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Hi, new to all this so please bare with me.
I'm fixing a log splitter fitted with a GCV160. Looking for a low cost engine replacement option, perhaps from an old mower.
Wondering if any other brands or type have the same bolt up and shaft as the original motor? Or if there's a cheap new import copy of the GCV available?
THANKS!

harbor freight 5.5hp is a bolt on replacement for the GCV160's, HOWEVER... those are for lawnmowers... being on a log splitter the crankshaft end may be shorter than what would be used on mower....

what brand is the log splitter?

@Scrubcadet10 thanks for the reply. Log splitter is a Rover LS21T. It certainly looks like a regular mower motor. Looks like this although link doesn't have good pics: https://www.allmowerspares.com.au/r...-with-160cc-gcv-honda-engine-24af512b333.html
Oh how I miss Harbor Freight. I recently moved from Fort Worth to Sydney Australia. No HF here ):

Several Ebay vendors sell Loncin engines ( some branded differently ) which will drop strait in
One of the junk tool shops , Gasweld / Total Tools / Sydney Tool Box sells Preditors ( which are also Loncins ) and another one imports Ducars but I think only horizontal shaft models, can't be sure as I almost never shop at any of them , or Bunnings ( where lowest prices are just the beginning,,,, of your problems ) .
There is no HF down here because our retail laws have a manditory 12 month warranty , unlike the USA where most of them expire the second you walk out of the door .
Thus flogging off absolute trash is not an available business plan.
The same laws have protected us from the perils of Walmart as well
And probably went a long way towards the failure of the Lowes / Woolworths Masters chain although the total inepitude of 99% of Australian managers & all directors would not have helped . I think one of those rejects is now destroying the biggest local after market parts suppliers, RGS .
What is wrong with the Honda ?

Rover only ever made lawn mowers & shredders in OZ everything else was rebadged from OS
These were painted blue hammertone
Some time in the 70's they moved from Sydney to Brisbane and stopped making ride ons & changed to red .
Then around 2000 they were taken over by MTD so if it helps other to help you it is either a rebadged MTD or a fully imported Chinese machine .

Measure the shaft diameter on the engine it should be 7/8" if it is a push mower engine or 1" if it is an industrial engine .
A fully imported Chinese one can even be 25mm if it is an EU model.
Just about any 4 stroke engine with the same shaft diameter will fit , but be careful because USA mowers all have some sort of blade brakes so the output shafts are usually longer than Australian mowers as we learned not to run over our own feet back in 69 when Victa stopped making their Toe Cutter model .
FWIW B & S and Honda have the same bolt pattern for push mower engines so if you want to pinch one from a rusted out mower you will be spoiled for choice .
Victa 2 stroke engines will not fit .

Crankshafts can be shorten but not lengthen but if done it usually the OEM will avoid the warranty here when done. I have done it on several replacement horizontal engines on log splitters here where I had to remove 3/4 inch of the shaft. I even warrantied the engine with the factory warranty when I installed a new engine that I sold.

I did find out that HFT 6.5 horizontal engines crankshaft are too short for Tecumseh engine replacement on go carts. Having only a 1/8 of shaft to mount the clutch just don't get it when you need 3/4-1 inch for proper safe mounting.

Also blade brakes can usually be disabled when not use for mower use.

Hopefully your laws in Aussie is a lot better when comes to warranties too. Here the warranties are not even worth the paper they are written on as they are written by lawyers that look for every loop hole they can find. They are written in such a way the manufacture assumes no responibility for the product once it leaves their factory.

It is a difficult transition from the USA where workers wages are miniscule so bottom end stuff is very cheap to OZ where we have a realistic minimum basic wage so prices are higher .
Nearly all the USA companies who transplant their executives into what ever they have taken over down here go bust because the market is so different and the USA cook book will not bake a nice cake in OZ .
We have a federal & state consumer department which at least makes sure retail merchandise is of useable quality.
The shonks however sell stuff that would earn me a $ 10,000 fine on ebay because it is supposed to be an "auction" and thus retail laws do not apply.
And big dollars change hands to make sure that status does not change

Thanks to all for replies. I pulled the motor off, measured shaft (7/8”) as well as (standard) bolt pattern. Ended up ordering a $200 engine off eBay so will give it a go. Reviews were many and all good. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-5HP-V...2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0

bertsmobile1 said:

It is a difficult transition from the USA where workers wages are miniscule so bottom end stuff is very cheap to OZ where we have a realistic minimum basic wage so prices are higher .
Nearly all the USA companies who transplant their executives into what ever they have taken over down here go bust because the market is so different and the USA cook book will not bake a nice cake in OZ .
We have a federal & state consumer department which at least makes sure retail merchandise is of useable quality.
The shonks however sell stuff that would earn me a $ 10,000 fine on ebay because it is supposed to be an "auction" and thus retail laws do not apply.
And big dollars change hands to make sure that status does not change

Click to expand...

The price are generally higher for another reason too and that is one, your currency is about 30-35% higher via exchange rate. Otherword at worker here making $15 /hr would need to be making at least $19.50+ /hr to have the same income level. So everything is already higher to start with. If the American would learn to live within their means would help. I have worked at minimum wage in my life time. Yes I could not buy the fines things but I had at least enough not to borrow from those loan sharks called payday loans. Then when I got a job paying 12.50/hr I was able to live a much better life until they raise the minimum wage which made everything much more costly again. Now I live way below minimum wage but at least I am not in debit as I pay for everything with cash. Yes I have CC but it is paid off monthly so there is no interest charges involved. I admit taking home $90 / week in the early 80's went a lot further than taking home $300 / week in the 2000's. Currently I am averaging around $350 / month working for myself.

