Harbor Freight Auger

Joined
Sep 26, 2002
Messages
5,616
Location
Central Arkansastan
I've had one of these for awhile, and it seems to do a pretty good job. My question concerns the mixture of oil to gas. it requires a 25:1 mix. my question is, why? During a tune up I used the canned Truefuel in it, and it ran just fine. My trimmer is used at full throttle quite a bit of time on the same fuel. Why is the oil mix so rich on he auger?
 
Chinese 2-stroke? I pretty much use 32:1 Citgo Sea & Snow (rated air cooled JASO FD) in everything, along with at least 89 octane (E0 when I can find it, or E10 & drain/run dry after use), everything from blowers, an older Lawn-Boy, Stihl & Echo chainsaws, even a small 4 HP Johnson outboard, zero issues. If your HF auger is anything like those little 2-stroke generators they sell, it’ll need all the help it can get!
 
I've had one of these for awhile, and it seems to do a pretty good job. My question concerns the mixture of oil to gas. it requires a 25:1 mix. my question is, why? During a tune up I used the canned Truefuel in it, and it ran just fine. My trimmer is used at full throttle quite a bit of time on the same fuel. Why is the oil mix so rich on he auger?
only thing I could think of is maybe there are bushings or something else that needs lube..
 
Yup, It's a Shenzhen special. Not a bad piece of equipment, really. Does the job digging post holes. I was just curious why most equipment sold nowadays is 50:1 standard, and this stuff is 25:1.
 
I think the 25 to 1 mixture should be followed. These engines have cast iron piston rings and relatively low quality internals. They do have roller bearings on the con rod, but who knows if they bothered to harden them....

I have one of these, and it's done a fair number of fence pole holes on my acreage properties. However, the carb has failed and it will now only run with the choke on. The engine now rattles like crazy, a sure sign of internal wear at something like the 25 hour mark. Again, my suggestion is to keep this low quality engine well oiled.
 
Unless you use the auger pretty often... i would use what you use in the trimmer and dump out the fuel into the trimmers and run it empty as often as you can. I use 32:1 in my saws, trimmers and pole saw. Fuel sitting for long times in the carbs seem to cost more in the long run than premium oil does.
 
I have no experience with these 2-stroke augers, but know some guys that have bought them and gotten good use out of them as far as I know.

25:1 is getting pretty lean on fuel, but per the design, who knows.
 
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