Yamaha vs Honda vs LCT for snow blower repower

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avacado11

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I brought a new, as-is scratch & dent cub 2x30 EFI back in November and it quit working a few weeks ago. Cub keeps service data a secret so I’m SOL. Dug into it a bit I’m not getting spark and I don’t really want to hit it with the parts cannon because Cub EFI components cost more than the blower. Fuel pump is putting out fuel but without service data idk what type of pressure is considered normal. I dropped it off at the cub dealer and it’s been 2 weeks they haven’t gotten to it yet. At this rate there might not be any snow left when I get it back.

What an absolute turd. No more Cubs for me I’ll stick with Craftsman and JD from now on.

Putting together plans to repower not sure what motor to go with. It’s a 357cc intellipower so I assume I’ll need similar size motor so the shaft lines up. I’m trying to keep this project as simple as possible as I have limited fabrication capabilities.

Yamaha MX360 part #MX36A2EQ1 358cc $699

LCT Stormforce 369cc $233

Honda GX390 $680

May consider HF Predator 420cc or 301cc as a last resort. 420cc is more than what’s on it now, 301cc may be underpowered for a 30” blower.

Are the Yamaha motors any good? Sticker shows made in china is it safe to assume it’s a true Yamaha and not just a sticker slapped on a generic motor? Are parts hard to get should I need them later on?

LCT for $233 seems like a good deal but I’m also hearing it’s just a generic china motor. But then again my craftsman blower also has a generic motor and it’s still going 16 years later.

Do I just bite the bullet and get a Honda?
 
avacado11 said:
Do I just bite the bullet and get a Honda?
Click to expand...
Yes.

My HS520, a curb find, has been nothing but exceptional in terms of reliability. It started for the first time this season a couple of days ago once again, on the first pull. On the other hand, my Honda lawnmowers, both of which were donated, take several pulls to get going at the beginning of each season.
 
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LCT is just run of the mill China Honda clone. Most of them run ok but are nothing special. I've not had any dealings with the China Yamaha. The older v twin Yammies were pretty solid. Whose engine is on your Cub? Usually no spark with the fuel pump running is a failure of the crank position sensor on the small stuff. Easy enough to troubleshoot, disconnect and check continuity through the sensor then switch to A.C. measurement and crank the engine to see if you get a signal from the sensor. Sorry but I don't know the exact values you should be seeing. No signal or open, bad sensor. To double check, ign on check for voltage at the pos. side of the ign coil. If yes disconnect the negative of the coil from the wiring and attach a jumper to the terminal and quickly make and break a ground connection. If you get spark at the plug, the coil is good and the problem is the ecm not telling the coil to fire. The ecm is bad or most likely not being told to fire by a glitchy crankshaft position sensor.
 
Opelman said:
LCT is just run of the mill China Honda clone. Most of them run ok but are nothing special. I've not had any dealings with the China Yamaha. The older v twin Yammies were pretty solid. Whose engine is on your Cub? Usually no spark with the fuel pump running is a failure of the crank position sensor on the small stuff. Easy enough to troubleshoot, disconnect and check continuity through the sensor then switch to A.C. measurement and crank the engine to see if you get a signal from the sensor. Sorry but I don't know the exact values you should be seeing. No signal or open, bad sensor. To double check, ign on check for voltage at the pos. side of the ign coil. If yes disconnect the negative of the coil from the wiring and attach a jumper to the terminal and quickly make and break a ground connection. If you get spark at the plug, the coil is good and the problem is the ecm not telling the coil to fire. The ecm is bad or most likely not being told to fire by a glitchy crankshaft position sensor.
Click to expand...

It’s a 357cc EFI Intellipower Cub motor. I believe MTD made so whatever factory in china that pumps them out. I didn’t end up testing CPS, coil, or ECM due to the amount of disassembly required to reach it. Figured it wasn’t worth the effort since I had no service data anyways.

Prior to the no start condition I had issues with the EFI system not turning off whenever the uninsulated connectors by the wheel got wet(along with no high throttle only idle and normal). I dried and sealed them it ran perfect 2 times and bricked the next morning.
 
