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

I took a good look at an Ariens with a LCT  engine today. Does Briggs  have something going on with LCT? I see original Briggs parts on  the Ariens 208cc engine built by LCT

I looked at a toro 621 single stage and the dealer told me to get the honda 520 instead as the toro motor was made in china also and they were having trouble with them. Go figure!!

Besides the fuel leak issue at the carb bowl, there hasnt been any other reported problems of the Toro sourced engines. There is a recall on the 421 models and they might have taken care of that issue on this year 621 model. 

Painting a broad brush across Chinese engine is just wrong and ignorant.

The Honda 520 model may actually have more domestic content than the name suggests, it's assembled here.

I herd on  another snow blower thread Do It Yourself.com that Ariens bought Sterns and Sterns owns LCT. That being Ariens is now getting their engines from their parent company LCT.  Now does LCT build engines for Briggs? I do not know.

I would prefer made in Japan over made in China for obvious reasons.

If you are importing something, make sure it is something of equal or better quality compared to doemstic equivalents.In the case of Chinese garbage it is just outright waste of resources.Why make something that is going to break in 50 hours?Why carry it accross continents? People need to get their brains working again.

bus708 wrote:
It's actually spelled "Stens", not Sterns.   Here's the Stens link that mentions Ariens buying Stens back in October 1995.  This is old news.     
    http:/www.stens.com/history.html

Another Stens information article:           
     http://www.stens.com/history2.html?workstrip=3&StensID=495b189d0f474d65ca17cd8bdcc52c18

Here's a link about Stens, LCT, Tecumseh, and Certified Parts Corporation. 
     http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/article_e030ff66-baa6-11df-a8cd-001cc4c002e0.html

According to this article, LCT is from South Carollna.  Guess they have their engines made in China.

Bus708, I found that same thread on that other forum you mentioned. 


I think there is a lot of distrust of the Chinese LCT engines.  Remember LCT is headquartered in South Carolina.  We have to wait and see what the results will be overall as time goes by.  There are a few comments in the DoItYourself thread that seem better informed.  There may be a good future for the LCT engine, after all.  That would be good, I hope and think.  The Japanese engines have proven themselves to be well-engineered, so maybe if LCT is smart, they also will pursue top quality.  It will provide plenty of good incentive for Briggs and Stratton to continually push themselves for top quality as well.  There is nothing like competition to improve quality.

I'm just repeating what a major distributor of snowblowers told me on the phone when I called to ask about prices, this guy said buy the honda and not the toro in the single stage machine. His opinion surprised me also.

carlb wrote:
That NY Times article has a publishing date of June 21, 1986, even though the copyright date of the article at the bottom of the web page is 2011.  What's with that 1986 date?

Does any company actually build small engines anywhere in the United States anymore ?  LCT = Red China !  MTD (the largest manufacturer of snowblowers uses LCT engines)  MTD builds Sears Craftsman, Yard Man, Yard Machines, Cub Cadet, MTD, White, and others. No Engine Throttles any longer, one speed that you don't get to control.  Buy a Honda and get a throttle, and a fuel shutoff.

New_Yorker wrote:

MTD uses Zongshen, not LCT. Toro uses Loncin. Ariens and Husqvarna use Briggs and LCT. There are countless other brands of the import GX-style engines (99.9% are Honda GX derivative, not Briggs). Quality is from soup to nuts depending on the brand and manufacturing plant. LCT would be at the top of the hierarchy. They're really not that much different than Briggs or Kohler. Stateside ownership, engineering, warranty support, testing, logistics, and significant domestic facilities with off-shore manufacturing operations. 

The ones you want to stay away from have no significant stateside presence or investment (save a handful of Chinese nationals at a leased office somewhere). Many of these engines from the lower grade imports are nearly cash and carry for the OEM's with little backing from the manufacturer. There are few small engines still made in the US due to the labor intensive nature. Kind of like ball bearings and certain other products.

Throttle and fuel shutoffs are available from most of the import manufacturers, some are not equipped with such (mostly the throttle) because they are used on lower end models with restricted feature sets.

Lastly, LCT is privately held, Briggs publicly held, there are no ties or cooperative efforts between them.

May I ask a stupid question? Who cares if B&S moves over there plant to china? As long as they are build 100% to original specs they are still a USA quality product!! And if B&S will begin taking short cut's in there quality, they may have there plant right here in new York and the engine will be junk!! Can some one explain me, what is the big deal about a mtd or lct china engines? Is there a china company that took apart a brrigs engine and cloned it with junk parts?