Ironton engines from Northern Tool

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WA1DH

Joined
Dec 16, 2009
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131
Location
Rhode Island
Has anyone tried one of the small engines that Northern Tool sells? I'm repowering an old MTD front tine tiller. I've rebuilt the pulse-jet carburetor 2x over the past two years and now the old fuel tank has clogged the carb up with rust. I was going to get a Harbor Freight 212cc engine but they have them priced at $140. Northern Tool has an Ironton horizontal shaft 208cc at $130 shipped, total $110+tax with a $20 off coupon.

I know this is a Chinese engine, and I see that NT sells their own replacement carb for it. I was wondering if it was a rebadge of another well known Chinese model with common parts.
 
I just assumed all these engines were "Chonda's" are they not? Everyone I know seems to be happy with the predator motors from HF and I'd imagine the Irontron will server your tiller just fine as well.
 
I agree that they're all pretty much Chonda's. The Predator 212 I put on my log splitter looks almost exactly like the iPower 7HP I put on a snow blower. I looked up the Ironton and it looks the same. It's a better deal than HF, so I'd try it out.

BTW, don't see a lot of RI folks here. I'm originally from Manville. Just don't hold it against me...
 
Can you share info about the $20 coupon? I need to oder a 6.5 HP engine. Thanks
 
I dug around a little more and it seems like the Chinese 170F engine (made by Zongshen and a few other manufacturers) is the same. The carbs look very similar and the gaskets seem the same as what NT is selling for replacement parts. I went ahead and ordered it.

wdn: 274198 is the coupon code for $20 off a $100+ order. Retailmenot has all the codes.
 
With that coupon I ordered the Ironton 208cc engine too for $109.99 delivered, from Northern Tools, making it a much better deal than the similar Predator engine from Harbor Freight Tools. I should have it by Monday or Tuesday. Thanks.

The Ironton 208cc is a bit stronger engine than the Predator too: it is 9 ft-lb torque for the Ironton engine versus 8.1 for the Predator 212cc.

I also notice Northern Tools sells factory repair parts for it on the website such as carburetor, air filter assembly, recoil starter assembly and the like. Prices seem reasonable.
 
Engine arrived today. The mounting holes lined up with the holes on the tiller and the engine bolted right up. The shaft is about 1" longer than the old Briggs engine shaft. The keyway is the same and the old 2 piece keyed pulley slid onto the shaft. I'm going to head to Ace Hardware tomorrow and see if I can find some sort of 1" long spacer that will slide onto the 3/4" shaft so that the washer on the end can apply pressure to hold the pulley in place. I will also need to cut a hole in the belt guard so that the shaft can stick out through it as the guard won't fit in place with the longer shaft. Finally I need to figure out a place to bolt the handle support to, as that used to bolt on top of the old Briggs engine.

Construction seems decent from what I can see. I wish the muffler pointed to the side or forward, as it is currently facing back toward where I will be standing when running the tiller. I removed the flimsy chain that held the gas cap in the tank. The air filter is an oval paper filter covered with a foam pre-filter.





 
I picked up a 3/4" ID x 1" steel spacer. It was slightly too long so I cut it to fit with my angle grinder and everything bolted up. I then managed to attach the belt guard using nylon spacers and longer bolts at the front mount points to keep the guard off the now longer shaft. The back mounting point (near the handle) was able to stay at the stock position. The pulley and belt are partially exposed from the front of the machine but the cover still protects the operator from debris flung by the belt. I removed the metal bar between the handle and engine and found that I could wedge a piece of wood under the handle to hold it in place until I find a more permanent solution. Without the metal bar the handle swings up and down. I filled the engine with some cheap SAE 30 oil for the first break in hour and fitted a cheap inductive tach/hour meter to the plug wire. It started on the first pull and was tearing up the rocky soil as good as the old Briggs ever did. Full throttle seems to hover around 3200 RPM per the tach.

There is no marking on the throttle lever. Pulling the lever toward the air filter housing gives full throttle. The fuel shutoff and choke are well marked. I shut it down by idling down to around 2000 RPM and cutting off the fuel shutoff, so that the carb bowl is empty for storage. I could never do this to drain the old pulse-jet carb on the Briggs as it had the in-tank pickup bowl.

 
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Those engines aren't terrible. I'd just use a diesel oil like t4 because the metallurgy itself is known to be sucky. The actual machining of the China bangers is decent these days. Metallurgy not so much they're known to wear faster.
 
JavierH19 said:
Those engines aren't terrible. I'd just use a diesel oil like t4 because the metallurgy itself is known to be sucky. The actual machining of the China bangers is decent these days. Metallurgy not so much they're known to wear faster.
Click to expand...
I happen to have a jug of 15W40 T4 on hand which I've been using between my Yanmar generator and Briggs mower. I'll probably switch to that after the break in oil change.
 
Bump - These are on sale again from Northern. Once again cheaper than HF.
I bought one back in May. Runs just as well as the Predator 212 I put on my splitter five years ago.

IrontonCapture.JPG
 
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