harbor freight engins

luapp · Oct 23, 2012

has anyone ever put a harbor freight motor in a rideing mower. gota jd 110 that starts flat out terrible always has its even ben profeshinly rebuilt 8hp kohler peice of junk not a jd fan think all there stuff aint that great all they are is good at marketing my 2cts

huntingreen2day · Oct 23, 2012

I have bought several of the Harbor Freight engines at a salvage auction. I have installed them on my equipment and have no problem with them. I have had some of the engines apart and I think they are well made.

Dalet · Oct 23, 2012

(quoted from post at 21:25:59 10/23/12) has anyone ever put a harbor freight motor in a rideing mower. gota jd 110 that starts flat out terrible always has its even ben profeshinly rebuilt 8hp kohler peice of junk not a jd fan think all there stuff aint that great all they are is good at marketing my 2cts

Dude, Harbor Freight doesn't have anything worthy of what you already have. If you need a motor, google the model number, there are many places with engines. I don't look happily on the lawn and garden JD wannabes too much, but you struck a nerve. Did you buy the mower new? Did you change the oil? Have any maintenance history?

I bet you don't respond.

Bryan inIowa · Oct 23, 2012

Wasn"t very good job rebuilding then. They are bullet proof when done right .

504 · Oct 23, 2012

I have a customer who has bought two of them for riding mowers, both quit, and both took new spark plugs to fix. Just saying if it stops, start here first.

NCWayne · Oct 23, 2012

I've known a few people who replaced their blown small engines with one from HF. Every one of them was pretty much a Honda knockoff, and they all started and ran just fine. The oldest one I know of has been running for about 6 years, in almost daily use, on a ride/stand on type spreader.

wisbaker · Oct 23, 2012

The old Kohler K series engines were exceptional units, with proper maintenance capable of 3000 plus hours between rebuilds. On top of that they were easy to maintain, the only bad thing I'll say about them was parts were pricey. In their heyday they were the premium engine and the engine of choice for commercial turfgrass equipment. There reliability was what made them the engine chosen by International Harvester, John Deere, Case, Wheel Horse, Gravely, Troy Bilt (Optional engine more $) and Ryan, Toro and Jacobson on their turf equipment lines. If you're having problems with one I will guess it's not the engine. Also remember it you're talking about a Kohler K181 on a John Deere lawn & garden tractor you're looking at a unit that's probably about 40 years old. Yes a lot of them have been scrapped because it's cheaper to put a new B&S or Tecumseh engine on that rebuild a Kohler but a rebuilt Kohler (if done right) will last twice as long as a B&S or Tecumseh. When I was at the Golf Course we had two Ryan aerators, the older one with a K 181 was there when I hired in, a year later we bought a new aerator with a B&S 8HP motor. When I quit 4 years later the old unit was still running the same K181 with no major repairs, the new B&S powered unit was on it's 3 engine. The B&S engine was only good for about 500 Hours or so.

JayinNY · Oct 23, 2012

There old greyhound engines were ok, Honda clone engined,,There new predator engine is a pos, air filter housing fell off mine, i used construction adhesive to glue it back on! I only had it for 2 months, will see how long it lasts. They are cheap, but no matter what u buy there all junk nowadays.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 23, 2012

have 4 of them and they are Bullet prof. start on the second pull every time. did have one that would not idle took it back and they gave me a new one NO Questions asked parts from most Honda's fit

BCnT · Oct 23, 2012

i got over 50 of the HF engines out in happy customers equipment...not so much as a hiccup yet.

Dalet · Oct 23, 2012

(quoted from post at 23:38:21 10/23/12) i got over 50 of the HF engines out in happy customers equipment...not so much as a hiccup yet.

I wouldn't do mantenance on them. Sort of a self fullfilling prophecy.

Pete76NY · Oct 24, 2012

I don't have a HF engine...I do occasionally buy a HF tool when it's something that I won't use enough to justify the expense of a "quality" tool, but after reading this post and all the replies, I can truthfully say that if HF offered a spell check there are a bunch of folks that would benefit from it! LOL

Traditional Farmer · Oct 24, 2012

I bought a HF Honda knockoff at a sale new in the box a couple years ago and put it on a small chipper,it starts easy and hasn't given me a second's trouble.If that Kohler was done right it'd be a great engine they were about bulletproof.

UncleTom · Oct 24, 2012

Just fix the kolher right and be done with it.

Greg1959 · Oct 24, 2012

I've got 2 HF 6.5 HP engines. 1- on a log splitter and 1- on a tiller. Leave out year round, uncovered. 4 years old and both run fine.

dhermesc · Oct 24, 2012

I would have to ask who "professionally" rebuilt the engine. I've rebuilt 4 Kohlers with the "cheap" rebuild kits and all have run great when I was done.

On the other hand I bought a Cub with an extra rebuilt K241 "professionally rebuilt engine from the best machine shop in Wichita". I ended up rebuilding it after listening to it run for a minute. Apparently the best machine shop in Wichita didn't know you should measure the crank journal or replace the piston when its worn out.

mkirsch · Oct 24, 2012

We put a Predator 6.5HP on Dad's "new" wood splitter. There was no fix to the Honda that it came with (big hole in block).

So far so good. He's split several cords of wood with it.

Can't complain when you get an engine on sale at $89.99, then throw a 20% off coupon on top of it. That made the 2-year replacement warranty basically free.

buickanddeere · Oct 24, 2012

Don't know how much you expect for a 40 to 47 year old Kohler K181 with an unknown and doubious service record?
The boys have 1965 and 1967 110's that start on the 2nd turn about every time. Placed 7th of 14 tractors being pure stock in a modified class , bestingg several 20-30HP tractors.
How many machines out there 47 years old that the dealer can have parts for the next day?

Anonymous-0 · Oct 24, 2012

The Chinese clone engines are longer front-to-back and the crankshaft is closer to the bottom of the crankcase than the Kohler. They don't fit really well in a John Deere or Cub Cadet chassis. You could make it work, though, and it would burn a lot less fuel than the Kohler but won't look right.

You could probably spend another hour or so dialing in that Kohler engine and have a lot better performance from it. That's if you have the skill and the patience.

buickanddeere · Oct 24, 2012

If the grammar and spelling is any indication of his workmanship. Odds are slim of trouble shooting and tuning the tractor.

John B. · Oct 24, 2012

You noticed that too!

Mike M · Oct 24, 2012

I just wanted to agree with all of those who say your engine is not repaired right and you will be better of getting it to run right.
Kohlers are a good engine. It also has nothing to do with JD as those models were good in any brand they were stuck into.Cub Cadet,Wheel Horse,Troybuilt to name a few.

davpal · Oct 24, 2012

For about $300 bucks you can find riding lawn tractors on Craigslist of every brand that are hydrostatic drive, have 12-16 hp modern engines and will mow all day better than a 40 year old JD 110. There are probably 50 of them listed on there every week. Leave the chinese engines at Harbor Freight and sell the JD in front of the house for $100 bucks.

luapp · Oct 24, 2012

hi sorry never ben a goog speller i live on a farm and can usaly start anything and make any thing run that the avrge joe cant it is maintained we had it about 30 years my dad had a dealer rebuild it when i was about 14 it always started terrible i even put a small car battery in it it realy rolls over i was debateing munkyen with it or the honda wanta be swap i just rely dont like deeres every one we have always has dumb little problems ps as for the guy talken about my gramer i cant spell or type for a darn aint afraid to amitt it but i can usaly fix about anything that uses fossel fuel even things that alot would not even bother with just wondered what others thought of the kohler have a good one and thanks for all th replys

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