I have a 2010 excel boat with a 35 sad .At 61 hours coming back from hunting one day it locked up,sending rod and piston through the valves and block.I called and spoke with the people from mudbuddy about this and they said well what bad luck but were unwilling to help with the exception of selling me a new short block for cost but I checked several shops on eh net and could buy it cheaper than their at cost price. The briggs motor came w a two year warranty and I was outside of this period but 61 hours that is terrible especially since no claims about low oil of overrev can be made since the motor came with safeguards against both of these items.The other thing that is very disturbing is that if I were to buy another block from them and take it to a briggs dealer for them to put together briggs will only give a year warranty on this new 1200 dollar part.And just to be clear this was a stock motor that had no mods. So in the end the guys at mudbuddy did little if nothing to help even when I asked them to check w their briggs rep and just see if he would offer any help.The mudbuddy guy told me the have to pick their battles and wouldn't even make a call for me after I spent 14k with them.So my advice to anyone planning on buying from them either don't and get another company that will stand by what they sell and hold engine maker to a little higher standard than this or don't choose this engine and make sure the engine maker has a better deal than this. My dealer says the briggs is suppose to be a 3000 hour engine.Im not sure which way I'm headed now but def not gonna drop 2k on a briggs w one year worth of warranty.I hope this post helps someone purchasing a sd. I'm not here to smear anyone's name but mudbuddy did nothing to help here and when I was buying sugar wouldn't melt in their mouth !

Buuuuyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

Mudbuddy is a pos


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In six months, briggs replaced two motors on my old surface drive with no question. Oddly enough there was a defect on both of them that was not fixable. This is on 34 hours of total use. I would go see another Briggs warranty guy. Don't they offer a three year warranty on the stock engine anyway?

He also stated this is a 2010 motor. Way out of warranty.

^^ concur

sorry to say but its not mud buddys problem you have a motor thats out of warranty and they arent liable. It would be same thing if I took a 12 year old truck to GM and say the motor blew eventhough I only had 40,000 miles on it. They would tell me they would offer to fix it for x amount of dollars or go pound sand. If it was within warranty and they dicked you around then you would have a leg to stand on. Sometimes life sucks deal with it.

I guarantee any of the mud motor companies would have said the same thing. Tough shit, stuff breaks.

I fell your pain but coming on here bad mouthing Mud Buddy is not fair to them. You have a 4 year old engine out of warranty. It is what it is. Mud Buddy can not help you as the engine is not their product.

Don't be mad sweetie. You just look like an ass in this thread, plan and simple. And none of the other brands have had a lot of issues come to the surface lately.

Move along man, your not gonna upset me by calling my motor a piece of shit and me stupid for having it. wtf are you 10. Funny how you go from laughing at something that clearly isn't an MB issue to name calling, nice try.

Go try to turn a carb or better yet, it's summer time, lawns need cutting. Better get on your bike on go make that cash son.

And this thread is in the fuckin review section

Just to clear a few things up the block failed in 13 I'm just getting around to dealing w it bc it took a while to even get a response from mb and briggs also my rig was a mid year 10 model so dealer said it's was 9 months out on warranty so I'm not bringing them a 10 yr old chevy and asking for the impossible.whoever wrote that must be from mb bc that's the analogy he gave but let me do some math if you average miles based on engine time I went around 3000 in that boat and it was 9 months out on a two year deal so wouldn't anyone at least pop the question considering they buy a lot of briggs engines I think some genuine good ol boy help was in order but hey that's just me.if they choose to run their bus like that and basically tell people to piss of stuff breaks then hey glad to know . I found a better way for way less money anyway putting an 88 ci s&s motor w around 75 hp on there I bet it won't throw a rod w 61 hours

Take your truck to your local hometown dealer 9 months out of warranty with a thrown rod and see what they charge you. Even with 2500 miles i bet you don't get warranty coverage. It is a specific time, or mileage limit. I'ts not complicated. Maybe they cut you a deal on labor, but you'll still pay a pretty penny compared to what you would pay under warranty. They run a business, and gatortail or prodrive would likely have offered a short block at a similar price with the same warranty, as they run a business too. Establish a positive relationship with a company and take up your issues with them if they treat you badly. From what I can tell, you got one of those lemons, or didn't take care of your motor, or got slapped by the lawnmower engine gods because it was your turn, and just need someone to bitch about.
Your engine was a piece, sometimes that happens, you just hope it happens before those time limits pass so the manufacturer has to be responsible for the product they built that shit the bed when it should've kept running.

Maybe one of those companies has some parts laying around (a used short block or whatever you need) that they'd cut you a deal on, but seriously, that's not on MB, as it wouldn't be on PD or GT with the same issue.

As far as delayed responses, or no answer at all, that's for you to take issue with however you choose, but post this crap in the correct forum. It's not a boat/motor review. At least get your panties in a wad in the right place

Oh then I love the boat no issues at all w it, in fact it's tough as they come and no panties in award here and don't like to bitch actually kinda glad the motor was weak when the boat was loaded so I'm hoping this repower I'm working on works better for me . Guess I'm used to the small town attitude where you treat people the way you would want to be treated no ting ore them and tell em to piss off bc they aren't buying a new boat now

I see these same type of threads on another boating forum all the time. Some guy buys something, it breaks or doesn't meet expectations, and said guy registers on a bunch of forums and slams whatever company he feels is at fault. You can always look and see they have like 2 or 3 posts on the forum. Everybody thinks their problem is special and that the threat of ripping a company on the internet will get them something for free.

