Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

As is well document in the John Deere 1130 SE thread, there are a number of us that have questions on how to resolve the inconsistant drive issues on Briggs and Stratton built machines.  The ones that I know of are Simplicity, John Deere, Briggs and Stratton name plate machines, maybe Snapper is even a B&S built machine, (someone can please correct me if I am wrong). 

To recap from the other thread, I have seen it suggested that snow or moisture is getting between the belt cover and the engine and that is causing the issue. The well respect snowmann came up with that if I recall correctly.  Others have suggested inferior rubber used in the friction disk, yet others spoke a new cover that B&S has that is suppose to relieve the problem, but even after a new cover was installed the problem persisted. 

At this point I would like to encourage anyone with a B&S built machine to call B&S at 888/228-3068 and log a complaint and ask for a resolution to the problem.  If you already returned your machine because you found this issue unacceptable please call too and tell them.  That will make them stand up and take notice.  If they hear that these problems exist over a wide range of products from people all over the country they are more likely to fix it. 

Thanks in advance for considering this option.  We can all help each other out in getting good sound answers to our concerns.  If anyone finds a good resolution to the problem many of us would like to know so please share your experience when you do call in.

Rick

I have had the same problem with my Briggs powered Ariens (11528DLE). The problem was fixed when Ariens sent my dealer a baffle that diverts melted snow away from the friction plate.When snow was hitting the front of the engine, the snow would melt, and run down a channel that lead to the friction plate. I am not saying that is is the cure for other brand machines, but I don't believe that Briggs is at fault here. See if John Deere has such a baffle and get the dealer to install, or install it yourself. I used to have to push my machine around the driveway and believe me, frustrated is a very mild word describing my actions. Now I finally have a working snow blower and I am very happy now.

Brian NH

Today I pulled off the belt cover to adjust the auger drive idler pulley.   While I had it off, I had a good look at how the cover meets the engine.  To be honest, I'm surprised that the cover affords any protection at all once snow starts to fall over the intake housing and onto the engine.  The fit between the engine and belt cover is sloppy at best and it's wide open underneath.  I was under the impression that there was a divider between the belt drive area and the disk drive enclosure.  Nope.  I'd never taken a good look at it from that side.  Now, it's pretty clear to me that moisture is the cause of slippage.   I had originally compensated for the slipping by putting more pressure on the drive wheel by applying more tension on the drive engagement cable.  As an experiment,  I decided  to take a piece of motorcycle tire inner tube and cut a piece long enough to extend completely from the bottom of the belt cover on one side over the top and down to the bottom at the other side.  I doubled it over to make a fairly tight seal between the engine and the cover.  It's a temporary fix just to see how effective it will be.  If it works, I'll take the cover off take it inside and make a permanent seal with more of the same rubber inner tube.  I'll post some pics when done.  Now I'll just have to wait for snow, or, if I get ambitious, I could cut a path through 30" of snow it the back yard.  Nahh.  I'll wait.  

When someone says B&S manufactured snowblower do they mean a company owned by B&S or do they mean a blower with a B&S engine.

I think snowman said that the B&S engine has a slightly different configuration around where the output shaft is. This means that the plastic cover for the pulleys doesn't fit as well as it did with the Tecumseh engine and hence snow gets into the traction units lower end. This in turn leads to a wetter friction plate and slippage. If this is true then a new, slightly different shaped cover will help alleviate the problem. A friction plate that doesn't mind being wet would be a "better" fix.

The whole problem started when they all tried to save a few bucks by having the drive plate and
drive pulley be the same piece.  On my old Ariens the pulley is on the outside and the drive plate
is on the inside, nice and dry, connected to the pulley through a substantial cylinder containing
two ball bearings.

Maybe the manufacturers could take a step back or two, back to when things worked reliably.

Paul

nibbler wrote:

Nibbler, when I posted this I was talking about snow thrower companies that are manufacturer by B&S.  B&S actually makes, the John Deere unit, they also manufacture the Simplicity unit and then they also have their own Briggs and Stratton brand of snow thrower.  Snapper is also a sister company. 

Maybe snowmann can elaborate on his earlier comments. 

If your machine runs good to being with then after snow gets all over the cover it has problems that is one issue.  In my case my unit won't start from the get go but gets better with use.  I think that this is a different issue all together and hopefully more a function of the type of lubricant used.  It would be nice to protect yourself against both of these potential issues with the appropriate preventative maintenance or work arounds.  More to come on these issues. 

So did anyone else call B&S today?  Make the calls and help force a solid solution for everyone's sake.

Rick

I think we may be getting confused by terminology. I just checked the B& S website, http://www4.briggsandstratton.com/display/router.asp?DocID=76079, and they do not list snow blowers as a product. At the same time I am aware that B&S owns other companies, such as Simplicity, that manufacture snow blowers. In addition there are other companies that contract out the manufacture of machines to a third party ( I.E. Simplicity, MTD) that are then branded as their own.

Given the above mess of interconnections I'm interpreting "B&S makes" to mean that a manufacturing plant directly owned by B&S is manufacturing snow blowers. As far as I know it is a subsidiary company that actually does the manufacturing and owns the plant. Its sort of like saying I manufacture cars because I own Ford stock.

Last night we received approx. 4" of light fluffy snow.  With light snow, I use a rink shovel to clear most of the driveway then follow up with the snow thrower to move it onto the lawn.  It was windy and snow was blowing everywhere.  I had plenty falling back onto the engine.  The muffler was sizzling and making steam from the snow hitting it.  I went into the back yard with the machine and got into heavy snow approx. 2' deep and had more snow falling back onto the engine.  I was doing this purposely to see if the inner tube tire rubber seal I made for the belt cover would keep water out of the drive area.  It appears to be working.  I say appears because I only used the machine for half an hour or so.  For a true evaluation, I'd like to run it hard for at least a good hour of tough working conditions to get some heat into the drive disk/wheel mechanism. 

Speaking of hard working conditions, have any of you using the B&S Snow or Snow Max engines been keeping an eye on your oil consumption?  I've noticed that mine actually seems to be using oil.  I'd estimate that I've added four to six ounces so far this season.   That's about twenty hours of use.    I'm not really concerned with using some oil.  The engine is new and only has 30 hours on it.  It runs like a brute and doesn't smoke but my previous two old ten horse power Tecumseh engines didn't go through hardly any oil for the entire season.   Anyone else have their B& S Snow engine using oil?

Nibbler I agree with you.   As a company B&S does not provide the warranty coverage for Simplicity or Snapper snowblowers...just the engines.   You can't register a simpliciyt or snapper snowblower on B&S website, just their engines, generators, and power washers.  B&S's website says that for info on snowblowers go to simplicity.com or snapper.com.   Simplicity and Snapper may be owned by B&S but they are stand alone business units.

Which makes me feel that the onus falls on Simplicity and Snapper not B&S for the machines ability to keep its drive . 

I've been running a B&S Snow Intek for 3 years and the only oil consumption that I've seen was when the little yellow plug on the right side fell out. I wondered why the snow to the right was starting to turn yellow, had an "Oh fudge" moment then dove for the "Off" switch. Found the plug and refilled the oil. I now check the little yellow plugs.

My new Simplicity drive failed in short order. the plate fell right off the shaft.
Only problem is, it is a safety issue. Because as the plate works itself off, it walks towards the friction disc, and leaves the blower engaged, or partially engaged.
Fixed now. Jury is still out. I am going to use it like a rented mule though, if it fails again like that, I'll have the warranty fix it and sell it.