Harbor Freight Predator 22 hp Honda engine clone?

My Honda 24 hp GX670 is getting old and tired on my l Diablo ( 5,000+ hours). Was wondering if this Predator engine would swap out for my Honda, for $699 - 20% coupon= $559. These engines have got some pretty good reviews and the price is great. 2 less hp, but if it's a fresher engine it may perform similarly. Has anybody ever looked into this? This engine only came out in the spring.

I have no personal experience with that predator motor, but I wouldn't go back to Honda either. There is a reason they switched to the Kohler engine, so this is a great time to upgrade that Honda.

The price is sure cheap enough, but the 90 day warranty makes me a little nervous. I think I would search for your best deal on a Kohler and go that route. I think I just saw a low hour Kohler for sale pretty cheap on the auction sites.

I have to agree with Rob.

The larger Honda Engines aren't the greatest to begin with. Their smaller HP models are, but not so much in the larger displacements.....And then a Chinese clone of it? I'd pass even tho the price is tempting.

You don't need to decrease your reliability or have needless down time with your money maker...it'll cost you in the long run I believe.

Then there is the issue of the engines footprint. Would have to do some modifications for a different motor. Unless your lucky and the mounting holes match up.

Yes the Honda has been challenging, valve adjustments suck- no need on a Kohler. I wonder what the a Kohler in that hp range would run......

My guess $1200 to $1500

Ace has the range correct. I have seen some deals around here for low hour engines in the $800 - $900 range, but for the price difference, I would still go with a new unit.

That engine doesn't just drive the pump and blower, it drives your business and without it, you don't make any money. It would be the last thing that I would go cheap on really.

nice thing about kohler is if you want to you can run it on propane.

But Ive heard the harbor freight engines are actually pretty damn good, I believe you can get a 3yr warranty too which will allow for instant swap out in store.

So 7 days a week you can grab a new engine up to 3yrs and if your getting it under 600 thats hard to beat I would say. Im guessing you would get well over 3 yrs out of it.

ACpower1 wrote:nice thing about kohler is if you want to you can run it on propane.  

But Ive heard the harbor freight engines are actually pretty damn good,   I believe you can get a 3yr warranty too which will allow for instant swap out in store.  

So 7 days a week you can grab a new engine up to 3yrs and if your getting it under 600 thats hard to beat I would say.     Im guessing you would get well over 3 yrs out of it.

That's an excellent point. I would go for it with that kind of warranty, but that's easy for me to say cause I don't know how much modification you have to do to fit the motor in there.

Read the reviews online. There are two both replaced smaller engines with this one. One 350 cc to 650cc the other 13hp to 22hp not saying anything is wrong with the engine just look at the reviews. I've got friends that have used smaller motors and like them. Something else to think about is repair parts. That warranty is repair or replace their choice. Just some things to think about.

If you're looking for a high quality engine for a lower price go with a Lifan engine. If it doesn't say "mfg by Lifan industries group" on the production label, be wary. Check out carroll-stream.com or lifanpowerusa.com. I have used several of these with absolutely zero problems. Parts are readily available in the US and the customer service is great. Even though the predator is less and there is the swap out option, it's still a pain in the butt and a roll of the dice in my opinion. I haven't had great luck with those even though it was a couple of years ago that I tried them out. Keep in mind, most of those reviews aren't from people who rely on those engines for their income on a daily basis. Plus, you never know when they will be out of stock or stop carrying them altogether.

I got 9700 hrs out of my Onan (Lifan is an Onan copy, or reproduction, but I think now made in China?..) without any major problems, but had plunty of other smaller/electrical problems.

Lots of the dirt bike guys in the next time over use the Lifan engines. Sounds like they perform pretty well, but being a China product now, quality control might become a problem.

I remember buying a Chinese body tub for an old Jeep a few years back. They were a perfect clone, but the major weakness was in the quality of welds.....actually had to go through and re-weld every seem before installation.

My guess would be that you would need to check the welds and bolts on any Chinese cloned motors before puting a great deal of trust into them.

