Brief overview of Wisconsin earlier engines. 

Gordon Lightfoot --Sundown ?

I would enjoy hearing all about Kohler

Very nice video. But, you never mentioned Waukesha Engine. I retired from Waukesha several years ago. They also started as a small shop in Waukesha in the early 1900's. Their engines powered so many vehicles, from race cars, military, firetrucks, and also inboard boats. Eventually all those smaller engines were dropped over the years. The smallest one I recall working on was around 900 cubic inches. They also made very large stationary engines for use in the oil field and to run generators for standby power and continuous power. In fact some of our engines for backup power were in the basement of the Trade Towers on 9/11. Those diesels kicked on and provided power till the towers collapsed. One was retrieved and sent back to Waukesha for display. Before I retired GE took over the company. Their goal was to close our doors and build a new plant in Canada which they did. Many good jobs were gone. GE sold Waukesha to Innio which is a German based company. The plant is still there in Waukesha on St Paul Ave but only the office is occupied so they can advertised headed in Waukesha, Wisconsin. So, Google Waukesha Engine sometime. But thanks for the article.

I’ve seen an old T-head Wisconsin sitting outside of an old cider mill. It used to run the machinery. Next to it is an overhead valve engine of approximately the same vintage. Cool old engines.

Stutz all the way. As a kid I had a battery powered ride-on Stutz Bearcat. I wore that poor thing out driving it everywhere I could. Stutz's main competitor in those days was Mercer, a true rivalry. "You must be nuts to drive a Stutz" would be replied to with "Nothing could be worser than to drive a Mercer". I digress.....thanks for the education and the outtakes were hilarious! ~ Chuck

If my grandpa was still around he could tell you a lot about these engines. He designed all of them.

I grew up in a farming community. Many pull-behind hay balers and grain combines had Wisconsin V4 air cooled power plants. In the fifties, many commercial lawn mowers for cemeteries, etc., had big Wisconsin single cylinder engines. Nobody else made similar large one cylinder engines at the time. An interesting application of the V4 was an air compressor company that used two cylinders for power and two cylinders for air compression.

My father worked on the railroad, A LOT of the engines powering equipment were an air-cooled Wisconsin V-4. He even had one on his 2 1/2 ton company truck that powered the welder/compressor/generator. Probably one of the first engines I ever worked on (he used to take me to work with him when I was young). Those engines could take a beating.

The first engine I ever crank started was a 1940s VF4. As a kid, I named it "grey motor," a moniker it carried for the next 40 years I owned it. I tuned it to where one pull always started it. I remember the decal on the front. It showed a team of Clydesdales and said, "Wiconsin engines, more horsepower hours." I never forgot that. There's a big difference between HP and HP hours of durability! The heavier the engine, the better! It was from a garbage truck my father scrapped out in the 60's it ran the hydraulics. We ran it sitting on its frame on the floor twice a year to keep it freed up. Eventually, we put it on a welder where I proceded to put dual straight pipes on it! They sound cool because they have an uneven firing order. I remember it had a Thomas Alva Edison magneto that generated ALOT of voltage! I learned this once as a kid when it was running on the floor and I walked past it brushing one of the exposed leads on the spark wire, I punched the engine and was looking at my bicep, Dad said "youre looking for the bruise where the sledgehammer hit you aren't you?" He was right! I went on to own well over 100 engines up to V12s but I can tell you no air cooled engine came anywhere close to a Wisconsin for durability or serviceability. The only issue was their cost and weight. An AHH 9 hp (underrated) single cylinder engine was about 200lb! A big, slow turner with alot of torque. You can see one on the "I love Lucy" show on the reel type lawnmower she ends up driving down the highway! Oil leaks were the death of many V4s on bailers. They would cause dust to clog the fins. They had a big round cover on each bank on the back of the engine that said "clean out daily" most people didn't. One issue was that if they sat for a long time, the lifters would stick, and some doby would jump on the crank to free it and break the camshaft. I saw one guy start to do this at an auction. I ran up, yelling, "No! No! You'll break the cam!" But he wasn't going to listen to a kid. That ended with a "stomp, KLUNK!" Cam in the oil pan! Got that one cheap!

