McElroy Discussion Forums

Anyone else out there replacing the Honda engines on the tracstar 28 machines? I've changed probably 6 in the last 2 years and all have had less than 200 hrs. on the hour meters. One seized up at about 90 hours. Seems that these engines are overtaxed being only a single cylinder engine containing such little engine oil and running at such high RPM's for long periods of time. Some have thrown the connectiong rod through the crankcase and some just seize to the crankshaft. Also, these engines are difficult to adjust the engine rpm's to acheive proper voltage output.

I replaced one but did not do the research and repalced it with the old 11hp motor instead of the 13hp that they are currently set up with. That engine only lasted a year and cracked on me so I replaced it with a Honda 630 20hp motor. Turns out the shaft and bolt up are the same and it only took some slight metal/exhaust fabrication to fit it in there. I had our local Kubota shop do all the work and 3 years later have not had an issue with it at all.

That's good to know. I have seen an older trac412 that someone replaced the Yanmar with the same Honda you mentioned in my shop before. I was hoping there was maybe a Kohler that would drop-in with no modification. I will consider persuading the next customer to let me upsize their engine. If anyone out there in McElroy land has found a larger engine that will bolt up with no modification let us know.