I would love to know how the motor is doing for you still.
I am going to be replacing my motor in the next two weeks, I have a Kohler 25 I am looking at but I am interested in this motor also.
Can you tell me what size the crank shaft is? I can't find any specs that say the size of the shaft.
I believe my Kohler is 1 1/4

You can get a Kohler with any shaft size and type you want. Mine is a straight keyed 1 3/8".

Exhaust and key panel are a couple other things that have different options.

Call OPEengines.com, they are great and helpful, and have the best prices with free shipping and no tax.

Check out my post in this forum- Honda GX670 is Toast. The shaft is 1"x 3.56. You can download the owners manuel from HF website. Search 22hp. So far so good- almost 300 hrs. Get the warranty if you take the plunge. This 7/4 they are offering 25% off coupons.

Well, the other Day I came out and had oil pouring out of my kohler !!!
Come to find out the crankcase breather hose had come off and due to crank case pressure the oil was coming out. I replaced and all seems to be good now but still I have 4000 hours and it is time.
So I have also been talking to another cleaner as he has also bought one, but he is doing his own build with this motor.
I am thinking of also doing a build around this motor with a #4 blower I have.
I want to try and build a nice narrow TM and diesel burner for heat and you can't beat the price even with the cost of the warranty in the price.
Over spin the blower by 10% and it should have plenty of suck for 250' hose runs.

I've got a customer that has a tm called profiteer sold by steambrite and it has the predator engine on it new just looked it up and it's on the site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m21RGq4f078

That's a smaller one G

I am going to go for it, I will be going and picking one up next week if I have the time...they don't sell in cali but they have them in Medford and that is only a 2 hour drive.
I have a design idea gonna be a thin TM build, I am going to make it as narrow as possible to see if I can get some extra room in the van.
Solution and Water supply lines will be mounted beside it coming out of the side doors, I may go live reels, I have always wanted them to be live but just have never done it.
My buddy just bought a 570 and live reels and LOVES them so I figure I will try them out.
Kinda thinking along the lines of a TCS type design.
Motor,blower,pump with a diesel burner. should be a little easier build than the VW Tm.
Tim gave me a idea of mounting a alternator to supply enough charge to the battery to run a big power invert, this will run the D burner and a vacuum cleaner when no power is on the jobs, this has been happening more lately so It would be nice to be able to power a vac or a fan to help cool me down while I am cleaning in 110+ Redding heat.

Hf has their inverters on sale also.

Sweet now we'll have two guys testing that engine. The price is awesome and would be perfect to mach up a new build

SCCC wrote:I am going to go for it, I will be going and picking one up next week if I have the time...they don't sell in cali but they have them in Medford and that is only a 2 hour drive.
I have a design idea gonna be a thin TM build, I am going to make it as narrow as possible to see if I can get some extra room in the van.
Solution and Water supply lines will be mounted beside it coming out of the side doors, I may go live reels, I have always wanted them to be live but just have never done it.
My buddy just bought a 570 and live reels and LOVES them so I figure I will try them out.
Kinda thinking along the lines of a TCS type design.
Motor,blower,pump with a diesel burner. should be a little easier build than the VW Tm.
Tim gave me a idea of mounting a alternator to supply enough charge to the battery to run a big power invert, this will run the D burner and a vacuum cleaner when no power is on the jobs, this has been happening more lately so It would be nice to be able to power a vac or a fan to help cool me down while I am cleaning in 110+ Redding heat.

They are offering 25% off this 4th of July, just order it on that day use the 25% off coupon and it will be at your door in 2-3 days for $6.99- Just saying.... I have been told that they do not stock the 22hp vtwin in stores, and that you have to order on website- might be different in your area. Do your homework.

SCCC, the original design of the El Diablo used inverters to power the diesel burner- they switched out that design because the inverter would shut down due to overheating like many water transfer pumps do. I do not know if inverter design has improved lately, but they usually do not like excessive heat and will fail you when you need them most.