Tiller engine

wellmax99

Member
A few years ago I gave my son an old tiller to work up his small garden spot, the Briggs motor finally played out.

so he bought a new Harbor Freight, Predator 6.5 HP (212cc) OHV Horizontal Shaft Gas Engine EPA.

we installed the new engine this weekend, a couple of pulls and it ran like a song.

let it run a while then he took the tiller to the garden for a trial run, it pulled the old tiller fine.

I wanted him to get a replacement Briggs and Stratton engine, but it cost about twice as much as the Predator engine.

later we were at a hardware store, that also rents tools. They had a couple of tillers in their rental line, with Honda engines.

I do not know how china got by with it, but the china made Predator engine looks almost exactly like the Honda engine. I am sure the Predator may not be quality of the Honda engine, but it is almost and exact copy.

later in the day he started the engine up again and it ran fine, for the price he is satisfied. For around $20 he got an extra 2 year extended warranty. (they said any problems, just bring it back and we will give you another one).

He was a happy camper, just waiting for spring plowing.
 
The only real trouble I have heard about is spark plugs going bad with just a few hours on them. Just have one on hand.
 
I have an old Troybilt tiller we bought in about 1980 or so. Used it for years with the B&S 8 hp engine. Last year it was running along just fine and something broke inside, making a big dent and crack in the engine housing. Not wanting to spend $300 on another Brigs I bought one of the 6.5 hp Harbor Freight engines on sale for $99. Direct bolt on, had it running in about an hour after starting on it. I'm impressed and happy about it. Even if it only lasts a third as long it's a good deal.
 
Depending on the make and model of the Tiller, I've ran across gear reduction engines and you just could not get replacement engines with that reduction drive. "Been there done that". Also fiddled with some very sensitive carburetors, just beyond my patience threshold. Now I only use 3pt. tillers. bjr
 

The Chinese are VERY good at copying stuff, rarely does it work as well as the original.

Two examples.

Worked for an air compressor manufacturer and we found a Chinese replica of one of our air compressors and acquired one for a closer look and some testing. They copied everything down to a cast boss on the crankcase that we hadn't used in many years but never had a reason to change the casting patterns to remove it. Oil carryover was about 5x higher than what our spec allowed and the blowby was so bad that the volumetric efficiency was about half of what ours was.

We got our hands on some fuel filters that were copies of ours down to the lettering and date codes on our filters. Tested a handful of them and fuel pump and injector life running in "dirty" fuel was measured in hours, not thousands of hours. Might as well not used a filter.
 
I also bought a motor for my tiller from HB. I think it's called a "Predator"...supposed to be a knockoff of Honda. That motor is terrific, for $99.00 I am very pleased. It was delivered by UPS (free shipping)...from out of box to running took about 30 minutes.
LA in WI
 
Harbor freight Predator engines in 212c decent for the price- sometimes dies early and the replacement policy instead of repair means quick exchange to get back in service. Change oil after breakin at 10 hours and again at 50 helps. The Honda engines with Honda name that look close are the 'parents' of the Predator from mainland china and made sometimes in Taiwan or Korea, Thailand or couple other places. Honda a few years back had licensed production in couple mainland Chinese factories with Japanese quality control to make some good engines and have access to Chinese market, then change in laws and some sneaky work on part of Chinese resulted in Honda pulling out- but lots of their tooling stayed in China to make 'unlicensed' copy of the basic Honda utility engines- good design but now the quality control is lacking from Honda and some of the Honda parts that were brought in for the assembly are now cast or machined in China with sometimes different metal standards. The 6.5hp replacement for 4 to 8 hp Brigges or Tecumseh engines at the often $99.00 price is reasonably decent deal, know of about 1/2 dozen user that are happy with them, one replacement need and done quick. Mightt try one for a old troybuil log splitter unit that blew engine last month- Honda replacement is $400.00 plus and still isn't quite right bolt pattern crankshaft, common enough situation since the old Troybuilts tended to use a 'Generator' engine with longer shaft with taper and side of case mounting bolts. Mounting kits and adapter instructions are around for that situation and the Honda replacement engine has a note about what to do to make fit on Troybuilts. We'll see come spring maybe. RN
 
I put one on a Troybilt Horse a couple years ago. Started it and ran for 15 minutes then drained the oil. Later I ran it more most of a day and drained the oil again. Now I change it every season like I do most of my small engines. Just seemed like cheap insurance if the Chinese got a little sloppy and the engine put a lot of metal in the oil while it broke in. The only issue I have is I wish they sold a bigger (or a real) aircleaner instead of the cheap sponge that belongs on a 3 hp lawn mower.

The cheap 6.5 hp engine really woke up the Troybilt, the old 6 hp Tecumseh was really down on the power when I finally pulled it off.
 

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