Exploring engine transplant - B&S 6.75hp / 190cc

[Quest]

Nice PR.

BTW: just like fruit of da loom: corporates bottomline has always been pursuing profits primarily, and if the cost to retain/maintain manufacturing facilities domestically outweighs the cost of operating overseas, they will move (at least part/most of them) overseas instead.

B&S would rather stay competitive in the market instead of branding them to be all made in "USA", and would have to sell them @ 30% higher than their competitors in the market, in the name of "patriotism"?

(American corporates have long sold their manufacturing outside of the countries since the late 50s, from the OEMing in Japan throughout 60s, to toys and transistor radios in HK in the 70s, now pretty much most of the stuff are manufactured outside of the country...)


This is simple economics, driven by a somewhat distorted consumerism mentality, my friend.Look at consumer market out there: how many avg joes who walk into big box store or similar and the first thing they shop for is the price tag? Try selling them @ 30% higher than that of those chinese made stuff and they will go for the cheeper stuff.

Afterall: that's how dollar store got to the point of IPO and cheep chinese junk still sell. The rest (my guess is less than 20%) of them would rather pay a premium to buy domestic stuff.

B&S may still have their deck stamping and paint booth (boxing, shipping, etc.) done domestically, but at least their E-series OHV engines are mostly made in china these days....

Q.

p.s. and fruit of da loom has their manufacturing done in Honduras, Bangladash, etc.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12

How many American employees do the Chinese clones have? At least there's a chance of saving American jobs when you buy B&S.


What constitutes an "American Employee"? You could argue that the supply chain for the Chinese clones is just as important as the manufacturing jobs.

The dock guys that unload the imports, the customs agents that inspect it, the truckers that deliver them, the stock people that stock the shelves, the cashiers, etc.

Not saying one is better or worse than the other but even the imports employ plenty of people in the USA.

But I do avoid mail order as much as possible. Rather buy local and keep friends and neighbors employed than some guy in a warehouse many miles away.

 

[weebl]

I've resolved my lawnmower issue. After taking it in to a shop on Saturday for a quick look and learning that the shaft is bent, and the guy wanted $200 to fix it, I began an active search for a used replacement.

As luck would have it, I found one for $50, just west of the city, where I was headed later that day anyway (all the ones in town get snapped up fast at that price). Almost exactly the same mower and engine in good codition, about the same age, but now with FWD self propulsion to boot.

Now it's just time for some PYB before I put it into service.

 

[jeepman3071]

The newer stuff is just junk unfortunately. It doesn't really matter the brand. It is all made as cheap as possible. My grandfather recently bought a Troy-bilt tiller with a Chinese Briggs on it. The tiller was about $800 or so. The thing is so dang flimsy I can't stand it. You hit a tiny stone and the whole machine twists like a pretzel. I bought a $300 MTD tiller from 1990 off craigslist. It has a real Briggs and Stratton engine on it and is probably twice the weight of his tiller that is the same size. Sure it may burn a little oil and the paint isn't flawless, but it will probably outlast his new machine.

I've actually been making some decent money restoring old snow blowers the past few years. I rebuild the engines or re-power them if they are beyond rebuildable and paint them up nice. The customers often say they are tired of their cheap machines breaking down and buy my refurbished heavy duty machine. At a fraction of the cost of the cheapest new machine, the ones I rebuild are a better value and last much longer.