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

What is the purpose of sleeving the bore of a new engine with cast iron? The ohv Snow King Tecumsehs still have the sleeve while according to my dealer the Briggs Snow Intek does not.

I am aware of sleeving being used to keep in service engines that have been bored to the point that the cylinder walls are too thin. Again,why on a new engine?

Marc 

Its my understanding that the same thing happens in other areas such as compressors and for essentially the same reasons:

1. Alumunum is lighter
2. Aluminum is easier to cast and machine;
3. Aluminum disapates heat faster (? I think, not sure)
4. Iron/Steel wears less in a high friction environment.
5. Iron/Steel resists heat deformation better ( less warping)

Therefore most of the housing is aluminum while the heavy wear items such as the cylinders are inserts of the tougher wearing material. Essentially the engineers are trying to optimize the design based on the specific needs of the part. The term "optomize" includes cost to manufacture and material cost as well as performance. That why you don't normally have tungsten liners in retail OPE. Its a balancing act.

Good morning guys!

Last night I went to the "Small Engine Warehouse" web site and checked their stock of horizontal shaft Briggs. They had two Snow Intek Engines with cast iron bores(spec#20D414007&#20D4140019). This information is confirmed by the conversation I had with a Tech at Briggs yesterday . He's the guy who told me that the engines come both aluminum and cast iron bores. He gave me as an example the# 20D4140017 as an example of a cast Iron bore engine. I am going back to the Simplicity dealer this morning to look at the #s on the engine.

This issue of dealers not knowing what is powering the equiptment and what's available is not new to me. Last spring I bought a commercial Toro lawn mower and I had the same issues over the Kawasaki power and what options were available with it and if you could get it in New York etc. The dealers would like to make a sale but the manufacturers don't make the info. available to them. For example I have the new Simplicity catalog and nowhere does it mention word one about cylinder bore construction.Go to their web site and not only is there no phone # to call but in order to send them an Email inquiry you have to give your address and phone # etc.I don' want to give all that info. to ask a question.

Before someone accuses me of being unreasonable in wanting to know about cylinder construction take a look at all of the competitions advertisements. If someone is manufacturing a cast Iron bore engine you don't have to be a detective to find out. 

I called Briggs and they can't tell you what engines are being used on equiptment being manufactured by a company they own!

 .No disrespect intended to "Mints" earlier posts concerning this issue. But when a Briggs factory tech.tells you that the engine comes both aluminum and cast iron you kind of want to nail it down. I think "Mints" is right . Can't imagine Simplicity would use the aluminum cylinder model .

Please excuse my rant but it shouldn't be this hard to buy a Snow Blower,

Marc

 

your absolutley right...

it really tics me off when im selling more of these snow inteks than any other shop in Nova Scotia and i dont even know about the liner or lack there of.

and whats worse im a master teck for them and that is supposed to mean somthing ,and i still dont have a readily available answer.

but i can assure you when i get to the update school ,the factory rep is gonna hear about this web site and what it means to people here.and i can assure you im not happy about the lack of information that is really available to people that are interested in making informed purchasing decisions.

im sorry i didnt know the engines bore construction,i guess i took it for granted it was castiron lined.but you know if it dosent say that, then it probably isnt.

i will keep you all updated,thanks for the patience.

later chris

                                                             
                                                         

Marc,
It is my understanding that both are aluminium engines if less than 9 HP like would be in the 860, that Simplicity would have an aluminium bore.

If however you are looking at a 1060 and it said Intek Snow it should have a cast iron bore. The 960, I have no idea.

I am not positve about any of this, it was what I have been told.                                                       


 

Hi Guys!

Just back from the Simplicity dealer. He is closed on Saturday. Winter hours don't ya know!

Yours in total frustration,

Marc

I wonder if a cast iron sleeve is any kind of an advantage in a snow motor.    None of my walk-behind mowers had cast iron sleeves and I've never had a cylinder wear problem. They saw many more hours of use per year than a snow blower would - and in much hotter conditions.   I think the main advantage of cast iron is better resistance high temperature. 

One advantage of an aluminum bore is better corrosion resistance - a big plus for a motor that might see just a few hours use in the winter and be idle otherwise.   I doubt an aluminum bore would ever be a factor in the life of a snow motor especially with modern synthetic oils.    -Bob

 Mark,

The Simp 860 blower has an 8HP Intek, which has an cast iron sleeve.

Go to Small Engine Warehouse and check out their snow engines and read the specs.

                                                              Hope this helps

                                                                          Fred         

Small engines starting at -40C and getting warmer needs those cast iron  Cylinder Sleeves why?

Because they have aluminium blocks and it's very important that the piston runs in a iron enviromment.

boblloyd wrote:
I would agree with this.

Throwing more iron into the fire...

I don't have any answers to the issue at hand, but I am throwing in information that may have been used in the companies decision.

Aluminum and steel expand and contract at different rates.  Steel expands/contracts less per degree than aluminum does.  If one had an aluminum piston that gets hot, within a steel bore, the seal/ gap between them might become better as the engine is warmed (assuming tolerances would never allow siezing of the piston).  If one had a steel piston inside an aluminum housing, and subjected it to temp extremes, the seal could be great at startup, but get worse as it is goes 

Also, the rings on a piston are usually steel.  As long as there is no foriegn matter in the upper or lower part of the piston, abrasion wouldn't be an issue; but if foriegn matter got stuck near the rings it would tend to scratch the aluminum housing first.

Depending on the process that was used to create the housing, a cast aluminum may have a porous surface, in turn a machined steel liner would assure a good finish inside the bore.  The Aluminum does disipate heat far faster than would a steel housing.

FWIW,

Walt