatively. I have a Cub push mower with one adn I plan to keep it forever. I know it will outlast me and probably the next generation too....


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

ALL I am saying on this is those TEC engines always proved themselves to be GUTLESS Wonders up here in the frozen tundra.mg::emoticon-south-park


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> ALL I am saying on this is those TEC engines always proved themselves to be GUTLESS Wonders up here in the frozen tundra.


Just curious what you're referring to, exactly. Low on power? Hard to start/unreliable? 

Fortunately for me, I don't live on the tundra. But I don't really have complaints about the Tecumseh blower engines that I've used. Of course, all my blowers (three 4-strokes, two 2-strokes) have been Tec powered, so I may simply not know what I'm missing.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

my 824 has a Tecumseh motor and my 826 has a briggs motor . is it fair to compare them seeing that the briggs motor is probably 20 years older


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> ALL I am saying on this is those TEC engines always proved themselves to be GUTLESS Wonders up here in the frozen tundra.mg::emoticon-south-park


Perhaps PS has had a bad experience with an individual Tecumseh or two, it happens.. but taking the entire population of Tecumseh snowblower engines, hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps even millions, made over half a century, 99.9% of them served very long and reliable careers, and many of them are still going strong.

I have two 1971 Ariens, with the original Tecumseh engines, 45 years old, running perfectly fine. The only trouble the 45 year old Tecumseh has given me in the 8 years I have been using it has been carb adjustment..(which I have now resolved, with the help of someone who knows how to do it!).. the engine itself runs just fine, plenty of power..I used it on 18" of dense heavy snow just yesterday, the machine and the engine performed flawlessly:










45 Western NY winters in a row, and counting..never rebuilt.
yeah, im a fan of Tecumseh engines.


Scot


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

I agree Scot. Nothing wrong with old Tec's. They didn't change much - and for a reason I suspect. Briggs made numerous changes over the years - so it's really not apples to apples. Way more blowers were sold with Tec's on them than Briggs partly due to costs I suspect. Like anything, the more volume you make the cheaper your costs are. Personally I don't care what engine is on it - as long as it starts easy and runs reliably with good power. I noticed we didn't throw Honda or Yamaha into the mix..... again it's not apples to apples.


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## AriensPro1128 (Nov 9, 2014)

Scot, it is millions of Tecumseh engines. The Ariens Museum thread has the third million snowblower displayed. Tecumseh also powered all Sears lawnmowers (Eager1) from the 1970s through at least the 1990s.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

RedOctobyr said:


> Just curious what you're referring to, exactly. Low on power? Hard to start/unreliable?
> 
> Fortunately for me, I don't live on the tundra. But I don't really have complaints about the Tecumseh blower engines that I've used. Of course, all my blowers (three 4-strokes, two 2-strokes) have been Tec powered, so I may simply not know what I'm missing.


*ALL of the ABOVE!!!!!!!!!!!*


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## DennisP (Jan 10, 2016)

From doing lots and lots of research and from talking to a bunch of folks I know, including a couple people that actually used to work for Tecumseh (they were originally pretty much local to me, even though I got late into the game, so some friends and their parents actually worked for the company), it seems as if the "issues" people had/have with Tecumseh engines (primarily L-head) falls into a couple of catagories/issues:

Hard Start: 
- Can be attributed to points/condensor (went away when they went CDI)
- Can be attributed to stretched exhaust valves (primarily caused by lean run required for emissions overheating the exahusts, thus the valves would stretch over time, adjustable carb models it wasn't an issue, unless you had tons of hours on an engine and that should have been taken care of as part of the expected rebuild)
- Can be attributed to gummed up carb (primarily became a big issue because of ethanol requirements or owner neglect)
- Can be attributed to owner neglect (lack of standard maintenance, ie, new plug, cleaning air filter, etc)

Thrown Rods:
- Almost 100% caused by people running low on oil. The L-head of theirs is intolerant of low-oil conditions. As said it is a splash lubed system, thus without oil all **** breaks loose.
- Over-revving. The majority of the Tecumseh designs were done with a strict set of specifications that allowed for extensively long service life. They also expect a certain amount of service RPMs based upon output power. If you over-rev you usually are taking the engines out of their powerband and end up compromising the engineering put into them for longevity.

The Tecumseh engines were built to be dependable and to basically run forever if you take care of them. As evidences by how many are still in service that have been taken care of, it is obvious it was a great set of products.

In this day and age, sorry, but manufacturers want a product to last at most 5-6 years. After that they expect to make another sale. No longer is there an attitude of something lasting forever. That is counter to profits. If they could convince all manufacturers to make products that would last 2 years and breakdown, they would without hesitation. As long as everyone is stuck with the same set of shitty options, all the producers get to make profits hand over fist.

