New Lawn Mower Engine

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Originally Posted By: javacontour
Just picked up the Greyhound 5.5HP engine at Harbor Freight for $79.99+tax.


It appears to be a ChiCom copy of a Briggs & Stratton.
 
Originally Posted By: Wilhelm_D
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Just picked up the Greyhound 5.5HP engine at Harbor Freight for $79.99+tax.


It appears to be a ChiCom copy of a Briggs & Stratton.





Actually, it's a copy (supposedly authorized) of a Honda GXV160, aluminum block, iron sleeve engine.
 
Authorized a long time ago (90s) when some savvy Chinese businessmen bought the rights and industrial materials to make copies of various size Honda engines for mowers, dirt bikes and ATVs. Agreements have probably lapsed after Honda figured out they were going to make junk. Probably just a close copy now. Just enough different to keep Honda from suing and keeping China from exporting them. Now market flooded with junk (and an occassional good runner). It could happen--Ive seen a few that perform great--OOPS!!!

On the other hand, Chondas make the prettiest corpses. Look brand new in the scrap pile amongst old Briggs and Tecumsehs!
 
Second season, reviving this thread from 11 months ago. It still runs. Cranked up after a few pulls.

I've cut the lawn twice with it so far. I think I'm still running the oil from the oil change posted above.
 
Looking at the specs it says the crankcase takes 28oz ouf oil. That is the most I have ever seen for a walk mower engine. Most are around 18 to 20.
 
You probably maintain it well and/or run stabilizer in it or some other additive to keep the suspiciously small jets clear of debris. As a rule, it's never an accident when a Chonda (or motor like it) runs for more than one season. My neighbor heeded my advice and maintains his Chonda powered MTD meticulously. It cranked up first pull this year (his third). Now, if he and my other neighbor could keep their pull cords from getting tangled up inside the recoil starter...
 
On that bolt for the blade, be sure to use a grade 8 bolt. That is one bolt that you really do not want to fail on you.

Also, grease the shaft and blade adapter so when you need to get it off in n a few years it won't be rusted on.

For future need see if you can order spare parts from HF like a carb, ignition module and other likely replacement items. It is likely to take 2 months to get these when you need them and they are probably cheap enough to keep them on hand.
 
Originally Posted By: Roger1960
On that bolt for the blade, be sure to use a grade 8 bolt. That is one bolt that you really do not want to fail on you.

Also, grease the shaft and blade adapter so when you need to get it off in n a few years it won't be rusted on.

For future need see if you can order spare parts from HF like a carb, ignition module and other likely replacement items. It is likely to take 2 months to get these when you need them and they are probably cheap enough to keep them on hand.


Or just buy another engine. At $80 for the engine, it's hard to see how buying individual parts and working on it is worth the time and effort.
 
In other related news, two of the three grass cuttings come close to clearing jungle given the amount of rain we've recently received. Lots of rain, few mowing opportunities has left the lawn shaggy a couple of times. The mower powered through it yesterday, mulching the grass and all. The previous engine, a 6HP B&S often needed the chute opened so it could throw the clippings rather than mulch them. So I wonder if the 6HP was over-rated, or the OHV at 5.5HP handles the load better than the L-head B&S.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
.......................... Lots of rain..............


Rain? Rain? What is this "rain" you speak of?

It is about May and I have only mowed twice this year. S TX is a dry, dry place.
 
Originally Posted By: punisher
Originally Posted By: javacontour
.......................... Lots of rain..............


Rain? Rain? What is this "rain" you speak of?

It is about May and I have only mowed twice this year. S TX is a dry, dry place.


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Rain is that stuff that keeps happening north and east of I-35E.

I am so doing the HF motor for my Murray.
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As a follow up, no drama this year. The engine worked well. Stored away now with an oil change using some of the $1 QSGB SAE 30.

As a side note, a couple of months ago, my daughter and I were at Lowes and found one of their return mowers. I got the mower for $20, and stripped off all the parts to refit the 6HP B&S that I removed. So I took the starter from the seized engine, and other parts, the carb, plug, etc, and junked the block after we tore it down to teach her how an engine works.

So for about $25, we have resurrected the original B&S engine on a newly repainted mower deck. We call this mower Baby Bumble Bee as it reminds my daughter of the Transformers character.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour

As a side note, a couple of months ago, my daughter and I were at Lowes and found one of their return mowers. I got the mower for $20.


It had a seized Briggs on it?

Just wondering how you struck that deal. A brand-new mower chassis for $20 is a steal. I had no ideal these stores would sell you returned inop goods.

Did lows put that blue spray paint all over it?

Joel
 
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Yes, it had a seized Briggs on it. I speculate that they took it back from a customer, then realized what happened and sold it to get something out of it.

