How to Repair Briggs and Stratton Engines

Paul Dempsey

Preference :

Briggs & Stratton is the world’s largest producer of small engines with an annual output of 10.5 million units or 30,000 a day. More than 60% of small engines sold worldwide and half of the portable generators carry the blackand-white Briggs logo. Like Harley-Davidson, also based in Milwaukee, Briggs and Stratton is an American icon. One reason why Briggs & Stratton enjoys an almost mythic stature among Americans of a certain age is the belief that its products do not change. Wars and presidents come and go, but the Briggs side-valve lives forever. And when the mower won’t start, you can repair it without a degree in engineering. The skills learned in our youth still have relevance and can be passed on to our grandchildren, that is, if they are open to a world larger
and more real than computer games.
Actually, Briggs engines—even the old side-valve with its rectangular cylinder head and quaint rewind starter—have undergone more-or-less continuous change. And more changes are coming to the products and to the way the company does business.
But, withal, there is a kind of elegant simplicity to Briggs engineering. A case in point is the Easy-Spin compression release that automatically raises the intake valve without adding as single part to the engine. Another example is the nylon Pulsa-Jet carburetor with its built-in fuel pump and an almost zero requirement for machine work. Briggs was the first maker of utility engines to offer overhead valves, the first to build vertical-crankshaft aluminum blocks, and the first to use aluminum cylinder bores. To encourage proper maintenance, spark plugs, air filters and oil-drain plugs are readily accessible. Head bolts can be reached by removing the shroud, an operation that can be accomplished in five minutes or less.