When I was a kid growing up on the family dairy farm in PA, back in the '60s, we had an old Roanoke Junior hay baler that used a two cylinder air-cooled Wisconsin engine. Hand-cranked to start, and with magneto ignition, it had seen a *lot* of heavy service. One day, while we were making hay, there was a loud "BANG' from the baler. That Wisconsin had thrown a piston. There was a huge hole in the side of the block, the remains of the connecting rod was sticking out, there was heat and smoke and oil everywhere - and that dang engine WAS STILL RUNNING! My brother had to get close enough to it to short out the magneto to shut it down. We ended up buying a new block, piston, rings, connecting rod, and whatever else we needed, and we stripped down the engine and rebuilt it. It ran nicely afterwards, until we had to retire the whole baler because the twine knotters had gotten too clapped out to repair any longer.

Lots of the smaller construction equipment used Wisconsin engines. They were tough, reliable, and seemed to run forever.

Yeah... Do the whole story on the kohler- please.

My teenage years revolve around listening to a Wisconsin V4 running all day on a Balthus Tobacco Priming machine. In Southern Ontario.

Back on the farm in upstate NY,we had a self propelled New Holland hay baler with twin Wisconsin 2 cylinder engines, one to drive, one to bale.It was a beast.

great info! Never got to work on one in all the years ive wrenched on small engines. Seemed like very high quality equipment

Cool episode. I vote for the whole Kohler story.

Our neighbor had a New Holland baler with a V4 on it,bought in the 50's and still used in the '70's and beyond.And did it have an incredible exhaust note when it was loaded up.

My hometown of Sheboygan Falls is about 50 miles north of Milwaukee. It was home to The Falls Motor Corp. which built automobile engines from 1916 to about 1923. They built an overhead valve 6 cylinder that went into many independent makes, such as Elgin, Dort, Velie etc. My friend has a 1916 Elgin with a Falls engine and my Grandfather worked a Falls Motors in the the early '20s . I still have his employee badge.

Wow, I did not know that Wisconsin Engines were in the famous Stutz Bearcat! That was a surprise for me!! Thanks Jay for highlighting Wisconsin Engines !! The antique air cooled 10hp beasts we used on the farm were originally used to pump water to cool cans of milk, and later for irrigation pump motors. 💦 Kohler I think started out with galvanized wash tubs, but yes, I'd love to hear their whole story!! 🧀😊🐄

We had an old 50's era Wisconsin engine on a field sprayer. That engine was a beast. Year after year it just kept working. It had the old style starting pulley where you had to wrap a rope around it. That wasn't the safest thing in the world as it would backfire on occasion. I wish I still had that engine but it was sold at a farm auction after dad died. Dad also talked about the Wisconsin V-4 engine his dad had on a combine. It was a good engine he said, but if it died while hot he just crawled under the combine and took a nap until it cooled down, because it would NOT start while warm.

Wisconsin ruled for many years.

Everything about Kohler would be great!

The Centerpiece of our Family Collection is a 1918 FWD Model B 3-5 Ton Truck, with the Wisconsin Model A T-Head 4. It's been in the family since about 1922, was used to build the first paved roads in Southern NH, then was used to plow them until about 1950. In 1961, My Dad pulled it out of retirement (Parked in the woods), and we used it to plow our private road (About 5 miles) until 1964. With its Full Time 4 wheel drive, Limited Slip Axle and Locking Center Differentials, and Wisconsin Torque, it's hard to beat for moving snow. It's been in working retirement since, restored to its original Military Configuration. (MVPA Hall of Fame) The engine has been incredibly reliable - it's probably got a Million Slow Miles on it, over a century old, and all it has required is normal maintenance- (Mainly pouring and scraping a connection rod bearing). It's easy to work on, although hand cranking 400 cubic inches on a -30 degree day is a chore. The best compliment that I can make was by a group of fellow Truck Collectors, who were showing a beautifully restored 1916 American LaFrance Fire Truck - I noted that I wished that our truck looked as good as theirs. They replied with "We wish ours fan as good as yours." As for the Stutz Bearcat, they're nice and all, but when you've broken down, or put it into the ditch, we'll come along and pull you out and haul you home.

My father had a tiller with a water cooled Wisconsin. From the late 50s.

