Chinese Built Honda Clones - Any good?

[Cmarti]

I have a generator with a clone by Jiang Dong 6.5 HP. It runs at mission trip work sites right along with my Honda, and ran a freezer and TV 7 days on and off during IKE. No problems. Rotella 5-40 synthetic and stored properly after every use. I am probably pushing over 100 hours, If it blows up tomorrow, I got my 400 out of it.

One reason chinese clones have gone up in price may not be better quality, but our plunging dollar. Oh well.....

 

[lexus114]

I have one of those Chonda motors on my Lowes pressure washer.Runs Great!

 

[MegaCorp]

I have two Champion China engine enerators with about 2000 hours on each. They run great and i have never had a problem. They use no oil.

 

[kkreit01]

I have a Cub Cadet push mower with a Chonda engine. It's been running great for 3 seasons. It starts on first pull, easy on fuel, doesn't use any oil.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: kkreit01
I have a Cub Cadet push mower with a Chonda engine. It's been running great for 3 seasons. It starts on first pull, easy on fuel, doesn't use any oil.


Thats my only complaint with mine,it`s hard to start when warm.

 

[oil_spaz]

I have three examples: snowblower, push mower and pressure washer--all bought within the past couple of years.

Not a single complaint about any of them.

 

[yeehaw1960]

5 or 6 years ago, 10 out of 10 of well-used (some with very little use) Chondas were dead on arrival. Good for parts and scrap. Now they're running about 60/40 or better to the good on those that are repairable and ones that are dead, cold and ready to bury. My neighbor has a super running cheapo mower with a Chonda on it. I work on nearly 300 small engine powered machines per year, including generators, mowers, powerwashers, aerators, power rakes, weed whackers, chainsaws, blowers, tillers, log splitters, blah blah blah. Now...don't hurt me but, unless some one brings special oil, I use good old 30wt HD oil (whatever is on sale) in crankcases (5W-whatever in snow blowers), and Walmart Supertech 2 stroke oil. Slap me repeatedly at your leisure.

 

[boraticus]

The clone on the Champion generator runs as well as any single cylinder engine I've seen. Starts well, cold or warm, impressively quiet and very easy on fuel even under full load. So far, so good.

I'm not using anything special in the 196cc Chonda on my generator. CTC premium brand 10W30 dino oil $2.99/liter. Did the 5 hour oil change and put it away. Likely for years.

 

[tomcat27]

unfortunately they are not going away. even MTD started using them 2 years ago. the ones used on carts run pretty decent. I would be careful running a china generator on anything other than motors or lights - the dirty output would scare me. as far as china atv's: I get ALOT of calls constantly on how to fix the cheap things. and would you trust your kid's life on an atv made in china where the bolts are soft, and the person doing the welding was a rice farmer the week before with no experience welding?

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
unfortunately they are not going away. even MTD started using them 2 years ago. the ones used on carts run pretty decent. I would be careful running a china generator on anything other than motors or lights - the dirty output would scare me. as far as china atv's: I get ALOT of calls constantly on how to fix the cheap things. and would you trust your kid's life on an atv made in china where the bolts are soft, and the person doing the welding was a rice farmer the week before with no experience welding?


That is a very good point! And to make matters even worse,as these thing continue to get decent review`s,their prices will rise and equal Honda Briggs etc.anyway.

 

[boraticus]

"I would be careful running a china generator on anything other than motors or lights - the dirty output would scare me."

That may have been the case years ago but I doubt very much it applies now. The little 3000 watt Champion generator that I bought delivers very linear power. I ran it for several hours under heavy (near maximum) loads with an 1100 watt toaster, a 1500 watt hair dryer and an 850 watt clothes iron all running at the same time. With the hair dryer on max, the circuit breaker would trip. Understandable considering the total load was 450 watts over max rating. When I set the hair dryer to 2/3rd or 1000 watts, the generator ran everything with no problem. During the test, the appliances were loading and unloading the generator. I had a multimeter plugged into one of the 120 volt AC outlets and it read a constant 125 volts when under full load and would very briefly vary from 124 to 126 volts when the generator was transitioning between loads. That's pretty solid output.

 

[kkreit01]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
I have a Cub Cadet push mower with a Chonda engine. It's been running great for 3 seasons. It starts on first pull, easy on fuel, doesn't use any oil.


Thats my only complaint with mine,it`s hard to start when warm.


I should have stated "Starts on first pull in Summer". It's a lot harder starting if the temp is <40.

 

[yeehaw1960]

It's not just the decent reviews that are making the prices go up. It's the rising quality. It will be years before someone can fairly compare a Chonda with a Briggs, but they're getting better. Like I said before and Tomcat27 echoed. The dangerous things are the materials used for frames on ATVs and the quality of welds and such. Look at the weld on a frame of a Honda and one on a Chonda. They're scary different. As much as 50% smaller bead on the Chonda powered machine. Fortunately, no one is going to take a Chonda-powered generator or mower off a jump at the dirt bike track. Oh, and call your local motorcycle sales and service joint and ask them what they charge an hour to work on Chondas. There's no scale because they wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole.

 

[SecondMonkey]

Originally Posted By: yeehaw1960
Oh, and call your local motorcycle sales and service joint and ask them what they charge an hour to work on Chondas. There's no scale because they wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole.

Yeah, but since they're only about $99, just toss the engine and get a new one.

As much as I hate our disposeable society, investing in a Briggs just so you can fix it easier later is starting to make less and less sense. There was a time when I wanted to become a small engine tech, and I'm glad I didn't go that direction now...

I am a totally die hard Briggs fan, I have their MST certification, and I have a bunch of old metal signs and antique Briggs stuff that I collect...but the next time I need another engine, it will probably be a Chonda. Briggs kinda did this to themselves, for too long they monopolized the small engine market and I think have been way too greedy on new engine prices.

And the first time I see a Briggs engine with a "made in china" sticker, I'm going to throw up and throw away all my Briggs stuff.

 

[Maritime Storm]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Thats my only complaint with mine,it`s hard to start when warm.


Mine is the same way, checked the valve clearance in cae it was tight enough to prevent the compresion break from working but after a season of use the valve clearance was still dead specs.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Maritime Storm
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Thats my only complaint with mine,it`s hard to start when warm.


Mine is the same way, checked the valve clearance in cae it was tight enough to prevent the compresion break from working but after a season of use the valve clearance was still dead specs.


I think its the wacky non-adjustable carbs they use.