Harbor Freight V-Twin

[dbuck]

Mr. Sam Mac, I am not a big fan of the Clone engines, for the reason you stated. Putting USA workers out of a job. But how about some of the B&S engines being made in China. I have worked on a few of those B&S China engines and they are no where near the quailty of the USA B&S manufactered engines.

[Sam Mac]

Originally Posted by dbuck

Mr. Sam Mac, I am not a big fan of the Clone engines, for the reason you stated. Putting USA workers out of a job. But how about some of the B&S engines being made in China. I have worked on a few of those B&S China engines and they are no where near the quailty of the USA B&S manufactered engines.

Only B&S engine I like are the Vanguard V-twins and they are made in Japan. Just my 2 cents but I think they are outstanding.

[yeeter]

Thanks for the post Sam.

I think its impossible to get into this discussion without becoming political. And I for one appreciate the dialog (which has been very respectful so far in this thread so I hope it can continue).

Here is my take (philosophy). If I have an IH built tractor then I am not going to put a overseas motor in it. In fact, I have one I am looking at rebuilding instead of repowering, simply to keep it 'original'. This is more of a 'collector' mentality I know. But also what I like about these tractors (after all, the red ones are more desirable than the yellow ones - at least to some)

But if I have something that I just want to 'use', it becomes a practical consideration. I would repower with one of these.

As for domestic vs foreign manufacturing, its hard to tell anymore. I remember some time ago a municipality took political heat for buying a fleet of Kubota tractors. So they cancelled the order and went with John Deere instead. Then later they found out more parts on the Kubota were made in
the USA than were on the John Deere! Having said that I respect anyone that chooses to make purchasing decisions based on protecting the livelihood of the US economy/worker.

(feel free to delete/edit if too far off topic)

[ihcfanatic]

They are pretty decent engines. We use them to repower our dewatering pumps. Have not had a minutes trouble out of one. We set them up to run up to 12 hours at a time.

[Leadslingingdaddy]

This is also being discussed on the WFM site....Waiting for someone to take the plunge for a repower.

[dbuck]

I just noticed that HF has the 22HP, 670CC, v-twin Hort'z on sale @ 699.99$, reg. price 999.99$. Might be a good deal for someone who wants repower a CC/CCC or some other brand of tractor or even a LT.

[CubCadet129]

I don't know if I like Chondas or not as I never owned one but many people like them and I hear the parts can be replaced with similar sized Honda parts. Also I've cleanned a Chondas carb and a comparable Honda carb on comparable size engines on generators and they looked almost exactly the same inside. The things I saw that were cheapened on the clone were the key switch, some plastic parts like screws, and some rubber parts like hoses. Lastly, some of the 212 cc 6.5 hp clone parts and parts for a few other clones I think are available on some kart engine sites.

[garrynok]

I saw the 22hp 670 Predator listed in Harbor Freights flyer for $699. Did a little digging on the web and found a Deere 318 and 400 and I believe a Simplicity someone had done the conversion on. Guess time will tell but it sounds like a cheap repower option.

[Roy Najecki]

I wonder how practical it would be to repower with this HF V-Twin? Their specs say it has a 1" crankshaft, but the Cub Cadet (or at least my 782) has a 1 1/8" diameter shaft for the front PTO. McMaster-Carr has a $16 1" ID - 1 1/8" OD bronze sleeve (6381K18) that would make this work. The shaft is the correct 2 3/4" length. And the flywheel end probably would need some sort of adapter to fit the CC drive shaft. I am tempted to try this out to repower my 782 for half the cost of a rebuild but I am not a machinist nor do I want to be a guinea pig and be the first to find out what it takes to make this HF V-Twin work on a Cub Cadet.

[Sam Mac]

I understand that the flywheel end is the same as a Honda and that Small Engine Warehouse has or had adapters that fit the Honda. Just what I've heard don't know for sure.