Two Birds with one Welder

I am looking at selling a couple of welders I have and buying a diesel engine welder for a new unit. The why is that I use these welders in two main ways. I weld, and I use them as home generators in case of emergencies.

My question for you is what are your opinions of the kubota, mitsubishi, and perkins engines found in the Lincoln Vantage or Frontier and the Miller Big Blue? I have experience with an earlier Perkins in an SAE Lincoln. I liked it. But that motor is from 2010 and not the EPA tier 4 that is sold now.

The low rpm and long run time are what I am searching for. I'll test the weld quality in time before buying. Any experiences or comments are appreciated. Any mechanical problems noticed by use in the field? Thanks.

I have a Lincoln welder with a gas Onan on the service truck, and a Miller welder with an air cooled Deutz diesel on a trailer. Mechanically both are very good units. Both are rated 15kw on the gen but the Miller has an air compressor onboard as well. The Lincoln ran as backup generator for my son's place for 12 days straight without problems. Except you do need to supply a lot of gas for it. The Miller starts every time, and is more fuel efficient. But is currently down due to some failed electronic part in the welding control circuit that has been on back order for three months. My local weld supply place deals in both, and both have parts issues right now. For what its worth I cannot tell the difference in weld performance between the two. But we are just doing low-tech farm repairs. The Lincoln gets more hours on it simply because it is first out on the truck. All three engines you mention are good in my opinion. But if I was buying today, I'd be looking for a low hour older diesel unit without emissions stuff, and a weld/gen end without electronic controls.

I've got a Miller trailblazer or something like that with the Kubota diesel in it. I've had that since 1999. I don't use it a lot but sure is nice when I need one. I have used it for a few days as a generator with fine results. I think it is something like 8000watt continuous. Don't remember would have to look at the books for it. I do know I have by starting the big loads first let run till stopped then ad the next till the whole house is up I can run the whole house then on it with no problems. We do limit lights so the entire house is not lit up at once.

An update to my posting from a few days ago: I have to take into account two things after asking around and digging on the subject. One, the Perkins motor is respected, but it seems the Kubota diesel engine is considered the better of the two. Secondly, if you going to power the house via a welder/generator and an RV style hookup, you had better take notice of the generator in the welder's generator. The Miller Trailblazer 325 and the Lincoln MPX 330 are clearly marked as "clean" generators. I verified with Lincoln and Miller that both are suitable for whole house situations whereas the Ranger 250/305G are good for power as long as you aren't tying them to sensitive electronics. Can they run it? Yes, but the 250 or 305 are more prone to surging than the TB or MPX. Regardless, I better have some decent/good surge protectors in front of my TV, computer, appliances, HVAC--especially if purchased in the last 5 years. If set up is older or minus recent electronics, then welder/generator should be fine regardless of welder at work.

Should I go with a new diesel engine machine, I guess it will be the Lincoln Frontier because the machine is built to weld and power an RV. Again, Lincoln is emphatic about that. The Miller Big Blue/Pipe Pro line does not say anything about auxiliary power quality; Miller puts that front and center with the TB. As for the Frontier, I'll probably wait a year or so for the bugs to be worked out and bet that a major hurricane or crippling snowstorm doesn't disable my part of Texas in that time period. I'll probably go with it even with the Perkins, but I'll check around again before I cut such a check.

In the meantime, I'll stick with what I have and if Mother Nature deals a tough hand, I can always change oil and rest the engines of the welders I have periodically should they need to run for 10 days straight or more.

Thanks for your help.

Just things I have noticed. Most people buying diesels are wasting huge amounts of money. Diesels weight more,cost more, and do not last longer than gas units. I have contractors than trade every 5 years,they run gas. I have contractors that run units 10 hours a day 6 days a week and run them till they drop,they run diesels.