Check the Briggs site - I believe they have a good cross reference that uses the numbers you mentioned. But a better way to id the mower as a unit would be to contact Snapper directly.

i have owned dozens of snappers and many comm models but i have never heard of that engine being offered on one. it could be a replacement engine. the comm models usually had a kawi or robin engine. the older comms had a briggs i/c series old style on them. your chute will fit but your bag may not. the comm uses a larger bag . it goes faster cause the comm models have a larger pulley

Well that solves the mystery. I went to the Robin site and found I have a EH18V. Thanks lawnmowerdan.

Any good Robin parts dealers on the web?

Ahh, the Robin is a great engine! Very powerful and extremely durable. I have one of these, too. The big issue with Robin engines is that they have stopped building the mower engines. Now they are raising prices on parts big time. For instance, the oil filters are now something like $16 - luckily there is a Kawasaki filter that will fit for about half that. OTOH, you shouldn't need many parts other than filters and spark plugs if you plan to use it for residential use instead of commercial. I don't know any online Robin dealers, but I'm sure they're out there. But any local Snapper dealer will have Robin parts. I am surprised your new/old mower doesn't have the rope pulley on the chute. Mine does. I wonder if the original owner swapped chutes at some point? I actually _think_ your bag will fit, because I think the length from the end of the chute to the handle crossbar where the bag hangs is the same on all Hi-Vacs, even though some have the narrow bar setup and some have the wide bars. But just try it out - since the chutes will be the same dimensions, you can just try the bag right now. Also, even though the cables seem very long and appear to run right in the way of the bag, they won't interfere with the bag. I don't really know why Snapper made them like this, but they still work fine. I would advise you to change the oil and filter before doing any work with the mower, just to be sure. Oh, and one other reason the commercials drive faster than the residential models is that their wheels are an inch taller front and back (8"/10" vs 7"/9"). Enjoy your mower!

Matt, I have a snapper 18 series which is new and the wheels are 8" in front and 10" in back. And why do larger wheels make the drive faster?

I have a couple Snapper Commercial with the Robin 4 stroke. Great engine. The mower is very heavy though. Mine has the 4 wheel adjustment with a single lever control. Model is CLP21650RV I believe. The manual is still downloadable.

You can also find engine parts and info under the Wisconsin brand.

great engine! in fact the best mower engine ever made! it will most likely last you the rest of your life dispite its commercial use beforehand. the comm bag is longer and therefore the crossbar it hangs on is moved back so home models bags wont fit. i think i have spare door type but i would have to look. i dont use the door type -only the drawstring type. i know of places on line to get air filters but getting other parts for these is getting pretty hard now. snapper dealers can order parts but be prepared for a long wait. the only drawback to these engines is their extreme weight. when getting replacement belts-always tell them you have the commercial pulley as it takes a longer belt too. another fault is the speed control lever wont stay where you set it. i clamp mine in place with a mini c clamp. how much did you pay for this beast?

"And why do larger wheels make the drive faster?"

A larger wheel has a greater circumference (distance around the wheel). Given equal engine RPM and gear ratio, which results in a certain wheel RPM, a 10" wheel will cover more ground in a given period than an 8" wheel - in fact, it will travel 6.28" more each revolution. So, when you calculate how many miles it could travel in an hour, it results in more speed.

Lawnmowerdan,

I paid $200 for it. At the time I was concerned that I overpaid given that it had definitely seen commercial use and might blowup at any minute. I had it out mowing again tonight trying out a mulching cover I picked up at a local dealer today (it came with a mulching blade) and I'm amazed at how strong it is. It goes right through the tall grass and munches it up and climbs hills easily that I struggled with using the old mower. I feel like I got a pretty good deal. I agree it is heavy. I have to feather the clutch when turning on hills to keep it from rolling back.

I think my throttle control has been replaced. It is on the right side of the handlebar which means the cable has to cross over to get to the carb on the left side of the Robin. Also the Rabbit and Turtle are backwards. The engine stops when the throttle lever is on the rabbit and screams when it's on the turtle. How are your throttle controls setup?

you are finding out that you got a very good deal. your throttle has been replaced as mine is on the left. hope yours works better than the stock one did. this is by far the most powerfull 4 stroke motor i have ever seen. it just eats everything up and asks for more. you wouldnt believe the torture i have put mine tru. i have cut lawns that were waist high with little diffaculty. one has 18 yrs of commercial use (severe!) and is just now starting to burn oil. if your choke dosnt work-dont worry about it. these engines dont seem to need one. another weak link is the choke linkage is troublesome but mine start on the 2 or 3rd pull even in winter w/out choke. if you have leafs to deal with -trow away your rake. these are the best leaf mulching mowers ever made. just run them over and they are dust. this is truly a all season mower. works great on pine straw and pine cones too. your 200$was well spent indeed

lawnguy, the newest Snappers may indeed all have the larger wheels. Back when the 12 series (what Wepaddle seems to have bought) was made, only the commercials had these wheels. Mine is also a series 12, with the wide handlebars, and it also has the throttle on the right side and it crosses over to the left side of the engine. I think yours is in the stock location, but perhaps the lever was just replaced or even just the sticker. Fordtech, that deck you have is a different animal: an aluminum deck and a true rear-bagger with a 3-speed Tuff Torq transmission (right?). I've never used one, but they have a great reputation as well. Someone here bought one to bag soggy Northwest-coast grass and found it was by far the best at the task of any mower he'd used.

