Who Makes Craftsman Lawn Mower Engines And Where Are They Built?

If you are in the market to purchase home improvement tools, you know, things ranging from power tools, hand tools, and storage systems to outdoor home products like lawn mowers and leaf blowers, one of the brands you may have at the top of your list is Craftsman. In business since 1927 and selling lawn mowers since 1934, Craftsman is one of the oldest and highest-rated lawn mower brands available. Until 2017, Craftsman was owned by retail giant Sears. In 2017, Sears sold Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker, which has been operating the brand since then.

Under the ownership of Stanley Black & Decker, at least some of the Craftsman and Cub Cadet-branded lawn mowers are manufactured at a facility in Tennessee. The company does, however, indicate that "global materials" are used in this process, hinting at the possibility of Craftsman lawn mowers using parts from various overseas vendors, quite similar to how only some of Craftsman's tools are still made in the U.S.

Today Craftsman sells a wide variety of lawn mower models, and aside from a few battery-powered models, the majority of Craftsman's lawn mower models use gasoline engines. These gasoline-powered models come in various engine capacities and power output options, but have you ever wondered who makes these engines for Craftsman, and where they source them? As it turns out, there is no single vendor that Craftsman relies on for lawn mower engines. In fact, depending on the model you end up buying, these engines could be made by companies ranging from Briggs & Stratton and Kohler to Kawasaki.

As of 2025, Craftsman lists a total of 21 gasoline-powered models on its website. We went through this list and found that Craftsman sources its lawn mower engines from three manufacturers: Briggs & Stratton, Kohler, and Kawasaki. Of these, the vast majority (16) are manufactured by Briggs & Stratton. Three models are powered by Kohler 7000-series engines, while a Kawasaki-sourced engine is used on only one model. In addition, the company also uses a 54cc engine whose manufacturer has not been revealed publicly.

A good number of Briggs & Stratton-sourced engines range in capacity from 125cc to 163cc, with two intermediate models of 140cc and 150cc each. Of these, the most commonly used engine is the 163cc model, which is most likely the EXi 725 Series from Briggs & Stratton. This specific model is used on six different Craftsman lawn mowers. The 140cc engine is used on two models, while the 125cc and 150cc engines are used on one model each. The other Briggs & Stratton engines used by Craftsman are higher-capacity models for which Craftsman does not officially list the cubic capacity but only mentions their power output in hp. These models include 10.5 and 11.5 hp models, an 18.5 hp model, and a 17.5 hp model.

Moving on to the three Kohler-powered models, all use the same Kohler 7000 series engines: two rated at 22 hp and one rated for 20 hp. The lone Kawasaki-sourced unit is used on the 54-inch Craftsman riding lawn mower, which outputs 24 hp. In addition to all these, there is the 42-Inch Gas Zero-Turn Riding Lawn Mower, which uses an unspecified 547cc engine.