Sorry, but I highly doubt any newer engine will last as long as an old-school Tecumseh L-head or better yet, 2-stroke. Maintain it and treat it well and it will be a workhorse for a long, long time.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

Though I have one 10 hp B&S, virtually all the other units I've had have had the TEC engines on them. I've brought a couple back that looked to be ready for the scrap heap when I got them. You can't fault TEC for having a strong cast iron engine. If you don't throw a rod from overreving, they seem to last almost indefinitely.


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## scrappy (Dec 7, 2014)

My avatar says it all for me!

Back in the day as a punk kid building mini-bikes and go carts, it became obvious the superior design of the tecs. The automotive type float bowl carb, a magneto ignition with timing adjustment. A gear driven governor (not wind powered) pressurized oil system for the vertical mower engines. 

Dad's 1967 is proof to me they were built to last. Never had the head off never been apart other than for points and the coil took a dump a few years ago. Still fires up on one or two pulls.

It's sad they failed as a company, even sadder all the small engines are now made off shore. The loss of jobs... the loss of pride.. *** is going wrong with our country.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

AriensPro1128 said:


> Scot, it is millions of Tecumseh engines. The Ariens Museum thread has the third million snowblower displayed. Tecumseh also powered all Sears lawnmowers (Eager1) from the 1970s through at least the 1990s.


And beyond. Had an 01 Eager-1 with the Tecu. It liked to puke oil out the air filter every now and then but still ran awesome. But as was typical of 90s/2000 sears products, everything else on the mower fell off or apart. Donated it to my church scout troop for them to use in a garage sale for fund raising. They got $50.00 for it. not bad.


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## Marty013 (Mar 14, 2014)

my 10 HP tec idels down to 1200 range.. roghly though.. 1300 and it smoothens out.. only tim it sits that low is to move the cars back to finish up so not very long at all.. then back up to 3400 to finish the work... lack of power?? only time i might be able to claim such a thing is trying to give a 33in beast full mouthfulls in over 3rd speed really. and i mean full width and full heighth.. or over 14-15inches of wet snow itl bog down a little more than i care.. but itl still sit on the torque and chug thru soo..

my experience with BnS is very limited.. but i recall my dads old machine when i was a kid... it would chug thru about anything.. including the snowbank once it had time to freeze solid.. and soften up on a warm-ish day.. i remember a distinct sound throttled down too.. different than a tec at low idle... neither would work that slow obviously.. id love a chance to try one of my blower to give it a fair compare.. but not willing to actually dig one of those old briggs up and all that jazz... 

well thats my piece on this... and if i may digress slightly.. the new engines being made today.. OHV and even OHC stuff coming out now.. well.. time are changing folks.. for myself.. seeing 12v start systems.. im hoping to see fuel injected small engines made  they would possibly lose the under 3k rpm torque peaks we all love... so would the pulley sizes change to accomodate.. just like gearring changed in cars over time and engine related changes too.. heck.. might be easier to make a direct injected small engine... injector pump runs off the cam usually.. THAT would be cool!!

frozen tundra?? HA!!!! cmere with your powershift lol ill show you frozen tundra!  lol 30min drive from me.. is a place where the wind always buffets THE main road going around the gaspe region so much so.. rotarry shovels on front end loaders are the only way to cut back the banks for the plows to get by... frozen tundra... puhlease! lol


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

who been in it? looks like the heads been off judging by the the circles of rust caused by a socket scratching the shield


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## russkat (Feb 25, 2015)

I guess this is as good a thread as any for this...

I was researching why Tec's seem to have a tendency to throw rods more often than other engines and I ran across this article...

Go Kart Guru - Go Kart Engines: Briggs vrs Tecumseh

This paragraph got my attention...

"One of the things I did learn is the Tecumseh and Briggs really are not that much different, from an internals standpoint. They all have the same layout. The same kind of lifter mechanisms, but the one biggest difference is that the connecting rod for a Tecumseh used bolts that are held in with knurled heads. The knurled heads are designed to bite into the aluminum connecting rod material. You have to be very specific in how you crank down those bolts, otherwise they will walk out on you when heat comes into the equation, or vibration. And you can only crank them down to 9 foot-pounds, that typically is the torque that Tecumseh wants put on them. Well, the problem that you run into is that if you don’t do it just right you will end up actually throwing a rod, because the bolts walked out or loosened prematurely. That can be pretty frustrating. So lets say you do have a Tecumseh, one of the things that I would suggest you do is that you drill some holes in the connecting rod cap bolt heads, and then you wire the two bolts together, so they can’t loosen out, very much like a racer would wiring down his engine bolts and chassis bolts. That would be my biggest gripe about a Tecumseh."


