Snapper 2691183-00

[KE4AVB]

Well it appears that Briggs and Husqvarna tied the knot over this mower. I didn't know until yesterday that Husqvarna was or had made Snapper Riders for Briggs. I did know some Murray walk behind mowers are made by both Husqvarna and MTD and then rebadged as Murray mowers.

The tell off was the muffler the customer brought it for replacement. It had a Husqvarna part number engraved into it. And then I look at some of the other major items they all are Husqvarna items. It just that the Briggs IPL for the Snapper has all Briggs part numbers. Guys use you heads and just order the Husqvarna parts. It appear that Briggs is just reselling the Husqvarna made parts as their own. example is the muffler which they list for 53.13 but Husqvarna only list for 29.99. It is the same for the other parts I looked up too.

Stay on your toes guys and don't get conned by this deception practice.

[KE4AVB]

Here is another example. The deck belt is listed as PN 704430 but in the following image of one you clearly is the Husqvarna pn 429636 on the belt.

[38racing]

Interesting. Winter before this our minister bought a Briggs snowblower from lowes.ca. he needed the 2 auger belts. They have a briggs 7.... number which he didn't know. He took the old belt to Lowes who thought blower was made by mtd. He ended up with mtd belts but I don't know mtd number yet. Lowes craftsman blowers are clearly made by mtd as they sport mtd model numbers. His briggs has a briggs model number 169....

[38racing]

When I enter your belt number into my aftermarket it shows replacement for the snapper and husqvarna. Coincidence that different manufacturers used a 101 1/2 belts? When I entered a belt for a briggs snowblower using single auger belt it shows a belt fitting that number on snapper and simplicity and a completely different ariens number. Maybe ariens made their blowers?

[KE4AVB]

Maybe Briggs is now pulling JD tricks of hiding OEM part numbers.

Many of the Kawasaki engines used on JD equipment can be gotten through Kawasaki when you know the PNs. IT just a challenge to find them which I do have a source that can lookup those Kawasaki engine models use on JD. Now their are a few priority parts so I have to get them though the JD channels.

I am beginning Husqvarna, MTD, and Briggs are all in Cahoots with each other.

[bgsengine]

well, since Husqvarna is no longer manufacturing consumer grade stuff.. It's pretty much now just all MTD any more.. plus whatever china companies manage to get their crap imported and rebranded...

[KE4AVB]

Well I can say this at least Husqvarna isn't trying to eat us a live price wise. With them I can at least make a decent profit while saving the customer money too. MTD through Gardner is now nearly at retail sometimes so little margin that I have to mark-up above their suggested retail price. Briggs isn't much better with only a 10% off retail now through Power Distributors.

My Briggs distributor I do use here is 20% off list but the freight is done at UPS retail pricing now; unless, I place at least a $200 order. And they won't even respond to my emails of product questions. They supposedly came out with a new version of chainsaw chain and I was needing what the improvements were. Since they didn't respond in three weeks I just ordered a couple 100 foot spools of chain from my Oregon distributor instead.

[Gerry]

Well I can say this at least Husqvarna isn't trying to eat us a live price wise. With them I can at least make a decent profit while saving the customer money too. MTD through Gardner is now nearly at retail sometimes so little margin that I have to mark-up above their suggested retail price. Briggs isn't much better with only a 10% off retail now through Power Distributors.

My Briggs distributor I do use here is 20% off list but the freight is done at UPS retail pricing now; unless, I place at least a $200 order. And they won't even respond to my emails of product questions. They supposedly came out with a new version of chainsaw chain and I was needing what the improvements were. Since they didn't respond in three weeks I just ordered a couple 100 foot spools of chain from my Oregon distributor instead.

With Gardner the last 2 GT RS800 transaxle I needed I got cheaper thru Amazon and E-bay, dunno what going on at PD my last 2 orders have come from NC instead of Atlanta.

[KE4AVB]

PD probably consolidated warehouses. I have the same thing happening with A&I that many of the parts no longer comes out the Atlanta area warehouse. I just have check to make everything can be shipped out the same warehouse to avoid additional freight charges on under $200 orders. Those freight can really add up fast as had one $190 order last that had $45 in UPS charges tacked on. Strange though I had known this I could had just one extra item and had the whole order shipped freight free.

Yes procurement can be tricky at times but why everyone should research the parts and costs before buying. I have been this for years. Procuring parts from vendors is often needed. Just like your example I can get my Kawasaki oil from a non distributor much cheaper than going through RBI. Instead of paying 40.35 per unit I paid 24.95 plus 33.00 shipping but still save $60 on the order of 6 plus I am getting two Scag belts below the local costs. This is just an example of where paying more for shipping actually saves on overall costs.

Yes it is sometimes time consuming but with my very tight operating costs to profit margins it take it. Besides many of the customers also looking the parts costs on eBay at the same time I quoting a repair job.

I once gave free estimates but several customers started using these to figure out they need to replace and would decline the written estimates and just buy and install the parts themselves. What I now charge for is the time it took me figure out what is wrong and for the time researching for the best price for the parts. Just yesterday I charge $20 just to tell a customer he needed a new engine when the day before he said he would rather buy a new tiller before speeding much on the current one. The engine was worn out and smoked when started after sitting a few hours. I took look down inside cylinder and saw heavy scoring. Briggs no longer offer a short block and the new engine retails for $300. This gives me $70 for removing and replacing the engine.

Personally it is worth it to several more years out of the tiller but he rather spend twice that for a new one. Especially since I am was including the labor in the price of the replacement.

[hanz63]

Yep, you have to watch some of these prices. I've learned to ask the freight $$ up front when in doubt. I've had body pieces that because I've asked if it was FF (as it was with a regular order and not noted in the footnotes as having a surcharge) , then marked "bill actual freight" - but no, I have an email that says otherwise. This was after ordering a Husqvarna deck shell with a $90 pallet charge. I pretty much tell customers on these just to order the deck complete from Sears Direct now. Should have bought a few of the Chinese HOP decks when they were on EBay.
BTW my Husqvarna distributor sent out an email saying HOP parts $ was going up on 3/8 and OEP on 4/1. PD treats me somewhat better, but I tend to do big stock ups and less day to day. I have a Stens and Rotary account too and use them for certain things. Stens used to give me better pricing, but since I didn't find a lot that I liked, never did big stock orders, I'm Low Joe on the totem pole. Lots of things like air filters seem to come from the same factory whether you get them from Amazon or our conventional aftermarket, so why pay 10$ rather than 3$....
Stens has PIX belts now after they ate Atlantic on some items if that is of interest, I've never had another source on these before. I did buy 1 each of the new Deere belts from Rotary for the new 48" X series decks. They match right up on the length-o-meter, though are slightly less girthy.