Briggs & Stratton Gas Can

mso489 · May 27, 2016

Went to Walmart to buy a gas can for my lawnmower. The spout mechanism is spring loaded, has indefinite plastic parts that don't lock in place easily or maybe at all, and would be a cruel joke for the person caught on the side of the road with a dim flashlight trying to gas up their car. It looks like a misguided attempt at a safety spout. After reading the instructions several times and jimmying around with it to see if it would suddenly appear clear, I left the store, went to an old hardware store, and bought a different brand, not the old time gas can I had hoped, but one that was comprehensible through the obfuscation. The Briggs & Stratton version has its own youTube video showing the problem by another aggravated consumer who went ahead and bought it. He resorted to taking off the spout and pouring through an old funnel.

tbradsim1 · May 27, 2016

MSO, the new breed of Engineers are not hands on. Bought a new Zero Turn Mower, and the Anti-Scalp

Roller rubs the front tire on an extreme turn which is normal with a Zero Turn. Fired off an email to Company after fixing it with washers moveing it out of the way. Company gets back to me and wants me to take it in to Dealer. I say it's fixed and I would be ashamed to let such a fine product out with that Mullugrubby engineering. They want to send a Rep to my farm: I pity that SOB.

orobusto · May 27, 2016

I rarely spilled gas until they came up with the safety spout designs. Now it's a given. Plus the spouts on these cans don't last. My dad still uses the cans that I filled the mowers with 30+ years ago and they serve their purpose just fine.

mso489 · May 27, 2016

Now and then someone will jump in with a mechanical fix that is just right, and make a fat profit. Someone figured out that the pneumatic tires on hardware store wheelbarrows wouldn't hold air for more than a season or two, and mostly not after that at all, so they came out with wheel with a a non-pneumatic tire. This wouldn't last long on a construction site, but for the average Joe with gardening and home repairs, it will last for years. I was so pleased, I sent one to my brother-in-law who had the same problem. Now the wheelbarrows are ready year-round.
Brad, I wish you could patent a single piece as wide as the washers, and license it back to Zero Turn for a nice steady royalty check. That would take forever in patent law, but that's how it should work. If you improve the product you should get a cut. If the rep ever shows up, and if he leaves your place alive, he should take a cellphone photo of your washer fix so they can do it right hereafter. It sounds like they need all the help they can get. I have no hope for the B&S gas can spout.

lonestar · May 27, 2016

Bradley hit the nail on the head. "Engineers" with degrees, but no experience, working for airheads who don't know the difference. Education these days is a hollow thing, standards level testing with little thinking behind it. I think high fructose corn syrup is a good analogy for society these days. It tastes sweet, but it's a hollow artificial imitation of the real thing.

bigtex · May 27, 2016

Gents, I deal with this on a daily basis as an engineering technician and it can be quite frustrating at times. Many of the new "fresh outs" think that they know everything and have no experience and are not willing to learn from a dumb ass technician. What they do not know is that I can make them or break them. I enjoy working with the engineers that are willing to learn as we make a great team to make awesome things happen. I could go in about this all day, but I am heading to the beach for the Memorial Day holiday. Hope you guys and gals have a great, smoky weekend!

cosmicfolklore · May 27, 2016

I had this issue early Spring, buying a gas can for my new chainsaw. Try balancing a small motor and using two hands to work the damn can. I just used my pocket knife to cut the safety crap off and used the cap from a Coke bottle to keep it somewhat covered. Yep, also never spilled gas till they came out with this crap. I might as well just use empty milk jugs.

mcitinner1 · May 27, 2016

I have a five gallon plastic piece of crap that I messed with so much it won't let gas out at all. Pitched the spout and using a funnel till it's empty, and then I'm going back to my ugly old METAL cans.

mso489 · May 27, 2016

mcitinner1, cherish those ugly old metal cans. They're about $40 a pop now. And the old ones have spouts that work. I think a lot of technical grads are all theory and no workshop sweat and tears. On Midway Island, when that was a Naval station, the SeaBees (CB's for construction battalions) were mostly enlisted guys with a lot of work experience and some classroom training but no degrees, until you got to the officers. One July 4 the guys got together and built a Ferris Wheel out of scrap that worked well, was safe, and looked great. Many had families on base and they did it for the kids, who rode over and over. They worked from having put their hands on the materials and the tools. In the same group, we had a carpenter who was incredibly fast in framing out rooms in the old hangars for offices or barracks. He was so smooth and quick, it looked a little like a dance, but he made those 2X4's leap into place. It would have taken me weeks to do what he did in hours. He'd probably been doing it since he was about ten.

pappymac · May 27, 2016

I still have two 5-gallon "Jerry Cans" gas cans. The kind people used to strap to the back of jeeps.

voorhees · May 27, 2016

They want to send a Rep to my farm: I pity that SOB.

Please record this! I'd love to see how he tries to take you on Bradley. :lol:

captpat · May 28, 2016

Metal safety cans, cost more but in the long your you save the aggravation of trying to deal with the "safety" features on the big box store plastic containers.

prairiedruid · May 28, 2016

Got to love a product that is engineered for your safety that you have to re-engineer to be usable.

perdurabo · May 28, 2016

Nice and Cozy, yet the safety police didn't think about your blood pressure, did they? I've noticed these new gas can spouts aren't long enough to fill a car with. I had to cut an old water hose to make the spout longer on my safety can.

tbradsim1 · May 28, 2016

Little tidbit for you Fellows, Plastic gas cans are unsafe, they are not grounded while filling , that's why the safety rule is take the metal cans out your Vechile while filling as they are not grounded . Static Electricity can make it go Boom

fnord · May 29, 2016

Bigtex:
I've been in IT and telco sales for over 25 years. I don't breathe a promise to customers until the techs and sales engineers I work alongside have blessed my pitch with holy water, burnt offerings and a sacrificed goat.
When you're John Wayne/Randolph Scott tall in the saddle, at a competitive price point, folks listen.
Cheers to you, pal.
Fnord
P.S. In the spirit of this thread, my W-world fuel cans are absolute shit.

F.

Briggs & Stratton Gas Can

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