Harbor freight Preditor motors?

[MoMac]

Anyone have luck with these motors? I would like to put a 6.5 hp on my 40 year old rear tine tiller.

 

[J Hamilton]

I have put several of those engines on tillers for people. They seem to be pretty decent engines

 

[TomIn]

Anyone have luck with these motors? I would like to put a 6.5 hp on my 40 year old rear tine tiller.

I put one on my late 1970's Troy Bilt tiller a couple of years ago. The engine works great. There are a few minor issues to address. It requires a different sized bolt on the end of the crankshaft (no big deal.) For my application it required a longer throttle cable (or modification of the throttle linkage) because the particular engine I used was designed to have the throttle cable pointing forward (rather than back to the handle bars.) This also is no big deal. The new engine is aluminum and only weighs about 32# which is some 20 pounds lighter than the Tecumseh 6hp engine it replaced. This obviously affect the balance of the tiller. If you are young, strong, and use it mainly on long rows this may not be an issue. I'm no longer young or strong, and I use my tiller on small patches which require many sharp turns. The normal modification to improve the balance with a lighter engine is to bolt some weights to the engine bottom mounting "plate" (which is not used on a Troy Bilt.) Some folks have suggested that adding weight to the engine MAY cause the front mounting bolts to pull out of the aluminum engine casting because it has less strength than the original steel or cast iron engine.

There are several Youtube videos of the conversion process

 

[timcasbolt]

If you type Predator into the search box you'll get a lot of information. I think most people have been quite satisfied with the Predator series.

 

[tractorguy2]

I recently found a website with parts for Predator engines. ombwarehouse.com

 

[Charlie M]

I think Predator engines are made by Honda and seem to be the same engine from what I can tell. I have a 6 horse predator I use for about 2 hours a year on a grain auger. When I'm done I take it off and store in my basement until next year. It has started on the first pull every time I have used it. I've never had another small engine that has sat for a full year start on the first pull. Those engines can have a problem with the oil level switch but if that happens its a $15 fix and a five minute change out. Our depo has the Honda version I had to change the switch on. Maybe not a problem on newer engines.

 

[timcasbolt]

Those engines are a clone of the gx series Hondas. From what I can tell they are very popular in many parts of the world, and there are several companies producing them. I have a Predator 420 in a John Deere 110 square fender and it works very well.

 

[Pipestem]

Anyone have luck with these motors? I would like to put a 6.5 hp on my 40 year old rear tine tiller.

ins

Anyone have luck with these motors? I would like to put a 6.5 hp on my 40 year old rear tine tiller.

I installed them on two of my tillers five or six years ago. One is on a Garden Way Troybilt and the other on an old Ariens front tine. Been very satisfied.

 

[MoMac]

I've found that the Honda crankshaft is a bit larger so I'll need to find a dual pulley with a smaller diameter crank hole. I'll also need to find s[acers to keep the pulley away from rubbing on the crankcase plus the end bolt hole is not the same either. Little things but I'm 77 and need less crap to fuss with.