B&S plastic camshaft

Bud Soda · Apr 19, 2010

Had a 6.5 HP Intek Pro irrigation pump running Saturday. Ran about 20 minuets and stopped. Checked everything out and looked like it had jumped timing. Took it home and tore in to it. Plastic cam broken in half. Who would have thought

Kernopelli · Apr 20, 2010

Now lets be fair to B&S, I could be wrong but I vaguely remember tearing into one of their engines several years ago and it seems like it was just the gear that was plastic...I'm pretty sure the cam was made from a very solid chromed pot metal or similar "durable" material

Now I am certain this wasn't the Intek "PRO" engine I was in so maybe that is the difference. With a name like that, I am sure it is chock full of space age materials that look like regular old plastic but are actually something of much better quality/durability.... the cheap stuff would surely be reserved for the Intek "Amature" or the Intek "Residential" models.

20 minutes of run time before your pump quit. Kind of reminds me of calling Troy Built ( wasn't actually TB, I had to call several different companies before I could talk to someone who would take credit for making it)and complaining about my pressure washer after I had replaced the engine and pump. They asked me how much I used it and I told them maybe 200 to 300 hrs in 6 years. They flat out told me that they were designed to be used by "residential" users and that meant someone who would run it ( something like...this is from a distant memory) for an average of 10 to 20 minutes at a time, no more than 10 times a year and the warranty was for 2 years. Man, I got all the good out of that thing the first time I used it! They should use me as a product spokesman because mine lasted way longer than they EVER thought it would!

Bud Soda · Apr 20, 2010

Yep, gears and lobes are plastic. Gear broke off metal shaft. I try to look after all my engines, change oil on time, ect. I only use it in the spring when setting out Apple trees so even though it is 5 years old it has low hours. Rest of the motor looks like a new one. If it was an all metal cam the motor would probably last me a lifetime. Order the same cam(about$40.00) but then found a all metal one from Comp Cams. Maybe next time I will spend $100 for that one.

Eagleview · Apr 20, 2010

Never seen a good one yet , buy a Honda .

RickB · Apr 21, 2010

Kohler Courage are the same deal.

arrabil · Apr 21, 2010

They flat out told me that they were designed to be used by "residential" users and that meant someone who would run it ( something like...this is from a distant memory) for an average of 10 to 20 minutes at a time, no more than 10 times a year and the warranty was for 2 years.

There was a Black & Decker sander I was looking at in Lowe's. I opened the box to look at the instructions. It specifically said in the fine print that it was designed to last 8 working hours. Why it was so cheap became instantly obvious.

clemsonfor · Apr 29, 2010

A sander to last 8 hours?

GM i think had nylon timing gears in some of its vehicles from the 80's i think.

arrabil · Apr 29, 2010

8 hours. You can imagine the "man of the house" that was built for.

oldnslo · Apr 29, 2010

clemsonfor said:
A sander to last 8 hours?

GM i think had nylon timing gears in some of its vehicles from the 80's i think.

Most of their small blocks had nylon in the 70's through xx? This was to help make the engine quieter. They would occasional break usually from back fires. Nice thing about them Vs Over head cam engines is that you would rarely damage a head or valve when this happened.

Roy