What gives?

notjustair · Oct 22, 2012

I have two tillers - a front tine that's about 30 years old and a rear fine that's not. Both have Briggs engines. The rear tine is new enough to have an overhead cam, but a quality built one so it isn't really new.

Both are 206cc. The old one says it is a 5 horse, the new one says it is 6.5. What is that about? New way of measuring? Overhead cam making for a stronger engine?

Still trust the old L-head far more than the newer one.

Greenday · Oct 23, 2012

You have obviuosly missed out on the whole hp overating law suit that happened a few years ago. Small engine makers were highly overating the HP of some small engines and were taken to court. Thats why now most engines are rated in CC,s with no hp rating.

ShadetreeRet · Oct 23, 2012

I don't remember anything about the lawsuit, but I felt for some time that small engines were over rated. Years ago I had a 12hp Sears Suburban with a 48 inch mower that would do more than the Craftsman that I have now with 21hp 46 inch deck.

dhermesc · Oct 23, 2012

While it might be over rated to a degree the same displacement with overhead valves should be more powerful than a flathead. That's why no one uses the flathead design on anything anymore.

IH switched to overhead valves on nearly all their engines back in the 1930s, Chevy switched to OHV in the late 1930s, Ford hung onto their flathead design until the early 1950s, finally dropping it in 1953. Small engines hung on to the design longer because the design was simple and rugged - but eventually they needed to "update" due to EPA demands.

redneckpulling · Oct 23, 2012

here's a rate chart i found 127cc--3hp 172cc--4hp 197cc--5hp 393cc--10hp 531cc--16hp

Tom Arnold · Oct 23, 2012

Have you ever looked up the meaning of Horsepower? You will find an explanation on Wikipedia.

However, please have someone near and dear to you, stand by while you read that document and they should have the phone number of the nearest mental health facility in their hands.

notjustair · Oct 23, 2012

Makes sense shadetree. I remember our old rider growing up had an old 7 horse Briggs with a starter generator. Two blade deck. I never remember it being under powered and we forced it through some tall junk.

Bret4207 · Oct 25, 2012

Yup, there was a period where there were some pretty astounding claims made for "maximum developed HP". Some of those ratings must have involved a huge flywheel driven by the engine through a series of slip clutches and with the engine burning alcohol with nitro! Truth is you're only going to get so much HP from so much displacement regardless of the cam, valves, piston dome shape, etc. My Sears Crapsman is supposedly 25 hp. My 10 hp AC with about the same sized deck (44 vs 42) cuts right with it. My 22hp JD 40 or Wisconsin THD of 17 hp both have far more "oomph" than the "25 hp" Briggs. I recall when we had a rider with a 5hp Briggs and 32" deck that would mow knee high grass all day long and do a life job or it. Ir our ancient 1.5hp push mower that used the same 22" blade as my 6 hp Troybilt and did about the same job.

Salesmanship friends, that's a lot of it.

What gives?

notjustair

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Greenday

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ShadetreeRet

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dhermesc

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redneckpulling

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Tom Arnold

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notjustair

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Bret4207

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