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

First of all, I want to thank all of the contribitors to this site in helping me to choose a new 30" Ariens Platinum Series Snowblower.

But in doing research online, it took a lot of digging to figure out that so many of the snow blower engines are made in China by two companies that I never heard of before: LCT and Zongshen.

Apparently this changeover to Chinese engines had been happening before Wisconsin based Tecumseh went out of business last year.

Now the only US manufacturer of snow blower engines is Briggs and Stratton.

Briggs and Stratton Engines are used in all the larger Ariens, Toro and John Deere two stage snow blowers. 

And of course B&S engines are used in the Briggs subsidiary companies like Snapper, Simplicity and Murray.

But it seems all Craftsman engines are made by a Chinese Company, LCT.

MTD, which makes snow blowers under the Cub Cadet,  Troy-Built and Yard Machines labels, seems to have all of its engines built by the Chinese company Zongshen.

I worry that with little track record for these Chinese engines that the potential for problems is greater.  I am also concerned that getting parts will be more difficult as well. 

Do others share my concerns, or have any reason to believe these engines should prove reliable?

kellyinkc wrote:
What it sounds like is that CPC has acquired the "Snow King" name, the name of  the snow blower engine made by Tecumseh.  To a lot of consumers for the past couple of decades, "Snow King" might have been even better know than "Tecumseh" as the snow blower engine.  So the sad part is that just by acquiring a "brand name", LCT will seemlessly assume the mantle of Tecumseh for probably the majority of the buying public.  It sounds like a slick marketing maneuver.  I can't believe the unemployed Tecumseh workers in Michigan can be very happy about "Snow King" engines being built in China by LCT.  But of course they have no say in the matter.  

That is probably the 208cc on the Sno-Tek by Ariens line.

The engines manufactured for the SnowKing name may have some similarities to the former Tecumseh line, but the details will be a combination of marketing requests and manufacturing realities. The engine will be designed for the manufacturing process LCT uses, but these are OHV 2-valve one cylinder motors carburated running at 3600 rpm, not 4-valve DOHC 10-cylinder motors running at 18,000rpm in an F1 car.

More interesting will be the effect it has on Briggs and Stratton. Will the Tecumseh or Snow King names make the LCTs more attractive in the US and Canadian markets?