The air-cooleds are great old engines. An unusual feature is that nearly every part has it's part number cast right on it. Often find a 70 year old Wisconsin still working. There are a lot of the same parts used on various models. Funny model designations, VH4D, THD, TJD, AGND, AENLD. Many more. Haven't deciphered those names, except that the D suffix means it has hard Stellite valves.

All of Kohler . The full story would give better understanding on how the company changed over the years regarding products available .

The all of it for kolher.

Used to do a lot of work on Wisconsin engines. I gotta tell you, they weren't a bad industrial engine, but if they were a competitive race engine, it doesn't say a lot about the competition!

If my Dad was still around, he could tell you some stuff about them. He used to sell a lot of parts for small tractors like Massey T20s. Ford 2N, 8N and 9Ns. He also sold Wisconsin parts and I think they were for mainly stationary motors,

Jay, since you brought up Wisconsin engines at some time you should consider doing a show on the Kissel Motor Car Company, from Hartford,WI. The Wisconsin Automotive Museum is in one of their repurposed bulidings. It has a nice selection of pre war cars. One of my friend's lives in one of the old Kissel Mini- Mansion across the street.

Good job, so happy to see people bringing out wisconsin history, I happen to know a little bit about them lol! Unfortunately they are not in business anymore, but there are companies selling the parts still

Yup. Wis-can-son. It would be cool to hear the Kohler story. An more about Wis-can-son engines.

I grew up repairing Wisconsin and kohler small engines ! Never cared too much for briggs tho ! Have seen some stutz's powered by Wisconsin engines ! i also like the lycoming family of engines !

Great video! Like to hear all about Kohler.

A lot of experts believed a big 4 cylinder was the ultimate performance motor, around WW1. 6 cylinders had been tried but were disappointing in terms of power usually making less power than a 4 cylinder the same size. The first V8s were out but they had a 4 cylinder type crankshaft which meant they had no advantage over a good 4 in smoothness. The secret of Stutz performance was good breathing through 4 valves per cylinder. This meant they had to use a T head design with 2 valves on each side. This was a costly way to make a motor, but was used by such luxury makes as Pierce Arrow as well as Stutz. Later developments like the Ricardo head gave the L head a new lease of life but for a time, the Stutz T head four was the performance king.

I never knew about Wisconsin engines untill now Jay, so thank you Last weekend I had to fly to California for a quick visit, and visited the Nethercutt museum - Wow!!! All these beautifull cars in perfect condition. I noticed many American made vehicles were built right hand drive untill around 1920. Why were they built RHD ? I couldn’t obtain answer at the museum last Saturday sadly

Went to the Kohler Museum in Kohler Wisconsin while visiting friends at Christmas. Learned a whole lot about toilets, not kidding. Yes I would enjoy an episode about everything Kohler!

Had a V4 Wisconsin converted into an air compressor, i have never seen another

Good machine very good beautiful and useful

Heck I'm a engine guy. I'd like agricultural engines hit and miss, oil field engines, A series on the development of the diesel engine would be cool. Maybe more technical details if possible. Hall Scott engines in detail as well, and alternative engine designs also, free piston , liquid piston (inverted Wankel basically) it would all make great videos , then possibly go into non production engines. Things people built at home from scratch, even the new stuff, with scotch yoke reciprocating assembly, thanks for all the effort you put into the videos! 👍✌️

My grandfather it was one of the first people on the South Shore of Massachusetts will the new Holland hay baler with one of them four cylinder Wisconsin's and it had a packer on top and when the bail spit out it would come up out of the hole and when you're a little kid it used to scare the hell out of you and I recently found out it still exists

When i was a kid , we had 2 haybailers an IH, and the other a Case- the first was a 2 cyl, and the case a V4. All ways dreamed of a go kart with either-

Yes I was born in 1980 I fell in love with the motors around 89, at that time they where owned by teledyne they sold ownership to nesco in 92 I remember the change that was when I started visiting the factory, and then in early 2001 v&l who made the sheet metal for the motors bought wis-con out and changed it back to wisconsin motor till 2018, sad time for me I would go see them every 2 years luckily they gave me that v4 around 2010 and I'm still going strong on them, I still can't believe I'm talking to the grandson lol! That's why I gave you my email would love to swap some info back and forth to add to my collection, thanks so much for your time!

