Interesting article about the Briggs Opposed Twin

[ford46guy]

Looks like quality was everything for this engine. It is out of production since 2002. Time flies!

https://uswlocals.org/system/files/602_1.docx

Production of opposed twin ends

A great engine dies after 25 years and 4.7 million units



Briggs & Stratton Opposed Twin Engine

By Ross Winklbauer​

I can still remember the first day I started to work on the Opposed Twin crankshaft in the old 168 department. Little did I know back then that I would be one of the several thousand Union members who would help create nearly 4.7 million Opposed Twin engines – during a 25 year history.

I think of how hard our Union brothers and sisters worked, and the dedication they showed to make this one of the best engines ever built. Our members took pride in knowing they built a quality engine. An engine, that even today is 2nd to none.

I would like to thank Kent Pfeifer (MED North Quality Manager) and Barbara Meyer for supplying me with the following list of "Great Dates in the History of the Opposed Twin."

	On Monday June 10th, 1977 the first pre-production Opposed Twin was built on assembly line 12 and a great product was born. That same year on December 5, 1977, the first customer production build took place, and the customers like M.T.D. anxiously awaited the first multi cylinder engines Briggs & Stratton ever built in its 68-year history.
	On September 17, 1992 the Plant 5 Focus Factory built the 2,000,000th Opposed Twin, which showed it, was still going strong, with great acceptance of the engine by our customers and the final product consumer.
	On June 10th, 1997 the Opposed Twin celebrated its 20th anniversary, meaning the engine had lasted the test of time with engine horsepower ranging from 161/2 to 21 HP.
	On April 24th, 1998 The Opposed Twin Factory along with the rest of what was known as the UED received its ISO Certification. This was a major step in route of not only being a good supplier of engines, but an excellent quality supplier too.
	During the year 2000, the Opposed Twin in its 23rd year of production, the product is recognized as a leader in quality at our customers. Comments from our three major customers M.T.D., Fridgidare Home Products, and Murray, like we don’t have problems with the Opposed Twin are common and took the hard work and dedication of everyone in this plant to get us there.
	May 2000, the engine is eventually going to go out of style because of emissions and the side valve design. It is not going away easy however, because with the end in sight we accomplished another milestone. This month on May 22, 2000, we surpassed the previous Opposed Twin high yearly build total of 324,898 engines. This means there are 4,349,274 of them produced as of that date, and still counting.
	Nearly two years later, on May 3, 2002, the Opposed Twin Factory built its last engine and a great engine has now gone away. Over its almost 25 year history, 4,688,823 engines were built.

Knowing that the Opposed Twin was being replaced by the V-Twin, the Union tried to get the Company to build it with the same dedicated, quality minded workers here in Milwaukee but management wanted to build it cheap…er down South.

As I wrote this article, I couldn’t help but to think of the members that I had the privilege to work along side of.

 

[ls1mike]

I have two mowers out in the shed with that engine right now. I love it. One has close to 2000 hours on it.
I use it more than the Newer Cub Cadet I have. Both are 19.5 HP in Craftsman LT1000s.

On a side note, I grew up in Catskill.

 

[ford46guy]

I have two mowers out in the shed with that engine right now. I love it. One has close to 2000 hours on it.
I use it more than the Newer Cub Cadet I have. Both are 19.5 HP in Craftsman LT1000s.

On a side note, I grew up in Catskill.

Yep, I have a 20HP in a Murray. I replaced it with the same engine after 23 years, it ran low on oil. It starts on 2 turns. They are great engines, but I guess gross polluters.

A local small engine guy said he repowered a newer 0 turn in commercial use with one of those I/C 20Hps, it is running for years, they service it with Rotella.

Catskill has a Harbor Freight in the parking lot of a Ford Dealership

 

[jhellwig]

Didn't the Briggs opposed engine have oil burning problems? I think I recall hearing it having more issues than the Onan or Kohler counterparts. I could be thinking of some other thing though.

 

[ls1mike]

Yep, I have a 20HP in a Murray. I replaced it with the same engine after 23 years, it ran low on oil. It starts on 2 turns. They are great engines, but I guess gross polluters.

A local small engine guy said he repowered a newer 0 turn in commercial use with one of those I/C 20Hps, it is running for years, they service it with Rotella.

Catskill has a Harbor Freight in the parking lot of a Ford Dealership

Yep. I was just Home in May, first time in 20 years. Place has not changed much.

 

[ls1mike]

Didn't the Briggs opposed engine have oil burning problems? I think I recall hearing it having more issues than the Onan or Kohler counterparts. I could be thinking of some other thing though.

It that is the case both of mine are magical. Never have used a drop of oil.

 

[Opelman]

We had one at work on a Snapper tractor shaped riding lawnmower. It was a cheap piece of crap. Lousy carburetion, and poor air filtration leading to dirt ingestion and oil burning. Far too many corners cut to save a buck. Exactly the mentality that put Briggs bk. I love their older models, they were pretty good but I cussed them every time that twin came in the shop. (Usually pushed)

 

[The_Eric]

I have a Deere 116 orn117 (don't remember exactly which) with one of these in the shop right now. It sat for several years and the owner wanted it revived - it was able to start and run, but was down a cylinder due to a shorted plug wire. I went ahead and put a new coil and a carb too for good measure. Seems to run okay,but haven't kicked the deck in just yet as I still need to put all the time back on. And because this is BITOG, I used about 2qts of bulk 15w40 when I changed the oil.

 

[fantastic]

4 million means they were going on the cheaper units to get that many out the door. Not to say they were bad but certainly not the highest quality. Not to say they didn't iron them out a bit towards the end. I do know some of them had an "Option" of an oil filter lol. Remember the "Turbo Cooled" on the tins of these? HA! Overhead valves (Emissions) put them out of production. Great article & didn't realize how long they'd been making them or that many.

 

[jeepman3071]

We had a 14hp one (1980s) growing up for 15 years or so in an old 46" MTD YardMan tractor. It rarely had an oil change or maintenance, and the only issue it ever had was a starter. This was before ethanol fuels were really a thing though. Not the most fuel efficient engines, but they were definitely better than the Intek V-Twins that replaced them as far as longevity.

I've serviced a ton of them (not recently) and never really noticed oil burning issues, even with a lot of hours on them. Definitely a pretty loud engine too. Like anything else if neglected especially with ethanol fuels you can expect some issues.

 

[Lubener]

I recently pulled the sheet over my 1985 18hp twin in a Craftsman GT18. So much blowby that oil is spraying hard out of both breathers, saturating the air filter housing. It was a good hard working engine.