GSCJR said:
Yes.

My HS520, a curb find, has been nothing but exceptional in terms of reliability. It started for the first time this season a couple of days ago once again, on the first pull. On the other hand, my Honda lawnmowers, both of which were donated, take several pulls to get going at the beginning of each season.
Click to expand...

I’ve been reading that these Honda motors(or any motor that isn’t for snow blowers) aren’t really designed for cold weather use and will have trouble starting. Supposedly there’s a winter kit available for the Honda.
 
I’m pretty sure it’s a GX390 on my 4gpm belt drive pressure washer. The thing is a hoss. The only issues I’ve had with Hondas are:
- on some, carbs must be drained if not to be used within 2 weeks, because they sip fuel and clog easily.
- on some, especially in dusty enviro, fuel line filters are needed, or the carbs clog and they surge.
- in hot enviro, 10-30 oil minimum.

I have enjoyed a predator as well. Small sample set of one. The decompression cam would bind often, but a hammer hit at the cam bearing would unstick it. I put one on a pressure washer that didnt always unload properly, lugging that engine badly, and it never missed a beat. Sipped fuel, ran great. However, since your snowblower isnt a toy, and you need it when you need it, I’m not sure I’d go with a predator.

I had a smaller Yamaha in a 3kw inverter gen. Never a lick of trouble with it. Sold it and it’s still happily running camper hvac to this day. BUT, several of the Yamaha twins have had a rash of short-lived spark coils.

It’s hard to beat the Honda GX.

Personally, I’d hope they could repair the original EFI motor.
 
meep said:
I’m pretty sure it’s a GX390 on my 4gpm belt drive pressure washer. The thing is a hoss. The only issues I’ve had with Hondas are:
- on some, carbs must be drained if not to be used within 2 weeks, because they sip fuel and clog easily.
- on some, especially in dusty enviro, fuel line filters are needed, or the carbs clog and they surge.
- in hot enviro, 10-30 oil minimum.

I have enjoyed a predator as well. Small sample set of one. The decompression cam would bind often, but a hammer hit at the cam bearing would unstick it. I put one on a pressure washer that didnt always unload properly, lugging that engine badly, and it never missed a beat. Sipped fuel, ran great. However, since your snowblower isnt a toy, and you need it when you need it, I’m not sure I’d go with a predator.

I had a smaller Yamaha in a 3kw inverter gen. Never a lick of trouble with it. Sold it and it’s still happily running camper hvac to this day. BUT, several of the Yamaha twins have had a rash of short-lived spark coils.

It’s hard to beat the Honda GX.

Personally, I’d hope they could repair the original EFI motor.
Click to expand...
Do you have a boat dock, marina, or gas station catering to off road users that has ethanol free gas? Also, if a county near you doesn't have smog checks they may sell ethanol free gas at regular stations. That's where I get mine, the next county South and take an empty can while visiting my sister.
 
While this was many years ago, I had pretty good results with the LCT 291cc powered Poulan blower. Bought new in fall of 2013. First the bad, first off season the cheap fuel line used for the purge bulb dry rotted. Easy fix. The crankcase vent hose began to dry rot early on but never got terrible and it always worked. The worst was the lower crankcase gasket began to leak on the friction disc. Apparently the larger motors had a recall on this, perhaps the new ones are fine. I just used some RTV on the lower gasket half and fixed it fine. I also think the fuel shutoff leaked a bit.

Now the good: hit the purge bulb and it would fire first pull down to -35c. Never bothered with electric start. It ran like a beast, hours on end. I think it was decent on fuel but I never did any measurements. It was my primary snow clearing tool on the acreage for years. It would have kept going but I neglected to tear the auger gear box down early and it broke the bronze gear.
 
I have an LCT 254cc on a Arens snow blower, 11 years old, no issues. I also have a Yamaha on a pressure washer, cannot remember the size. Runs good, its probably coming up on 12 years old. I suspect they are both generic Chinese engines.
 
meep said:
Personally, I’d hope they could repair the original EFI motor.
Click to expand...