We had a New Holland bailer that had V-4 Wisconsin Robin, at some point I acquired a compressor that was a Wisconsin V-4 with one bank driving and the other compressing… not the smoothest running unit but it worked well. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your content.

We had Wisconsin V4's when I worked at a marina. We never had a boat drift away.

I like the idea of the Kohler story. I don't know how they went from making bathrooms to making all kinds of other things.

This should be an interesting series.

Kohler... when I redid my bathroom (circa 1940) everything was Kohler. Tub, toilet, sink, faucets...

The first Wisconsin I think of is the V4 powering a concrete mixer we used at work in the mid 1970’s. I think most working men today never think about Wisconsin car engines.

Run a Wisconsin v4 40hp on a regular. Thing will run forever!!!

WYR: All of them. If you do a video on Huber steam traction engines and steam shovels from the old century, talk to Mark Huber in Colorado. He works at the Colorado Railroad Museum and knows a lot about his family's history with those machines. You probably know him on RU-vid as Hyce.

Need more Wisconsin Engine videos!!! TRA-10D!

During WW 2 cranberry growers in Grayland, Wa could not get hand pickers to harvest their crop. Herman Joutsen took his wife's Electrolux out on the bog and vacuumed the berries off the vines. Growers began using much larger variations powered by sawdust blowers driven by Wisconsin engines, 2 cyl, 12 hp and V4 20 and 32 hp. When they shut down to empty, with no cooling air the magnetos heat soaked and would not provide spark until they cooled down. Some growers used a Rockford clutch and never shut the engine off all day. The local mechanic, Jalmer Wirtanen, also known as the Flying Finn, converted our 32 hp to battery ignition, srarted every time.

I had a Lincoln welder with a 2 cylinder in line air-cooled Wisconsin My dad had hay balers with v465 overhead valve Wisconsin air cooled they were good engines as long as you kept the fins blew out

Id appreciate a several hours long video on Kohler for listening to on night shift! 😁

Sig Haugdal set a world land speed record in the 1920's in a Wisconsin powered car but the AAA fought it's recognition because it was done with IMCA officials and not AAA. There was a photo of this car in the video. As to the "T" head engine it may actually have been more powerful than the "L" head but was was larger and likely heaver and more costly so it fell from favor as things went on.

I worked on "WISCO)NSIN ENGINES" for years, infact I have a 1967 bolens tractor with a "TR10D engine on it( original engine rebuilt in 1990)., I also have a toro whirlwind mower with a "AKN WISCONSIN ENGINE " on it( original engine rebuilt in 1998) I know that the company has changed hands many times and now it is a memory. I was not aware that parts are still available for those engines. it would be nice if you could share that information!!!!!!!!!. with respect to the "KOHLER" company, it would be nice to cover all aspects of what kohler made. I really liked the "K/M series cast iron engines" that kohler made and are now discontinued in terms of production, parts are also becoming hard to get. I did get a large stock of new "BRIGGS & STRATTON" parts when those parts still had active part numbers( briggs is now in the hands of a holding company- fred stratton retired and gave the company to his daughter, and she ran the company in the dirt. the company was auctioned off)

The Wisconsin-Subaru connection was Fuji heavy industries was providing engines to Wisconsin and they were sold as Wisconsin Robyn. I’m thinking the Teledyne name was added when they bought or merged with Continental.

I've had and have many single cyl. Wisconsin engines, you can't wear them out!

Hi Jay! An interesting fact about the 1915 Stutz racers. Stutz wanted to win the Indy 500 BAD, since they were based there. For the 1915 season they built a team of new racers to try and do just that. Yes, these cars had engines built by Wisconsin, but they were not the normal T head types they had been making for Stutz. This engine was SPECIAL. They sort of copied the design of the Mercedes racing engine (Oddly for Stutz, Ralph DePalma won the 1915 Indy 500 in an actual Mercedes!) A four cylinder with welded up water jackets and an overhead cam. This was a really advanced racing engine for the time, right before Harry Miller and the Chevrolet brothers advanced the art of the American Racing engine to untold heights. Gil Anderson managed a top ten finish at Indianapolis, and won quite a few races that year including at Sheepshead Bay. Most of these cars still exist and are a fascinating piece of US racing history. A strange fact is, that Stutz insisted of using their transaxle on these cars, which was fine for the production cars, but WAY too heavy for a racing car. Or they would probably won many more races than they did. Don't have any remembered encounters with the small Wisconsin engines, but MAN that Sig Haugdahl's Wisconsin Special speed record car was sure SWEET!

