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? best engine


jjohn5413

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I'm looking to get a new husqvarna lawn tractor. What engine do you think is the better engine to get. 20 hp kohler courage ohv single cylinder or 20 hp briggs & stratton intek ohv single cylinder
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I'd stay away from ohv's all together, but if you choose to go with an ohv--or don't have a choice, I'd go with the kohler over the briggs (who said that?). It seems like everyone I know who has a briggs ohv engine it is sitting in their sheds.
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intek by far is better imo,, the local dlr has a BIG BENCH full of blown kohs no inteks are there though,,
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I haven't had much experience working with OHV's, as I enjoy the old stuff, but I'm curious, what are their bad points?
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Stay away from that Courage! They are a piece of junk! Honestly, the Intek isn't a whole lot better, I have seen problems with both. There is nothing wrong with OHV engines though. They make more power, are cleaner, and use less fuel. Its a win-win in my book. The Kohler Courage had problems when they first came out with the exhaust cam decompression lever. The gears are composite, and there is a tab that sticks up that the deco lever hits when centrifugal force throws it out. The new ones have little gussets on the back side for support. The old ones didn't, and they would break that tab off, and since they use a permanent magnet starter with no guts, the engine wont turn over. The second issue is with the exhaust valve keeper. This too is probably fixed across the board now, but they had some defective keepers, that would break, and then you have no compression. The third issue I have seen is flywheel keys. These things puke them out alot it seems. They revised the flywheel almost right away, but I still see bad keys quite a bit. As for the Intek... The issues I have seen with them is puking up shavings. I have worked on about 10 last season that needed just the basic valve adjustment, and when I would take the valve covers off, there would be a lot of shavings. Could be break in, I really don't know. The one I did have that failed had a bad top bearing, and it broke the connecting rod for the syncro-balancers, and it made all kinds of neat noise. This was on a generator though. The other issue was an MTD problem, or a set up problem, not sure. I had a bunch come in with stators that were out. These were all from the same store, so its likely it was a set up issue. Replace the stator, replace the key switch, good as new. They must have been jumping them with a battery charger... Actually, I will retract that- I'd probably go with the Kohler, as they have actually revised that engine quite a bit. The design of it is kinda neat. The sump gasket is at the top, not the bottom of the engine. Very easy to service. All of these engines that I have experience with were on Troy-Bilt/Cub-Cadet tractors. Hope this helps! Andy
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I'd take the briggs over the kohler, I think kohler is still using the command as there current engine, and I have one im my 1920 and the coils just went out. I guess thats not too bad for 1100 hours, but I also had a kohler magnium with 750 hours on it and I also had to replace the coil on it. This requires removing the engine, so its kind of a pain! I also had the governer go out on the magnium, and the front seal. On the command engines I know they have trouble keeping the valve covers from leaking, I replaced my gaskets on mine and it still seeps a bit, but they have greatly improved from the magnium series. As for my vangaurd briggs engines one has 800 hours on it and we haven't had any trouble with it, the other one has about 50 hours so far and its running great! I think the inteck briggs are the next quality down from the vangaurd briggs, but I would still take it over a kohler courage or single cylinder command kohler engines. We've had alot less trouble with briggs engines then kohlers.
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Kohler has a few different offerings, just like Briggs. The Command is intended to be an I/C type of engine, like the Vanguard is for Briggs. The Courage is in line with the Intek as far as quality and where it lies in the model line up. They are both economy engines. The Courage is a completely different animal than the Command is. You wont have oil leak problems, as the sump joint is at the top of the block, and the valve cover is of a different design. The intek we are talking about in the Husquvarna is probably the 31cxxx series, and they are more than a step down from a Vanguard, IMO. Either way, we aren't talking about a real heavy built tractor- Huskys are made by AYP, the same people that bring you the cheap deeres, and those lovely Craftsman riders. They will do the job, but they don't last forever like an old one does! I don't know where you are going to buy, but I would try each one out first, and see which one you like better.
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We have 2 inteks with gov. problems, 1 intek w/ carb problem, and a Kohler Courage that just came in at closing time. We still see alot of the L-head series from briggs, mostly twin 18.5hp on MTD, few Murrays. The inteks are on Statesman tractors which are made by AYP, the Kohler is on a Lowes Cub. I have a husqvarna 26 hp intek, 54 in cut, and no problems yet, I mow about 2 acres. It only has 60 hrs on it. My next mower will be a zero turn. If you want a Husqvarna, you should look at Poulan, mostly same thing, sometimes cheaper price. If you do buy the Husq. and you need belts, blades,etc. take the 532 off the front of the part number, will be same as craftsman/poulan/etc. and sometimes save you a few bucks.
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