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## FearlessFront (Aug 18, 2016)

When it come's to winter and Snowblower's Tecumseh has always been the way to go for me. For summer and lawnmowers and such, Briggs was the way to go. Every Snowblower I have ever owned had a Tecumseh engine and when it came to winter engine's Tecumseh had an excellent engine from the early 60's all the way to 2008. They are reliable well made engine's. There carburetor's are very easy to access and remove and clean and rebuild. I have had several 60's and 70's H model engine's that all worked great. I currently still have one 45 year old H70 that still starts on the first pull, runs great and never fails. There carburetors stayed almost the same over the span of 5 decades except for small changes and fixed Jets in the mid to late 90's but inside they were still basically the same. Why change something that works great? The HMSK80 that came with my Snapper that I purchased in 2006 when it was 4 years old has never given me any problem's, not in 10 year's and I always drain the carb after every winter season. One small issue occurred the original gas caps vent broke which prevented the gas tank from venting properly and it stopped the engine from running. I went to the parts store and picked up a new gas cap for $5.50 which had a better vent design inside the cap. As soon as I put the new cap on the engine, it started right back up and ran perfectly. 10 straight year's no issues with that engine under commercial abuse. It has plenty of power and gets the job done. The fact is prior to 2008 Briggs engine's were pretty rare on Snowblower's so I have never had the opportunity of even using an older Briggs winter engine when Tecumseh was still around. Tecumseh had a perfected winter engine and 9 out of 10 Snowblower's had them all the way to the end. I can tell you now with the Chinese engine's they are using on the Snowblower's and sadly the Chinese made Briggs engine's they are using on Snowblower's just do not have the design, quality and performance that I have grown to love on the Tecumseh Snowking engine's. Briggs & Stratton made great engine's and in general were the better engine manufacturer, that's why there still with us today but in my opinion nothing could beat the Tecumseh Snowking engine line when it came to winter gas powered products. For winter Tecumseh hand's down.


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## FearlessFront (Aug 18, 2016)

*71 Tecumseh H70*

71 Tecumseh H70, 7 HP engine, 45 years old ready for another 45 years.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

I've got 2 H80 Snowkings I pulled off of the John Deere TRS27s sitting on the shelf in a church shed. They outlasted the frames they were mounted to


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## scrappy (Dec 7, 2014)

FearlessFront said:


> 71 Tecumseh H70, 7 HP engine, 45 years old ready for another 45 years.


Is that original paint, or did you restore it?


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## FearlessFront (Aug 18, 2016)

The heater box and the shield on top of the head got a coat of paint. The rest of it is original paint. The head was replaced and got a new head gasket because the spark plug hole got stripped on the old head. While it was open it was decarbonized. It also got a new muffler. The old muffler was still good just brown from rust. I also added a longer dipstick to make checking and adding oil easier. I also have the air filter and air filter cover for this to use the engine in the summer, but it will only be getting winter use. It replaced my old 71 Tecumseh H70 that was on my Ariens Sno-Thro the original engine finally failed at age 44 the piston arm snapped off the crank and blew a hole in the side of the crankcase. This engine is on it now and is doing good and running great, that's my backup machine now so it will be taking it easy most of the time.


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## thool (Jul 25, 2016)

I grew up working on B&S 3.0 and 3.5 vertical shaft engines on mowers I'd drag back home on garbage day. My dad's shed had up to a dozen engines in various states of repair, and I'd sell them to make money. The B&S engines were very easy to work on.

The Tecumseh engines I came across were finicky in that they ran hot, were tough to govern, and had carb issues with fouling. They were very rare on push mowers in the mid 70s in my area, so I didn't see many,

But then I bought a rider with a v-twin B&S and at less than 8 years the centrifugal governor threw a weight. I know, one data point.

I have a few Tecumseh engines now: tiller, snow blower, wood chipper. They are all easy to work on and are reliable. If I had a preference, I enjoy the classic 70s Tecumseh.


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## Bluejoe (Nov 29, 2016)

I have worked on Tec and Briggs motors. I work on more Tecs which include older craftsman machines like chippers chipper vacs and quite a lot of snow blowers. All brands and models 5-12 horsepower mostly. I personally have an older 80s craftsman chipper vac that has a 3.5 horsepower Tecumseh. The unit being splash lube is still going strong. Cannot kill. Love them Tecumseh s.


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