A video history of Kohler engines would be very informative.

Kohler's complete story 👍😉

Cool ..... very ....cool

Thanks for this episode, maybe Hercules and Briggs & Stratton down the line next, don't remember reading if Briggs & Stratton ever made a car at one time like Maytag did "APPLIANCE ". Don't feel bad on the Wisconsin pronunciation, didn't know it was 2 different ways of pronouncing the name just like Arkansas , and Louisiana are pronounced 2 different ways. Even here in Texas we pronounce the word pecan different than the folks in Georgia pronounce pecan.

Let's hear all about Kohler

Yes please, all of Kohler!😃

It’s pronounced wis- con-sun from what I believe. Thanks for your vids mate.

on the farm we have wisconsin engines. many were good enough to be considered to be heroic. that being said, that v4 updraft carb engine was found on many balers including our new holland 77. cold start, just like magic. hot start, forget it. how many men remember a thunder storm on the horizon, 200 bales of valuable hay in windrows and a hot v4 to start. we had a special glove we all shared, taking turns cranking. its not that it wouldn't start, but rather that it would almost start, run a few pops and not catch. 20 minutes was about the norm. the only thing hotter than the engine or the summer sun was the french used during this often repeated procedure. as for kohler, please give us the whole nut.

Wow, I was thinking Jimi Hendrix...........something............

I would like to see all of Kohler’s products, Jay.

Its not WESconsin, its WISconsin, wiss rhymes with miss or piss. We don't say skansin, when we say it fast it often sounds like 'skahhnsin. LOL. Milwocky, Wiskahnsin.

Engines please. On our farm we had a case pull type combine with a v4 a John Deare swather with v4 and a grain auger with 1 banger.

Wisconsin engine on a minibike 😃👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸

All of it for Kolher

All of Kohler would be interesting

I believe you're wrong about Subaru owning Wisconsin engines. I know back in the late seventies an 80s they had a marketing agreement with Robin engines to bring them into the country. That is where the Wisconsin robins came from after the marketing agreement was finished with Wisconsin they became the Subaru Robin. And I believe now they're just marketed under Subaru.

Im from wisconsin. Im not trying to be a nitpick but its not Wes-Kohn-sin. Its Wis-con-sin. I can always tell people who arent from here just by how they say it. Other than that good video. I think our state is often forgot about compared to michigan and indiana.

All of it!

Subaru is one of the best cars on the road dude!!

And Kohler still makes just about everything

I did not know that Wisconsin engines were so prolific in the earlier days. I've seen the smaller, air cooled 1 cyl and V4 engines, but certainly none of the automotive engines. I'd like to see a video about Kohler. .And why haven't you pinned the Name That Tune winner yet?

Fiat (fix it again tony) Ford, fix or repair daily or found on road dead and today don't ask about Pontiac (not correct today to mention) !

all of Kohler history! You'll geek out on it, will be great! T-Head may be old, be was strong and in a Stutz they flew! Don't over heat a Subaru and life is good...we've owned a few, own one now, kid killed one, by overheating it.... just saying.

Knocked out my front teeth starting a v-4with hand crank.

All for Kohler!

All of it from Kohler.

KOHLER engines, their history including cars powered by the Kohler engines !

So sense Continental and Wisconsin were the same company was Wisconsin the air-cooled engines and Continental the liquid cooled engines so they had two different lines

Your Subaru observation is “dead” on. My triple S (Subaru Sub - Standard) made it to 76,000 miles before it blew the engine. Total loss since repair/replacement exceed the value of the car. At least I could make to a dictionary and learn how to spell Honda and Toyota.

Oops, you just offended the cheese heads.🤣

all of kolher

Need more cheese 🧀

WISS..consin, not WESS-consin.

I'll take a wis caan sen engine over a stutz anytime

Whoops sorry