There we go. lol

Seriously though, I get you're pissed about the motor, as it shouldn't have done that stock (i'd be locating some explosive and pop that engine like a firecracker. But if they ignored warranty dates and just said here you go every time, or even half the time, we wouldn't be able to buy these things at the price they're at now. Help one guy, why not the other? And yours was 9 months, not a couple days. All I'm saying.

I bought a reel 5 days ago and the store won't exchange it for me but I didn't rip them on the net even though I wanted to.

Nope you have it wrong also I'm not cheap and don't want something for nothing I just think I shoulda had a little support and am unwilling to drop 1200 plus shipping then take it to a briggs dealer and drop 500 more to get a one year warranty on a motor that failed after 61 hours that's it. I'm gonna find a better way for less money and I promise it won't break in another 61 hours

Did you maintain the motor or just beat the shit outa it every time you turned the key

Why after every post that the op makes do i keep getting the feeling that we are only getting 1/2 of the story, or 10% of the actual truth.

^Surely we're getting the whole story. No way anything's left out... For once, 1+1 DOES =3

I've got well over 100 hours on a modded 35 Briggs and haven't had any issues. You must not have maintained it correctly or did something stupid to put the piston thru the valve train! Did you ever check your valve lash, how often did you change your oil and filter? What kind of oil filter did you use some junk filter from a box store or hdw store? I don't think a stock 35 with a stock carb and internal governer could twist enough Rpms to put the piston thru the valve train without something being totally out of sink. I twist mine over 4300 all the time and I mean regularly like ever trip out! Not mb issue and there is no good reason to bash them. Hell if these dudes don't agree with you that should tell ya something. Lmao any reason to bash MB normally. I think you are going to be surprised by the lack of a power band on your s&s motor. I've seen Harley motors on both long and sd frames. I wasn't impressed with either.

I wouldn't lie and say it was maintained like an aircraft but I changed the oil every year and put 20 hours a year on it I did lube the drive and run the gas out of the carb after every use. Most of the use was winter during duck season. It was stock w no mods . Most of the time it was stored under a shelter or in a garage. Hey guys don't take me the wrong way I don't want this to be a bitching session or to run someone down I'm just telling my story so someone purchasing can make a better choice than I did. And the point has been made yes it was def out of warranty and they had NO obligation to help but it failed way to early they buy lots of briggs motors and they could've used their leverage to help even if it was a little and they chose to Ignore and basically tell me it is what it is and I'm good w that . I'm just going a different route this time I feel like briggs warranty is lacking and it's weak anyway so I'm gonna try to put my 2k to better use

Well a friend had this 88 s&s motor but hasn't sold bc he didn't have a trans for it. It only had 5500 miles on it and I got it for less than I was gonna have to pay for the briggs,mounting the motor seems easy enough. Got to have some machine work on the back cover and plenty of kinks to figure out about clutch system and getting gearing right for powerband of that motor but it should have twice the power and torque and it should live a while. This is def gonna be an undertaking and won't be easy but I've got a few months till duck season and hope to have it all worked out by then ill post pics soon hope to have the mounts made this weekend and at least mount the motor on the frame

So tell me about this different route you speak of that you'll never have to worry about this again? Gonna get you one of those extended warranties ? You could always sell the frame and buy some bad ass paddles! Shit happens sometimes. Bolt you a stage 1 or 2 powerhead on that thing and let'er rip tater chip

In the future, make sure to run your motor regularly.
Ex. It is suggested to run my stand alone generator 15 minutes a week regularly. The previous owner of my house let it sit with out running it for a year. It cost me 1000 dollars to get it back up and running. For the last two years I have ran it for 15 minutes a week and it has not had any issues. It is a 35 Briggs.
I am not saying Briggs is great. I am not at all happy with the issues they are having. However, I think in your situation that motor was not ran enough. 61 hours on a 2010 model is low. I am not a mechanic but in my experiences motors that sit tend to have issues. Especially if you did the majority of those 61 hours over the 60 days of duck season and let it sit the other 10 months.

You can go whatever route you want, but the sad truth is that all the major mud motor companies run the same damn Briggs 35 block....and that's because even as much trouble as they are, they're the best option at this time. It there was a cost effective "miracle" motor out there, somebody would be selling them on mud motor frames.

Best option = Buy a short block, build it up with mods, and run the shit out of it and be happy for a while.

Good luck with the custom build with the S&S. Pretty awesome motors, be prepared to learn how to work on it. From what ive seen its quite the task. Lots of one off parts.

I don't think I have the miracle cure but it just seems that my briggs failed prematurely w no mods and is very expensive to fix and doesn't come w much of a warranty even when you do fix and it has to be done by a briggs dealer paying their shop rate. Also if you mod up a motor that is prone to fail and I know I'm not the only person that has had this happen the guy from mb said they had had a few and if he admitted to that I'd really like to know the definition of a few bet that number would be a shocker. So ya mod this briggs up and looks like ya have a accident waiting to happen. Why not put time and money into finding a higher power motor that is meant for that and will live doing it. Too bad cummins doesn't make a motor it would run forever, and thx for the advice I'll try to be more diligent about cranking more often during the off season .

And btw isn't insanity tryin the same thing over and over and expecting a different result ?