I started in on a customer's older Sears garden tractor with an Onan 16hp twin. It has a vacuum pulse fuel pump built into the carburetor. The rebuild kit is astronomically expensive from Cummins who now owns Onan. A complete carb is even worse. Needless to say, this will be getting an aftermarket kit.
Onan carb sticker shock.
- Thread starter Opelman
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I have a Sears Suburban SS16 tractor that came with an Onan 16hp that got replaced with a Honda V-twin after 20 plus years of use because of Onan parts availability and cost. Onan's are good engines, but Honda's are a Lot better. The tractor is still mowing, pulling trailers, and a Track-Vac at 40-plus years of service. I miss Sears
Or a predator v twin
That is one reason I never bid on or ever want to own an Onan generator. You cannot afford to own them anymore.
Exactly. I call it 'late stage capitalism' where the only option left is a product costing 10x it's proper price. When ever I can, I don't play that game. I don't reward bad behavior. The production line/mass production brings the price down, not up.
Make note to self - never buy anything with an Onan engine.
Have you looked through Amazon for Chinese parts for this machine? Obviously, those prices from the OEM are untenable. I would also consider used parts, and would search to see if any other parts are compatible...
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
Price aside, I'm surprised OEM carb parts are even still available for an old Onan horizontally opposed twin. These engines have been out of production for around 25yrs I believe.
I've seen Onan prices climb over the last decade or so. Definitely not something I want to rely on or "collect". No idea why it's happening but I'm curious.
Aftermarket reasonably priced kit is on the way. We will see how it goes. If need be, I have a Nikki carb off of a newer Onan that would bolt on. I would have to use a remote fuel pump with that one though.
In the 1980s, I worked for a longtime appliance components manufacturer. We would occasionally get a parts order, from a legacy manufacturer, for machines built in the 1950s. I won't tell you the manufacturer but they had a lonely repairman. As we no longer had much of the tooling for these part numbers, most of it had to be made, largely by hand, in our model/sample shop. We would cost it out honestly and impose a five piece minimum order quantity. The unit price would be quite high but the customer would always follow through with a P.O.. They took great pride in their service and parts support for older machines. I'm sure they ate the majority of the cost of these service parts rather than pass it on to the customer. Perhaps your carburetor falls into a similar category.