They had all sorts of repaired mowers out front, as well as a couple that had inop engines. This engine looked like it was in the same family as the one I took off the mower deck at the start of the thread, so I figured for $20, I could get an engine to tear down with DD at the least, and a chance to spend a day with her, teaching her how to get dirty with engines, etc.

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: javacontour

As a side note, a couple of months ago, my daughter and I were at Lowes and found one of their return mowers. I got the mower for $20.


It had a seized Briggs on it?

Just wondering how you struck that deal. A brand-new mower chassis for $20 is a steal. I had no ideal these stores would sell you returned inop goods.

Did lows put that blue spray paint all over it?

Joel


Yep, they painted it up that way to denote it was inop. We cleaned it up, I undercoated the bottom and sprayed the top with black, sprayed the starter assembly, transferred it to my engine, and returned my fuel tank, etc.

Oh, I got a steal of a deal. I could probably get my $20 in the parts I took off the engine.

Plus a day with my kid teaching her some hopefully useful skills to develop her breadth and confidence.
 
Keeping the old thread alive. Ran both mowers recently. The B&S that re-powered the Lowes $20 chassis started on the first pull after 6 pumps of the primer bulb.

The Harbor Freight engine started after a handful of pulls on full choke.

I cut the wet grass this AM with the Lowes mower. This weekend was a tough on-call rotation, so I grabbed my phone and "worked from home" this AM.

So this is the beginning of season three if I'm counting right for the HF Greyhound engine, and the B&S is probably 12 or 13 years old now.

The carb was rebuilt back in 06 or 07, and it still smokes when it's worked hard, but it keeps soldiering on.
 
I repowered my Weedeater push mower with the same engine after I hit a stump and bent the crank on the 3.75 hp briggs that was on it. I am impressed with the Greyhound engine, it was a pretty easy bolt on and has loads more power than the briggs. It is also way smoother and quieter. I have only had mine a year but so far its been great.
 
I cut with the HF Greyhound mower on Sunday. The grass was still wet even though it was close to 1pm. The mower was in mulch configuration and it had no problem.

As I've said before, it seems to have more power while being rated at 5.5HP compared to the 6HP rated Briggs.

Now I realize the Briggs is now 12 or 13 years old. But I do remember how it worked when new. It had a hard time mulching the Zoysia yard I had at my previous house even when new.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
it seems to have more power while being rated at 5.5HP compared to the 6HP rated Briggs.


Lets not forget the massive class action lawsuit against Briggs, Tecumseh, Kohler, MTD, Deere, Sears and Toro for knowingly fudging horsepower ratings and conspiring to deceive consumers as well as violating Rico laws.

That 6 HP. Briggs is actually about 3.5 HP. Now they use torque rating to deceive consumers. A 6.75 Torque engine delivers about 3.8 HP but the 6.75 rating is far more appealing than a 4 hp label. When Sears claimed to have the "Most powerful mowers in the world" and sold a 7 HP push mower, it tested at 3.6 hp, the same as all the other 160cc engines, some sold as 4 hp on up to 7 hp and everything in between. Of course the "more powerful" machines sold for more money.

Sears also claimed to have the most powerful compact garden tractor, the 27 hp Kohler Pro 5000GT tractor. When tested, it produced 16.4 hp, a 72% fudge yet the 16 hp rating is a much more believable rating. This practice has not stopped, in the suit, the parties settled but admitted to NO wrong diong or deception of horsepower ratings to consumers. I assure you that an 8 inch wheeled Sear rider is not delivering 26 horsepower. The tuff-torq K-46 transmission is only capable of transmitting a peak of 200 inch lbs. of torque and about 4 hp to the tires. A 12 hp engine would be more than enough for any task that machine can handle. I'd, like to hook it back to back with my '78 WheelHorse C-121 12 hp Kohler and demonstrate real power to the proud owner of that shiny new 26 hp 8 inch wheeled Craftsman.

Manufacturers want to sell equipment and strive to make their equipment more enticing than the competition. One way of doing so, since HP sells to the laymen, is to have a higher hp label on top of the engine than the competition and sell it for the same price. Joe & Mary the home owners perceive a higher value and make the higher hp purchase.

I purchased, from my local dealer, a 495.00 Toro 6.5 hp walk behind in 2004 and I received 150.00 in settlement money. It was a model 20039 21 inch recycler, 21" aluminum deck, electric start, blade brake, personal pace rear wheel drive with a Briggs Quantum 6.5 hp. It was the most expensive model and I still have it and love it. You are very hard pressed to see any clippings from a standing position, even in thick 8" grass. It is extremely quite and smooth, its a nice machine.

Here is a link to class action suit pdf
 
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