OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Tech Talk Interpreting Briggs' Model and Code Numbers

Hi Guys,

I have a Lawn King which sports the following numbers

Mower No. 00470
Model 450546

Engine is as follows,
60102 0347-01 73100903

Am I correct in saying that the B&S was made on the 3rd of September 1973 ? or October ?


Just wondering why the numbering system database has not been posted up onto the website as this would make it easier for self diagnosis and not take up valuable time by either Deejay or Grumpy ?

Cheers,
BB

Hi BB, you have condemned this thread to being transferred to Tech Talk, because it is going to get a bit complicated here and there.

The engine was manufactured on the 9th day of the 10th month (October) 1973. The Briggs Code expresses the date in a reversed form of the European date system that we also use in Australia, so it runs Year-Month-Day. The last two digits of the Code indicate it was made in Briggs' Plant 3, their engine plant at Rolla, Missouri.

Here is the Briggs explanation of the Model numbers - I have simply reproduced it from Page 19 of the 239 pages of the Briggs Service and Repair Instructions 1984. This manual is available in the manuals section of Outdoorking.



Now that we have gone this far, I'll explain the rest of the trade secrets involved in Briggs engine descriptions. Briggs has a site that gives enquiring minds access to the Operator's Manual and Illustrated Parts List, nominally for any of their engines, if the enquirer enters the Model, Type and Trim, which for your engine are
Model 60102
Type 0347
Trim 01.
This is the site:
http://www.briggsandstratton.com/us/en/support/manuals/engine

This is your engine's Operator's Manual:
http://bsintek.basco.com/BriggsDocumentDisplay/lrvvA-wU7eL7hAxB91ObQ.pdf

This is the Illustrated Parts List:
http://bsintek.basco.com/BriggsDocumentDisplay/18lowGXBnfBhU7y.pdf

Note that there are a couple of tricks you need to be aware of - both of them are explained on the Briggs site. First, if the engine has a displacement of less than 10 cubic inches, you have to put a leading zero in front of the Model number, to complete the mandatory six digit field. Second, you will often get a null response when you complete the procedure. You should then repeat the process using 99 instead of the actual Trim number - it seems Basco often hasn't created entries for specific Trims, so 99 becomes the default value.

Now we come to the ultimate trade secret, both in the senses of it not having been disclosed in any post on any website anywhere, AFAIK, and in being the last secret I have for the present. This is a list of the Briggs engine plant numbers as they stood in 2011:
B&S Engine Manufacturing Plant Numbers and Locations
02 Statesboro, GA
03 Rolla, MO
05 Poplar Bluff, MO
06 Murray, KY
15 Auburn, AL
20 Wauwatosa, WI
28 Chongqing, China
31 Czech Republic

Post-edit 5 April 2014:
Briggs now lists only 5 engine plants in the US:
Wauwatosa, WI; Auburn, AL; Murray, KY; Poplar Bluff, MO; and Statesboro, GA.
Reference:
http://briggsandstratton.com.au/corp/about_us/locations.aspx

If anyone has reliable information on the numbers and locations of other Briggs engine plants that have been closed and are therefore not listed, please post them in this thread so they can be added - most of us at Outdoorking are just as interested in identifying old Briggs engines as new ones. I found the engine plant numbers given above in a list of Briggs plant numbers as of 2 years ago, in a technical publication on the subject of shipping procedures. Many US companies have equivalent shipping procedures published on the web. Here is the Briggs procedure:
http://www.iconnect-corp.com/resources/specs/briggsstratton/856_V4010.pdf
If you go to Page 7 of 32, you will see the list of surviving plants and their numbers. Plant 31 in the Czech Republic has been closed since that list was prepared in 2011. While the Rolla, Missouri, engine plant is listed, Briggs announced back in April, 2007 that it was closing, so its listing in 2011 may have been a technicality only - see press release:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix...newsArticle&ID=987337&highlight=

Note there are many admin sites and distribution centers also listed, as well as the final-product manufacturing companies Briggs owns (Murray, Home Power, Simplicity, Snapper, Ferris, Yard Products).

These engine plant numbers may assist members and visitors who want to know, for example, whether their engine was made in Plant 28, the Chongqing, China plant where I understand all side valve engine production has now been relocated, as well as many other products. Plant 15 at Auburn, Alabama, will now only make V-twin vertical shaft engines. See press release:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix...ewsArticle&ID=1688522&highlight=

Note that quite a lot of recent-production side valve Briggs engines show various head-office (Wauwatosa) administrative centers as their plant of origin, rather than showing an engine plant. All side valve engines are now made in Chongqing. All overhead valve engines are made either in the US or (in the case of multi-cylinder Vanguards) Japan.

Completely off-topic, people may be interested in Briggs' original statement that they were purchasing Victa, in June 2008:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix...ewsArticle&ID=1162062&highlight=