bgsengine wrote:Thing I most look forward to (and hope for) is seeing that cheapo chinese crap that is being dumped in our market having their prices skyrocket so the "real thing" is a more attractive buy for the "el-cheapo" buyers ... not too long ago I had a factory in China trying to get me to book an order for their replacement carburetors - like a carb for a Stihl for $3.28 each ... so now I know where all those $12.99 carbs are coming from on Amazon and ebay.. but I wont hold my breath for that to happen.
Those el cheapo Stihl carburetors are most time factory rejects. I got one here that they even ground off the numbers. You can't even adjust the fuel mixture on it even though has adjustable metering needles. I only buy from a known good source on them. No use in wasting my time with the junk stuff.
And you right about getting el cheapo customers to switch back to things that work. I get them here that complain like heck because of what I charge for a replacement carburetor on a Briggs even when it get a junky Ruixing carburetor. They say oh I can order one off Ebay for x number dollars then I say then why are you here for me to do the repairs. I had one last year a that a repair shop had used JB Weld to repair the carburetor. Needless to say it didn't work.
Working on Briggs 124702 today that would not start. Found no compression. Pulled head. Someone great tech had used blue rtv to seal the head gasket. No wonder they said it was smoking. Didn't work but there more major problems as the intake valve seat is completely loose holding the intake valve open and cylinder got quite a few scratches from not using an air filter...One very bed mouse bed on top of engine. Probably overheat and the valve seat came out. Rebuildable but I know the owner is tight wad, haven't even bother to price it out.
I writing it off as lost cause other than do some self training on redo that seat. Looks like all I got to do the put it back in and re-stake it but got to remove the valve just make sure no damage otherwise. I have done one these before but read up how it is done. As for the Snapper SP mower body I have already stripped it for the transmission and wheel adjusters. So it will cost too much to rebuild it anyway.
The truest measure of society is the how it treats its elderly, its pets, and its prisoners.