RIP Tecumseh

[Fordlords]

Stock up on your Tecumseh parts. As of December 15, 2008 Tecumseh has ceased manufacturing small engines.

-Fordlords-

 

[shvl73]

I was in a Lowes today, the basic MTD snowblower looked like it had a Chinese engine. Could this be part of the reason? Is Tecumseh manufacturing anything else or were small engines all they made?

 

[Fordlords]

Tecumseh was bought by a holding company, Platinum Equity, in 2007. They piece-mealed the company claiming offshore competition for its demise. Their small engine operations were secondary to their refrigerator compressor manufacturing. When Sears cancelled their small engine contract with Tecumseh last year, it drove the spike through Tecumseh's heart. Form what I heard all of the Briggs and Stratton horizontal shaft engines are sourced from China. So with Tecumseh out of the snow blower market, you either get some sort of Chinese engine or you spend a lot more for a Honda, some of which are made in China now also. I noticed Sears doesn't even give horsepower ratings on their snow blower engines anymore.

-Fordlords-

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i really hate to see all those old companies closing up shop or being bought and their name soaked until there's nothing left.....troy-bilt, bolens, cub, homelite, lawnboy (epa) etc.....

to me, these names were American as apple pie......

the world is changing, but i'll kick and scream all the way...

 

[ray66v]

It is a shame, that the quality of Tecumseh products had fallen far behind the others, for sometime.

Anymore, they were at least a "decent" inexpensive engine, for applications where you did not need a lot of duty. I had just bought one of their engines last fall, for a sprayer that will only see use 5 or 6 times a year.

Now, I guess I will be paying more.

It should be yet another wake up call to manufacturers.

Companies that don't have a very bright future, will be failing all around us, this year.

A friend of mine had to sell a business, one you probably have heard of, right before Christmas. It started it in their garage, and over the years was built up to have 100 employees. They simply had run out of cash due to slumping sales, and the banks said no more. When the economy comes back, the company will be fine, they just won't own it anymore.

 

[Skyco]

I noticed Sears doesn't even give horsepower ratings on their snow blower engines anymore.

Apparently the small engine makers are going to a new system publishing cc instead of horsepower. I don't like it because engine ouput can vary tremendously depending on design, for the same cc displacement

 

[NuBota]

Complete shame - my 7 year old 20 hp Murray Lawn Tractor is Tecumseh - engine and Peerless Trans. Don't laugh - it was Wally World special edition - one of the few not B&S. Have close to 1000 hrs on it - hard mowing up steep hills (1+ acre), hauling wood, stone, block. Even drag the chain harrow with it (4x4' section). Have dogged it repeatedly and runs like it did first day. I know Murray takes (took) lots of knocks, but this thing has been solid - I think in large part to Tecumseh. Guess parts will be an issue for me since both companies are essentially gone.

Just got rid of a '76 MTD (Hechinger) tractor last year - still ran fine - just small (11hp) - struggled on the hills. It was Tecumseh.

I have nothing against B&S (have had good experiences with both), but have always considered Tecumseh to be a better quality reputation.

We are truly getting to a point of American companies just keep folding - Anheuser-Busch was a shock to me, the Detroit mess, etc - very frustrating

 

[2manyrocks]

Lots of luck getting parts for anything made in China.

 

[tomd999]

Hiya,

I just saw this thread, however I can't find anything about Tecumseh power products closing. I did find that they were closing 1 or 2 plants, not the entire line. Also, Ariens is still listing them as the engine supplier.

Tom

 

[Fordlords]

From a parts dealer listing:

"AS OF DECEMBER 15TH 2008, TECUMSEH HAS SHUT DOWN THERE ENGINE DIVISION. STARTING JANUARY 1ST ALL TECUMSEH DEALERS WILL BE LOSING ANY PREMIERE DEALER DISCOUNTS, WHICH MEANS PARTS WILL NO LONGER BE MADE AND PRICES WILL BE GOING UP."

-Fordlords-

 

[escavader]

DARN SHAME,The TECUMSEH SNOWKING HM 80[8 horse]Is the best snowblower engine ever built period in my experienced opinion.My Mtd is 20 years old and ive never done a thing to it,it doesnt burn oil and starts right up -EASILY.Until this year it has been my primary snow blower.All my folks blowers are the same ,but older ,every 10 years or so i throw some points in them and thats it.
ALAN

 

[Steadite]

Doesn't really surprise me. I interviewed for a position at their "research" center in Ann Arbor about 5 years ago. It was very clear to me they had no new ideas for the engine division other than make 'em in India or Brazil. They kept trying to chase the "cheapest product" rather than the "best product". I ran like he!! out of that place.

 

[Fordlords]

What I have heard is that their last OHV engine designs including the Snow King would no longer be able meet EPA emissions standards, and their parent company (or should I say holding company) Platinum Equity Group had no intentions of funding the development of any new engine designs or switching over tooling for production of anything new. So it was either buy foreign engines and put Tecumseh stickers on them, or just quit altogether.

I'm glad they chose the latter. It sort of puts Ariens in a pickle, as they have been using Tecumseh/Lauson engines since they built their very first snow blowers. Hopefully they will go to something at least half way decent like a Kohler Command rather than these engines from China that are attempting to clone Honda GX'es.

