Hi out there fellow generator people, trysquie in South West Pennsylvania here. I have a Coleman Powermate 5000W 6250W peak generator with the Tecumseh 10 HP motor (after reading the site I wish it was a B&S motor). I have talked to a teck who works on these units and he told me that I should use straight 30 W oil. He said that when people use multi grade they blow up. I asked him what he thought about Castrol straight 30 weight. He said that is the good stuf. He also said the exhaust has female threads for npt pipe, if you remove the factory muffler you can get to the threads, and I could add my own muffler on this type of pipe. He also said to be sure to use a flexable conection on the pipe. I went on "McMaster Carr" site and found flexable stainless pipe (the lower cost unit is discontinued but if you order it they give you the higher cost higher quality unit at the lower cost). You will require some straight threaded pipe and some right angles. I found a small muffler with a heat shield at the local auto parts store (advance auto parts her in PA there part no. from the side of this muffler 18677 9 245 ) and used PC7 epoxt puty to temporally hold the corect mounting angles with respect to the muffler heat shield attaching to U shaped steel bent from 1 inch flat steel that I purched from home depo and bent into two big U shapes to mount to the bolts on the alternator (I had to put longer bolts on that side of the generator, and extend and move the ground wire to the other side of the generator). I used very long flexable hose clamps from NAPA, (two sets, each made of two of the longest they sell) to hold the muffler to the steel while the PC7 epoxy putty dried. After the epoxy cured I had a local auto shop weld the steel to the heat shield (make sure to ask them to be careful not to burn through the muffler when welding to the heat shield). I have a lathe so I was able to turn a piece of steel to make the cup shaped piece that I had welded to the end of the pipe and provide fit to the inside of the input pipe for the muffler. I now have a home made auto muffler adapted to this generator. It did reduce the noise considerably but the valve train, piston, and air intake still make quite a racket. Before it was louder than a gas lawn mower. Now it is not as loud as a gas lawn mower. The way I added this muffler it moves with the generator and motor but still has the flex pipe for extra give. I am now going to add a heat shield between the heat shield of the muffler and the generator for added protection of the generator. I e-mailed Amsoil about oil for these air cooled motors and they e-mailed me back and said that regular multi grade oil will break down and not provide protection in these motors. They said full synthetic multigrade can handle these motors and will not break down. They make a multi-grade 10 W30 SAE 30 specifically for small air cooled motors (and no, I am not an Amsoil dealer or in any way conected to them, or to McMaster Carr, NAPA or advance auto parts). You still have to change the oil every 25 hours of use. I have learned some things from your web site, and just wanted to pass on some of the things I have learned regarding generators. I use to be around boats and saw many ways that people can blow things up or make mistakes that cause big problems. I hope to learn enough from this site and others to keep my generator runing when required. Signed, trysqqire in S.W. PA

I have a 99 broadmoore that I bought new. Mine has the 14hp vanguard with a 38 inch deck. Now, the same size comes with 18 hp I think but believe me 14 is plenty. I have replace the ignition switch which was plastic and simplicity changed that the next year with a better on. I have also replace one battery and one idler pulley. I was told the pulley was also upgraded a year or so later. Other than that I have run the stew out of it and I love the thing. I really like the briggs vanguard engine and the cut is excellent. My Dad has a 01 broadmoore with a 16 hp vanguard engine with a 44 or 46 inch deck. I cant remember which one it is. Anyway, he just put a new battery in it this year because the old one died. Other than oil changes and stuff he has had zero problems. I dont know how long these things will last but I plan on finding out. Simplicity makes some good stuff imo.

I realize that this is an older thread, but thought that there is some information that might be valuable as I've looked for solutions to problems that archival information has been helpful. 1. Carbs this small [small pilot/main jets, emulsion tubes...] are HIGHLY sensitive to contamination. I have a step-through scooter, Yamaha V-50 that I had to go through the carb several times to get clean. Each time I'd think "I just cleaned that", yet, stuff in the carb/jets was the problem. Maybe taken apart and cleaned 4-5 times before all the junk got cleaned out. 2. B&S recommend that the valves be adjusted yearly. Air cooled engines move [expand/contract] more than liquid cooled engines. VW engines should have valves adjusted every oil change [3,000 miles/5,000 Ks], probably not a bad idea for these as well [yearly/oil change]. 3. With seasonal usage, there are a lot of things that can happen over the non-used down time, condensation in the fuel, dead fuel, varnish in the fuel system, rust and corrosion of the fuel system, rust and corrosion of the ignition system. Drain fuel, clean and put up properly, don't just park it. 4. Start with the basics, fuel, fire, compression. A world of wisdom on this forum, in this thread alone, something like "solve a mountain problem one hill at a time", that's pure gold.

Snappers do not have the floating deck that the simplicity line does and the floating deck was the primary reason I wanted the Simplicity. The dealer I took delivery from also had Massey's but they were larger models. When I called the dealers on the simplicity site, all had switched to Snapper. I sent an e-mail to simplicity for help and they replied with an e-mail that I should try different zip codes in my area. I wrote back that it would be easier to input a larger search radius and that they should update their web site. They did not respond and have not updated their web site as of this posting. A friend who is a large user of Simplicity and Massey helped me locate a dealer.