Whats your favorite engine! Kohler, onan ,briggs?

I've never had a Briggs powered Gravely so I can't say either way. Those who have them seem to like them though.

My Kohler powered Gravelys have never let me down, but neither has my Onan powered Gravely. The Onan is also a very smooth running engine. Truth be told, I guess I like both engines equally as they both get the job done in their own ways. I would likely say the same about an old Briggs if I owned one based on the lack of complaints I've come across.

1st onan

2nd kohler K series. Any kt or magum twin cylinder not real fond of but are alright.

3rd is tough as I love a cast iron briggs on an 8163-B as much as the onans. But parts suck to find.

There all pricey and parts are NLA from original manufactures now as of last year kohler does not support the K series any more

Here is my last Onan I had a very good runner! 520 H

Here was my first ONAN John Deere 318

REDGRAVELY 8199KT said:

Country, I had a John Deere 318 also and that ONAN sounded like a Harley to me! LOL ::<img src="http://www.mytractorforum.com/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />

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Come to think of I do remember it having cool throaty sound and maybe one of the reasons I liked it.

The main reason that GRAVELY stopped using ONAN engines is because after Studebaker-Worthington sold off GRAVELY to Ariens, and ONAN also owned by Studebaker-Worthington in the 70's, was sold to Cummins Engine in 1986, Onan began to withdraw from the general consumer product small engine business.

So GRAVELY had little choice but to shift to other manufacturers. Kohler and Briggs being the other quality choices at the time.

The last GRAVELY rider to use an ONAN engine was the 24G, and it is also likely that the engine used on those, the ONAN P224 was available only because it also had important generator set applications for ONAN.

But in the mid 80's there was an abrupt change to Kohler engines that corresponds with all these corporate ownership changes.

ONAN built superb engines, no question. But Briggs and Kohler are not chopped liver by any means.

My 1996 16-G has a Kohler M18, still going strong after 23 years and about 780 hours.

It is the only GRAVELY, and the only garden tractor I have ever owned........I did not live in a situation that required one prior to purchasing my 16-G new in 1996, and said to my wife then, "I know this is expensive, but it is the only one of these you will ever have to buy". She laughed then, she believes now.

Sheldon

I recently purchased a JD 208 with the original 8HP Kohler Cast Iron Line engine. It still runs with full power and no smoke! It's a 1978 with unknown hours on it.

Toddnails said:

You can find all the aftermarket parts needed for the Kohler K series on ebay or Amazon cheap, if you if you don't mind using aftermarket parts. A complete rebuild kit $100.00-$150.00. A new complete carb for less than $30.00. A new fuel pump $12.00 with free shipping.

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I work at small engine dealer ship so after market has gaskets and certain parts alota times. Stens is a good example of that. Gaskets, pistions, rods rings, ect there for kohler K stuff. Once the original manufacture stops supporting them, at that point all you have is aftermarket, or china knock off stuff. That may or may not work to fix your original stuff.

We are very fortunate in the gravely world to have places like Richards, and GTgravelyparts that has picked up where the original manufacturer has stopped. With out them all you would have is ebay ect for are old machines. which everybody buying stuff online and not going to dealers is what causes the next bit here.There will come aday when gravely stops supporting are old tractors altogther partswise. Especially with the price increases on stuff IMHO it could be as little as a few years, or who know could 10 years. Its all supply and demand. If they say make 1000 of something and sell 10 a year instead of the 1000. They probably won't make anymore. and when supply runs out that may be it.

Just food for thought guys