Tools
Briggs & Stratton Model 5S Engine
by Briggs & Stratton
59
3 endorsements on r/BuyItForLife first recommended in Jun 2025
A single-cylinder, air-cooled small engine produced by Briggs & Stratton in the early 1950s, originally used to power equipment like tillers, mowers, generators, and compressors.
Added Jul 5, 2026, Updated Jul 7, 2026
Why it's buy-it-for-life
Redditors report these vintage B&S engines from the 1950s still running after 70+ years with only basic upkeep like carb cleaning and ring replacement, and being swapped between multiple pieces of farm and shop equipment over decades. Some owners report the opposite experience with newer B&S engines, so durability seems tied to this older design/era.
What redditors say
Recommended on reddit as recently as June 2025
Tags
vintage-engine small-engine single-cylinder repairable farm-equipment generator-power
Briggs and Stratton engine from 1952 that still runs. Only lord knows how much it has ran before I got it. All I did was put new piston rings to combat the amount it smoked.
My FIL has so many old BG motors around the farm. Things just won't die. He swaps motors around to different tools.
Here is my run video. Briggs and stratton 5s from 1952 breaking in.
As a caveat i've only had bad experiences with B&G engines. We have two machines with B&G engines that have basically never worked.