Snowblower Engines

Really good question!  The website lists them now as "Craftsman engines", so now the hunt is on to who is manufacturing them for Sears.  I found a few websites that were confirming for the LAWNMOWER side of the house, the Craftsman branded engines were indeed Briggs and Stratton.

Perhaps one of the tech guys that come through will know more details.

LCT's are on some of the Tillers.

Liquid Combustion Technology.

The House Speaker is on duty again. Should I say as usual? Per omni secula seculorum...

????!!!??????

I look forward to hearing from AdamO, he is wealth of information and knowledge from expierience I cannot top.  He has answered my questions with no disrespect or disregard what so ever.  Experience comes with time, and Adam has been around longer than I have.

I was always taught to respect are "Elders" and listen to them when they speak.

Yeah, Adam's right, I think they are LCT engines. These are the Honda clones you see on many generators.

These are the same engines as last years (179 and 208 cc) and will be on MTD brandnames like Yard Machine, Troybuilt and Cub Cadet. With Tecumseh out of business, Briggs and Honda are the only identifiable snowthrower engines you will see this season. Judging from the steel gas tanks and labor intensive assembly (engine throttle, fuel filter and the gas cap is at least 4 parts) the Craftsman engines are pretty obviously Chinese. Hard to believe Tecumseh is gone when their T-Head Sno-King dominated until a few years ago but these new Craftsman engines were fine last year and sure are better than shoveling.

Anybody notice the sticker on this year's Husqvarna self-propelled lawnmowers at Sears.... Crafted in China for Kohler of Wisconsin, right under the airfilter. 

This year (in California) it has been evaporative emmission control gas caps (named Abe Lincoln caps - by me).

Next year will be... electronic ignitions!

I'm sure the OBD-2 connectors will be coming along - soon.

:)

My wife's vehicle had a "Major" AND a "Minor" evaporative hose leak.

I'm assuming the "Minor" leak registered, before the "Major" leak kicked in.

Sounds like the gas cap.

I was wondering this myself.  I am the owner of one of the professional series 88830's with the 357cc engine.  Anyone know who makes this one??  I'm not sure if it's LCT, Loncin, or Zongshen?  I'm having a hard time figuring out.  I would really appreciate the help.  I've looked everywhere online to find a 357 cc engine and the one that looks like my engine the closest is the  375 cc Loncin engine.  

Well...it appears that the 357cc engines in the professional series are a joint venture production between Zongshen and MTD.  The   357cc engine is actually a newer engine and one of the first "winterized" engines to be produced between Zongshen and MTD.  This hasn't been 100% confirmed, but all evidence points towards this.

AdamO....any feedback or insight...does this sound correct to you?

Zongshen making the powermore engines for MTD products?

Some of the Craftsman engine features that are readily noticeable are the anodized steel fuel tank with screen filter and little red "nearly full" indicator, the stainless sparkplug boot and the muffler looks like a 38 caliber suppressor. Even the oil drain is a superior design that shouldn't ever come out of the block like some previous engine designs (Briggs in particular... and where was that sparkplug??).

And that steerable 26" 88691... cha ching!

 Anybody seen the 45 inch "Dooley" yet, has to be 15 HP.

I own a brand new 88830.  I'm impressed by the design and features...I've never had heated grips on my snowblower :-)  I'm just trying to figure out exactly who makes the 357cc engine on it.  All my digging has led to Zongshen.   They have been working with MTD for years.  I've also read about a new series of winterized 13hp motors (powermore series)  I can only assume that these are the engines we're seeing in the new craftsman professional series

Ive been doing a little snowblower shopping this year and have noticed that they are listing the engines by cc and not horsepower.......and have been getting conflicting stories from salesmen...any ideas what a 208 cc craftsman engine is for hp?

The 179cc is closer to 5.5 hp, the 208cc is closer to 7. The primary difference from what you are used to seeing is the Over Head Valve design which delivers more consistent power under a load of heavy snow, power to throw wet snow further.

(As i remember NoDak, all you gotta do is get the snow in the air and the wind blows it to Minnesota.)

357cc equals what horsepower?

11-12hp if you have an overhead valve design. Here's an example:

" Yamaha overhead valve 357cc, single cylinder 60-degree incline with 8:1 compression ratio, forced air cooling, Splash oil lubrication system, 1000cc/1 quart (1 liter) oil capacity and 11.4 horsepower at 3500 rpm. Fuel tank capacity of 6.3 gallons (24.0 liters) with consumption at 23.5 mpg (9.41 km/liter) "

http://www.cavgroup.com/golf02/G21A_specs.htm

Thank you Madgolfer that clears it up.

The drive trane on my '96 10 horse has been troublesome, after replacing pertty much everything  I bought new. Question is the local store said for $25 they would send it in to be checked out. I know this is an open end price tag. Anyone have thoughts? Thanks.