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

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?

JoelKlein wrote:
Personally I care,  I'm a retired Vet. I love this Country. To see so many people with no jobs because Companies  want to pay cheap labor to fill there pockets ticks me  off. I rather pay extra for a American made product than see my Brothers and Sisters out of work. That what hurt Techumseh  . Its war out here. The Japs are taking over, China and other countries are moving in for the kill. This is the United States , lets not let the other countries drift us apart. ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR AMERICA. Help keep our people working.

Bus708,

I am a vet and with an asian background.  Do you still want to call people japs (it is not too cool) and trust that it was not your intention.  There was a guy on eBay using similar language selling Honda shear bolts and hopefully that is not you.  IMHO education is the best way to compete whether you are a vet or not.  Uncle Sam paid for my education and I am glad I studied my ass off I can have a nice job and stable work.

MN_Runner wrote:
I'm not trying to be personal. I'm Just referring to  To the many Made in Japan and China engines that have flooded our country sience  the fall of Techunseh

JoelKlein wrote:

 I am with you Joel.  If you make high quality products people will buy them regardless where they come from.  This is an essence of the free market - I do not buy an inferior product just because it is from a particular company, state or country.  I get to keep my job because I continue to provide quality work, have a passion for work and keep myself updated with unique skills.  I doubt my company will keep me because of my skin color or it feels sorry for me - although I am very good at getting some sympathy votes.  If you make junk, people will not buy them regardless where they come or how cheap they are.

bus708 wrote:

I love made in Japan products.Quality is their highest value, they respect their customers, they respect themselves. They have not flooded our country.We need more.Unfortunately Yen is overvalued now, it is hurting their exports.They are being forced to outsource as a result.

Briggs,Tecumseh etc. were not high quality, reliable engines even when they were built in the US. An inferior quality item can be passed as quality to Americans. GM,Chrysler and Ford have done this for decades.People liked getting burnt over and over again.

As for made in China items, I see them as a waste of resources for the time being.If/when they put quality before quantity I might change my mind.But I do not call them names, I just try not to buy anything made in China as a way of doing my individual part.

If I am able to choose country of origin for an item (not engines only, in general) I look for made in Japan first, if it is not available I look for made in Germany,USA,Canada.I prefer Malaysia,Indonesia,VietNam over made in China. 

The true advantages of the small engine plant being in Communist red China instead of the USA is that they not only employ slave wage Chinese workers and eliminate jobs here, but they can also pollute the environment, have no safety agency like OSHA and they have no Environmental Regulators to make sure they don't dump their waste into rivers and oceans, and foul the air with coal burning in old inefficient power plants.  The alloys are questionable and probably only get questioned when an engine becomes too short lived to be sold here in the US.  They do provide higher profits that benefit the top 1% who own the companies that closed down the US plants and exported the jobs.  So all in all, it's a great Sensible Capitalist Way to support Communism, undermine the United States, and make a lotta money in the process. Oh, and the engines generally suck, the Chinese are NOT the Japanese when it comes to Quality and Design.  You may have noticed, HONDA engines cost a lot more than the junk.

New_Yorker wrote:

I got a BOSE earphones for something like 300 dollars.I was expecting the country of origin to be USA or Japan.But it was made in China.Probably it did not cost more than 20 dollars to make and import it here.The corporation who owns the brand makes the money.Not even the Chinese.

Same goes for Iphone.Workers manufacturing Iphones in China are committing suicides, they can not buy an iphone with a month's salary.Apple pockets the money.

By having things made in China, they are not selling them for cost or cost+a fraction of the cost in profit of course.They are making exorbitant profits.Not paying taxes here, getting bigger and bigger, hiring less and less domestic employees.

I read recently that at a salvage yard in Michigan they discovered a used metal cheese grater from China.It was radioactive.God knows what they made the metal from.Recycling disposed metal from a nuclear plant?

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/43576

blumonster wrote:

blumonster wrote:

A lot of Japan products have only a perceived quality.    Toyota is a good example.      They have had many hidden recalls on their cars and trucks. A friend of mine had his 2011  Camry into the dealer to have an oil and filter change.   He wondered why the service took so long to do.   After waiting for several hours, he decided to go into the garage area of the servive department.  
 He found out that they had his car's engine partially dissassembled and the bottom off the automatic transmission. .  He went to the Service Manager and it was explained to him that there were several recalls that needed to be done on the Camry.   My friend was upset because he had never received a notice about his car being recalled.  The Service Manager finally explained that Toyota has had a lot of recalls but the dealer is told to hide them and to do them when the car is in for regular service.  The reason that these recalls on the Camry were caught  was because when they worked on his car, the correct parts had not been ordered in for this particular recall.

Yes, Toyota owners stand behind their Toyota vehicles,  It is not safe to stand in front of them.

I had a Tecumseh engine on my snowblower, It only ran  reliable  for 23 years.Then I could no longer get parts for it.