older log splitter worth

I bought a power mate splitter from home depot...it has been a great splitter so far.....it came with a predator engine..starts 95% of time on the first pull....doesn't burn oil

 

The Briggs was old. Like really old. At least 37 years old and used a lot. The original owner is a friend of ours, a farmer that heated with wood, my buddy and I both heat with wood as well, so this engine really held up. So it had an excuse to burn oil. The Briggs, as a design flaw, didn't start well in winter. The predator starts great in the cold, as well as really any time.

 

Please report back in 37 years and give us a review of the predator. I'm really feeling sorry for the US small engine manufactuers.

 

They did it to themselves. Briggs bought out Tecumseh and killed the brand. The comparable Briggs to the chonda was $400+. I have no doubt that the chonda will last at least 10 years.

I live in the middle of Briggs, Kohler, and ex Tecumseh land. Plus we have Ariens, toro, and Simplicity manufacturing right around here.

I actually had a brand new replacement Briggs that was going to replace the old briggs, but it was stolen.....

 

Walk away. Don't buy someone's old junk.

 

Two thumbs up, three if I could. Briggs is absolutely moronic as a company.

 

First i've ever heard of Briggs buying the Tecumseh engine division. Last I heard was Tecumseh didn't want to retool for emissions compliant designs and wanted to focus on refrigeration compressors, which they have been making longer than engines. The manufacturing equipment and all inventory was supposedly sold to an investment group who shipped it overseas. Sorry to hear about your Briggs being stolen, I certainly hope it's one of the NOS Briggs that I've been scoring off craigslist.

 

I have a briggs on my old coleman generator and it still is going strong after 25 years. Super loud and vibrates quite a bit but it does the job when the electric goes out. On my log splitters I like the Honda GX series, very quiet and hardly any vibration. GX160s and GX240s are easy to get off craigslist for about $100.

 

My wood cutting buddy, the guy that owns the old Didier splitter, his dad worked for Briggs as an engineer and retired from briggs. He was the one that told me that Briggs bought Tecumseh mainly because Briggs couldn't compete with Tecumseh as far as cold weather starting ease. After buying them out, they just shuttered the Tecumseh brand. There's a reason why Tecumseh snow king engines were the best for snowblower use.

Briggs now has their own snow series. I own one on my Ariens snow blower I bought new a couple years ago. I had the option of buying the LCT engine on the same blower, but I went with the briggs. The LCT is Chinese, but I've heard good things about them.