The newest Tecumseh I have was bought about 1990 or maybe 95. Still starts and
runs fine, but getting a bit tired. No idea where they went after that. $99 on sale
hardware store brand mower, stamped steel deck, but a 3.5 Tecumseh that seems
to last forever. Prior to that, a $35 used mower that ran from about 1980 until the
new one was bought, 90-95ish. That one was old when I got it, ran great until it
was just worn out. The internal design of the older Tecumseh's at the bottom
tier 3.5 vert shaft mower motors was way above Clinton and Briggs. Both of them
had no cyl sleeve, just running rings on aluminum, no valve seats, just valves seating
on aluminum, splash lube and worthless flapper air vane pretending to be a governor,
just really ran wide open, not good for long life.
I have several small Honda motors, they are fine machines, but quite a lot more
money, of course.
Rick we bought a $750 Honda mower, self propelled about 3-4 years ago. It is a heavy
beast, thank goodness it pulls itself! Really works great, hard to fault any part of the design,
except the fiberglass/plastic 'something' deck seems to be really thick and heavy. Probably
will last forever but makes the mower a bit of a beast. My wife and I both love it, though.
Does a great job picking up leaves with the bagger attachment, which is never used with just
grass. No more raking the yard.
Agree totally on oil, Rick. I say "Oil is cheap and easy to install, compared to rings and bearings"
although not as cheap as it used to be.
Bill