That was my original plan too since a motor swap may potentially open up a can of worms with the pulley system. However with the amount of downtime, $125/hr shop labor, and gate keeping from cub cadet I’m not sure if I’d want this type of motor anymore.

When I brought it I didn’t think much about EFI figure there was enough service data out there. Actually paid a little more for it over the carbureted 2x30HD they had.

My main concern now is I pay $400-500 for this repair then something else goes wrong next season. Out another 400-500 possibly more. The EFI injector assembly is $550 msrp no aftermarket alternatives. Fuel pump built into tank which if I remember right is $180. Didn’t check EFI module but I’ll guess it isn’t cheap either. I’ll assume it likely isn’t a ton of labor since the motor is fairly easy to access but who knows. If I have to put $600 into it now I might as well get a Honda or Yamaha and know it likely won’t need any major repairs for the rest of the time I own it.
 
avacado11 said:
That was my original plan too since a motor swap may potentially open up a can of worms with the pulley system. However with the amount of downtime, $125/hr shop labor, and gate keeping from cub cadet I’m not sure if I’d want this type of motor anymore.

When I brought it I didn’t think much about EFI figure there was enough service data out there. Actually paid a little more for it over the carbureted 2x30HD they had.

My main concern now is I pay $400-500 for this repair then something else goes wrong next season. Out another 400-500 possibly more. The EFI injector assembly is $550 msrp no aftermarket alternatives. Fuel pump built into tank which if I remember right is $180. Didn’t check EFI module but I’ll guess it isn’t cheap either. I’ll assume it likely isn’t a ton of labor since the motor is fairly easy to access but who knows. If I have to put $600 into it now I might as well get a Honda or Yamaha and know it likely won’t need any major repairs for the rest of the time I own it.
Click to expand...
Your thinking is very sound, no argument there. You need the tool to work and these aren’t small dollar figures!
 
I've had an LCT on a snowblower for years in deep heavy snow. I think it is a 252cc one. Even when pushed hard on end of driveway snow it still keeps chugging. I recommend it for sure.
 
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avacado11 said:
I brought a new, as-is scratch & dent cub 2x30 EFI back in November and it quit working a few weeks ago. Cub keeps service data a secret so I’m SOL.
Click to expand...

I'm more intrigued about this scratch n dent cub. These are ~$2200 machines new. I hope you got a deal! I can't imagine the complications EFI adds to these things.

I can say the 208cc LCT engine I have on my Ariens Snotech 28" has been a beast. It's going on 11yrs old and has seen some hard use every winter. It's got a lot of hours on it for a snowblower living in the outskirts of Buffalo NY. I did have to replace the primer bulb hose, the fuel cap and the fuel shut off valve at this point. Full choke, 6-8 primer bulb presses and it fires up on the first pull every time. I've only used the E-start a few times to test it.
 
JTK said:
I'm more intrigued about this scratch n dent cub. These are ~$2200 machines new. I hope you got a deal! I can't imagine the complications EFI adds to these things.
Click to expand...

I got about $800 off for it being scratch & dent. Nothing noticeable to me. I’ve been wanting a bigger unit for years ever since I started maintaining a small 8 car resi/com driveway. Was running my old 26” Craftsman which is showing its age. Still need to replace the pull cord after it snapped the last storm. Been using the electric starter.

Shop got back to me today and it’s not looking good. They traced the wiring and the whole machine just isn’t getting power once the key is turned. They tried swapping a new key switch but same issue so back to square one. They’re doing more diag on it but they’re thinking it may be a bad wiring harness.

I can’t imagine the diag being cheap. I think if the repair is under $500 keep the motor til it breaks again. If it’s over it’ll make more sense just to drop $700 on a Honda. LCTs are looking enticing at around $250-300. Kinda tempted to do a Predator motor just because if it ever fails I can have a new motor in place by end of day.
 
dumb question, ever check the safety key connections, its one of the wonderful safety features that can and do malfunction.
 
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