New Small Engine Opinions

I need a new small gas engine on my gooseneck trailer that runs my hydraulics. Minimum 8 HP, both rope and electric start. Do any of you have personal experience with the Harbor Freight engines. I would prefer a honda but don't want to spend that much money. Side shaft engine would work best. What do you good folks think?

The HF motors seem to work fairly well. It is a crapshoot to how long they will last. HF usually does not have any parts backup.

Tracy that is exactly the best application for the predator engine. I have a old cement mixer that we use about twice a year to pour cement around post. For years ever time I went to it I had to take the engine to shop. It had a wiscisoin then we went thru two briggs. I now have a Harbor freight that has been on it 5 years now. Run it turn the gas off and next time I go to it starts right off. For the price they are hard to beat.

JD Seller, HF does have parts available for everything they sell. You have to call California with the part number and they will ship to you. I have done it. The Predator Engine is a pretty good engine. As with any engine, cover it and do oil changes.

You should estimate how often you will use the trailer and how long you need to use the hydraulics for an average trip. That will give you an idea how many hours you will put on the engine per year or how many hours you will use the engine over the expected life of the trailer. That would help you decide if you need a 2,000 hour engine, or if a 250 hour engine will do what you need.

Consider what pressure and flow rate you will need. A two stage pump like used on a log spliter could be a time saver, especially if you have a hydraulic winch.

You could also look into what you can do to keep either engine as reliable as possible, things like: make it easier to drain the gas tank and run the remaining fuel out of the engine between uses; make it easy to change the engine oil; a cover to protect the engine from the elements; theft prevention; quick disconnects for charging the battery or a solar battery charger; keeping rodents and insects out of the engine (wasp spray under the cover and a fresh bar of original scent Irish Spring soap every six months); the cost of a carburetor rebuild kit or the cost to replace the carburetor; etc.

If you can find a Kohler Magnum 8 they are a tough engine. Have one on my Troybilt tiller since 87 and we have one on a detach lowboy trailer at work and nobody every serviced it much, just gas and oil. It has a fuel pump, just choke and starts like any other kohler.

In my opinion the HF Predator engines are as good as Hondas. I have had a 6.5hp on my wood splitter for 3 years. starts first or second pull and has run flawless. All I have done is change oil each year, and had to tighten nut on friction pad of throttle lever.
Loren

Forget draining of the fuel tank. Just make sure there is a shut off valve between the fuel tank and carburetor and just drain the carburetor after every use. You will have a hard time finding an engine with a fuel tank drain. Just isn't needed.
HF engines apparently have good reviews so I wouldn't be afraid to use one.

Jeff got about 3 years on his first HF engine on his Ubler feed cart. It gets used about an hour everyday. When it crapped out, he just bought another one. As cheap as they are, it really doesn't pay to fool around fixing much on them. The used bedding chopper he picked up had a dying motor on it, also. He put a new HF motor on that, too. So far, so good. I have one on my 2" portable pump and the only problem I have had with it was a coil went bad after a couple of years. Simply replaced it with a Honda coil.

Get you a HF engine and never look back.

they have any part you want

I was going to let go BUT... I have a Predator engine on a leaf/grass vacuum and after the first year the crankshaft snapped right at the crankcase. Rather than wait for a new crank I bought an engine. When I swapped the specific parts over to make the blower run the exhaust flange fit but only with a persuader; standardization is pretty poor. Five years ago I had a pneumatic framing nailer that needed to be rebuilt and that was the problem then and it hasn't gotten any better.
SO YES HF does have parts BUT they may not fit!

HF engines are Honda clones. They work fine.

Put one on my log splitter last year. Had a Honda on it,after 10 years carb had major issues. New carb for Honda was more than the HF engine.very happy with it.

(quoted from post at 06:29:34 01/04/18) New carb for Honda was more than the HF engine.very happy with it.

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not in my experience, just replaced the carb on a Honda GX160 last summer, while rebuilding the carb woulda cost over $150 (gaskets, jets, labor), replacing the carb with a brand new genuine Honda was only $26, you can get an aftermarket carb for $10-$15