-Fordlords-

 

[hangfirew8]

Tecumseh was bought by a holding company, Platinum Equity, in 2007. They piece-mealed the company claiming offshore competition for its demise. Their small engine operations were secondary to their refrigerator compressor manufacturing. When Sears cancelled their small engine contract with Tecumseh last year, it drove the spike through Tecumseh's heart. Form what I heard all of the Briggs and Stratton horizontal shaft engines are sourced from China. So with Tecumseh out of the snow blower market, you either get some sort of Chinese engine or you spend a lot more for a Honda, some of which are made in China now also. I noticed Sears doesn't even give horsepower ratings on their snow blower engines anymore.

-Fordlords-

This is backwards. Do not blame Sears.

Sears did not cancel their small engine contract with Tecumseh. Sears sells power goods, not engines. Tecumseh was unable to provide engines to AYP and MTD, which in turn was not able to supply mowers, tractors and snowblowers to Sears. The same thing happened to Ariens, Mr. Arien got the same letter as Sears, Tec was shutting down small engine production.

MTD turned to Chinese manufacturers out of desperation. Everyone scrambled to Briggs and Kohler and whoever they could find.

Sears is not the only one backing away from horsepower ratings, which have been overinflated for years. After an attempted class action lawsuit, and several local or state lawsuits, all the manufacturers I know of have switched to language like "as rated by the manufacturer" or give displacement or some other rating.

As for blaming off-shore competition, the ongoing proxy battle has the old management (family) and the new management (equity investors) going head-to-head in court and in proxy battles. The only blame I've heard is them blaming each other.

All this is out there if anyone bothers to use Google.

-HF

 

[hangfirew8]

Complete shame - my 7 year old 20 hp Murray Lawn Tractor is Tecumseh - engine and Peerless Trans. Don't laugh - it was Wally World special edition - one of the few not B&S.

It was the Murray bankruptcy about 3 years ago, owing $3M to Tecumseh, that started the downhill slide to the buyout and shutdown. They owed even more money to B&S so B&S ended up owning them.

-HF

 

[hangfirew8]

What I have heard is that their last OHV engine designs including the Snow King would no longer be able meet EPA emissions standards, and their parent company (or should I say holding company) Platinum Equity Group had no intentions of funding the development of any new engine designs or switching over tooling for production of anything new. So it was either buy foreign engines and put Tecumseh stickers on them, or just quit altogether.

Tec already had an OHV Snow King at the high end of the market. Buyers like Ariens were happy with the lower-end L head SK's as long as the law allowed them to be sold. Getting compliant would just be a matter of putting a new carb on the OHV model, and then making it in a broader range of displacements.

Tecumseh's problems were structural and made worse by the Murray bankruptcy and stiffing Tecumseh for $3 Million. Once outside capital was brought in, the new owners and old owners were more interested in fighting for control than saving the company. Notice that there's no bankruptcy yet, neither side is interested in that option.

-HF

 

[Fordlords]

Tec's refrigeration compressor and the Peerless transmission businesses are still functioning as far as I know, thus no bankruptcy of the company if they can hold those together.

I'm sure there are dozens of reasons why Tecumseh stopped engine production, it wasn't Murray's bankruptcy alone or any one other problem. It just takes away another decent engine from the market, one that Ariens has been using on their snow blowers since the beginning. You don't see many Kohlers less than 20 HP on anything for whatever reasons, and I've just never been a big fan of Briggs- If not Kohler, I would would much rather see a Robin/Subaru on future Ariens snow blowers rather than Briggs.

-Fordlords-

 

[EmerichSales]

Newest News!!!

Husqvarna bought the Peerless Transmission division part of Tecumseh.

&

It's reported that the assets of the engine division of Tecumseh Power
Company have been purchased by a Jim Grafft - he is principal in Certified
Parts Corp. which bought Arctic Cat back in 1982.

Dealers better be buying up extra parts now because it doesn't look good! NoBody knows what will happen about warranty?

My sources are normally right on. But who know's !

Looks like Ariens will have all Briggs on them next winter.

Kohler is working hard on a Snow Blower engine but it doesn't look like it will be ready in time for next winter. You will see it the following year.

Kevin Emerich

 

[Fordlords]

Likely a good move for Husqvarna to keep the transaxle supply line open for their equipment. When I look at used snow blowers on E-Bay, I see so many that are 15-20 years old still running their original Tecumseh engines. I think if current Tecumseh engine owners get a carb kit and maybe an ignition coil for backup, they can count on their engines running that length of time under regular use, or in other words lasting the useful life of the snow blower.

Sorry to hear Ariens is using Briggs, but I guess they had to go with what is out there at this time. As most manufacturers produce their snow blowers during the summer, that would be quite a rush for Kohler to get a line of winter engines in to production.

-Fordlords-

 

[rdln]

Next you are in TSC look at the cub cadet pushmowers, that engine is a chinese copy of a honda made for kohler.

Yes a shame, I think my 10hp BS on my generator is a great engine, so are my two tecumsehs one on a snow blower and the other on a Carl Heald tryke.

somebody will start a line of common replacement parts, there is enought engines out there