This engine is at the top of the heap of _real_ power. It essentially shares the throne with the Honda GCV190 (not the 160) and the Kawasaki FJ180. Very big, very heavy, but very strong. Don't let the ratings stickers fool you - these are significantly more powerful engines than Inteks, Quantums, Honda GCV160s, etc. Robin was originally Wisconsin Robin, ergo the reference Fordtech made. It was sold at some point to Subaru, and somewhere in there Fuji and Teledyne were involved. The EH18V is a Subaru designation. Unlike the 2-stroke EC13V, which was a pre-Suby design and sold by Wisconsin Robin as a WT1-125 before it got renamed, I think the EH18V only came along after Subaru took over. So I think that's the only model name it ever had.

matt-i got a brand new in box ev145 (the 4hp model) wis -robin engine off ebay this winter for 125$ . its every bit the engine its big brother is -just a little smaller and lighter. i put on a spare snapper body i had and used it all this winter for leaf removal. you dont see these smaller versions very often. in fact i have only seen 1 other in my lifetime and it was on another snapper.

Mine is indeed aluminum deck with 3 speed transmission. 8 inch front wheels and 10 inch rears and true rear bagger as described. Its a great bagger, but even with stock mulch blade and mulching plug it doesnt do as nice a job as the LawnBoy mulching. So I have more or less retired it for the past couple seasons. This one was not used commercially, but only residential use. The other one I have was used extensively for commercial use and shows it. It still starts and runs though and it has one purpose in life, to be a stand by parts mower for this nicer one. As stated this is very heavy too, my guess around 125 pounds.

One correction, wheels are 8" front and 9" rear.

what a tank! i wouldnt want to use it either! that model is pretty rare. supposed to bag wet grass well.

Hi,
I have a commercial Snapper mower with a Wisconsin Robin engine. I could use a carb float. Does anyone have a suggestion on a parts source. This appears to be moderatly old. The model number, WI-185V (serial 800427) doesn't follow the numbering style that I usually see. This motor appears to have been disrtibuted by Teledyne.
The letter I and number 1 in the model number may be 1s or Is, I'm not sure. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I have a Snapper mower with a Wisconsin Robin engine, EH18V. The lawnmower sounds similar to ones mentioned previously. The lawnmower has a 26 inch cutting deck. It is six speed with High wheels and shift on the go.

My question is does anyone know what is going on when the rear wheels lock up when I try to turn? It will go fine but when I try to change directions, or it is in nuetral it locks up...or is starting to sporadically do it.

Thanks

I rescently purchased a used 5Hp commercial lawn mower w a Wisconsin Robin (WI-I85V)Does the 85 indicate the year?

I was mowing a client's lawn and needed to change the rear bag every 7-10 minutes 2x. After that ,the bag no longer collected grass. Instead the mower mulched the grass to the point you could not detect any clippings in the yard. (?)-Does the rpm of the mower's engine dictate whether the bag collects grass or was the chute clogged? (?)The speed control lever which operates the speed at which the mower's self-popel, moves if you set it at the lowest speed; It will eventually move to the highest. Is it supposed operate in this fashion? What is the purpose of this feature? There is a 2" long,1/4 diameter piece of tubing ,protruding form the side. What is it's purpose? What did this mower retail for as a new product? What are the mowers' fetures and how can I obtain a owners manual? One of my first jobs in H.S. was working as a clerk for a True Value store. We used to stock this mower and used to sell quite a few. We never heard any negative feedback from customers. Is this unit all my ex-employers used to claim it was; I paind $150 for it. Sofar ,it has been a productive unit.

That is an older flathead Robin engine. The "85" is just part of the model #, not the year. That may be about right, though. You can look on the deck behind the engine and find a silver tag with the model and serial number of the Snapper deck (as opposed to just the engine) and then look that up the Snapper site to find exactly what you have. You will also find the owner and parts manuals there. Go to www.snapper.com and click "literature." If you have the bag on and the chute is not plugged, the mower should always bag the grass. Your chute just got plugged. This can happen, especially with wet grass. If bagging is your - ahem - bag, then you might want to see what kind of blade you have under there and get the one with the "winglets" that bolt on to provide extra lift. That seems to prevent a lot of clogs by increasing the force through the chute. As for the drive speed lever: no, it should stay in the speed you select. The little bumps on the lever's panel are there to hold in gear, but there should be a spring behing that panel to hold it - maybe that's missing? Or else the adjustment slider down near the driven pulley's bracket is loose, allowing the driven pully to wander on the drive wheel (turntable). The tubing protruding from the side - do you mean from the side of the engine? Maybe that's the oil dipstick tube. I hope you actually have a dipstick in it! Otherwise, I'm having trouble thinking of what it would be. These are good machines that are very serviceable and still are produced new today with few changes (the engines have changed, of course). Especially if you are bagging, there is no reason it won't be productive for you.

bought a used snapper hi vac P216019KWA and there is no manuakl. can't find any at snapper.com so does anyone know where i might find this on the internet?
appreciate the help.

jpear, I think your model is actually "P216019KVW." That's the residential with the Kawasaki FJ180V. It's a hell of an engine, too - lots of power, and a commercial design. Snapper has the manual for it, and I've linked it below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Snapper P216019KVW Owner's Manual

What is correct way to drain fuel? Its been stored since last Feb. Won't oil drain out as well if I tip Snapper on its side?
Thanks for feedback!