Most factory workers are known to be wasteful so much that some lenders will do their best not to loan to them due such a poor credit rating.

Also the Aussies have a completely different market too.

pp4wd said:

Thanks to all for replies. I pulled the motor off, measured shaft (7/8”) as well as (standard) bolt pattern. Ended up ordering a $200 engine off eBay so will give it a go. Reviews were many and all good. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-5HP-V...2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0

Click to expand...

Looks like a Honda clone of some sort.
Don't know either the vendor nor the brand
Should work good enough for a log splitter
Just remember you are splitting Aussie hard woods and they are HARD
A lot of the cheap n nasty Chinese imports fail big time when set to work on river reds, iron barks or even the softer sydney grey gums.
They are downgraded copies of splitters designed to work on USA oregon, spruce & firs that all have strait grain and split clean if you look at them hard .

And of course Welcome to the best place to live on what is left of the planet .( not that I am biased ) .

bertsmobile1 said:

Looks like a Honda clone of some sort.
Don't know either the vendor nor the brand
Should work good enough for a log splitter
Just remember you are splitting Aussie hard woods and they are HARD
A lot of the cheap n nasty Chinese imports fail big time when set to work on river reds, iron barks or even the softer sydney grey gums.
They are downgraded copies of splitters designed to work on USA oregon, spruce & firs that all have strait grain and split clean if you look at them hard .

And of course Welcome to the best place to live on what is left of the planet .( not that I am biased ) .

Click to expand...

it appears they have their own website, so thats a good sig as well as a contact form.

Scrubcadet10 said:

it appears they have their own website, so thats a good sig as well as a contact form.

Machinery Petrol Engines

Petrol Engines - Machinery Petrol Engines

www.iketa.com.au

Click to expand...

No it is not a sign of anything other than they bought a computer & some softwear.
There is no street address listed anywhere so you can not see where "our Warehouse in Melbourne" actually is.
I can guarrantee it will be a 3PL set up so you end up at a DHL / Fedex / Allied etc warehouse and some where in the place will be 20 or so pallets of their engines.
Note they charge a $ 8.95 pick up fee.
That is what DHL currently charges for picking stock out of their Sydney warehouse for despatch
Note also you can not send your own courier due to "15 minute pick up time ".
That tells me it is a cut rate 3PL center .
We used to charge the client ( person who owned the goods ) $ 4.80 picking fee $ 2.50 invoicing fee & $ 2.00 dock fee for pulling their goods off the racks then despatching them to the end purchaser out of sequence . We also charged $ 10/ month per pallet storage if the good arrived on pallets & $ 30 per pallet if they were loose packed in the container & we palletised and in those cases there was also pallet hire which was another $ 3.00 to $ 5.00 per week depending upon what brand of pallet was available .
My big change was to keep sound pallets ( we charged a disposal fee if the good arrived on single use pallets ) and rent them out at $ 2 week
This sounds pretty small but there was 250,000 pallet spaces in the big warehouse so that works out near $ 1,000,000 a month which was pretty close to the rent we paid on the site .

Note that they only offer 6 month warranty on goods and require transit damage to be reported within 24 hours.
The law in OZ is 12 months warranty on all retail goods but because they are sold via a BS auction retail laws do not apply .
Because of the way Ebay is set up, if you bought one & it fell apart in 8 weeks then you have past the feed back cut off date .
So there is no way to leave negative feedback that the engines are trash and wear out after 10 hours of use
All the purchaser would know from ebay is what the customer got was the same as what was listed & it arrived in reasonable time for a reasonable fee .

If you buy from Ali-Baba ( not Ali-Express ) then you can make a complaint up to a full year after the purchase .
Thus what you buy through Ali-Baba is generally of much better quality than what you buy off ebay which is really a lucky dip at best .

The engine that pp4wd bought is most likely not Aust EPA compliant either , not that it matters for a log splitter engine ( or a mower for that matter ) .

bertsmobile1 said:

There is no HF down here because our retail laws have a manditory 12 month warranty , unlike the USA where most of them expire the second you walk out of the door .
Thus flogging off absolute trash is not an available business plan.
The same laws have protected us from the perils of Walmart as well
And probably went a long way towards the failure of the Lowes / Woolworths Masters chain although the total inepitude of 99% of Australian managers & all directors would not have helped . I think one of those rejects is now destroying the biggest local after market parts suppliers, RGS .
What is wrong with the Honda ?

Click to expand...

Wait, what?

Most warranties don't expire in the US when you walk out the door, but the great thing is is that you have a choice. Spend less and take your chances or spend more and get a decent warranty. It's up to you! It's called freedom of choice. It's a wonderful thing.

Do you really feel the need for the government to protect you from retail decisions like this? How can you possibly feel better by letting the government take that choice away unless you feel that people are too stupid and need to be protected by the government? That's crazy talk.

Bob372 said:

Wait, what?

Most warranties don't expire in the US when you walk out the door, but the great thing is is that you have a choice. Spend less and take your chances or spend more and get a decent warranty. It's up to you! It's called freedom of choice. It's a wonderful thing.

Do you really feel the need for the government to protect you from retail decisions like this? How can you possibly feel better by letting the government take that choice away unless you feel that people are too stupid and need to be protected by the government? That's crazy talk.

Click to expand...

No but they make it as hard as they can at times to get one honored.

Bu '86 I brought a brand new Plymouth Sundance with 12,000 bumper to bumper (I got it in writing, luckily; not just their little hand out). With 800 miles on the car it broke down. The dealer service center was telling me it wasn't cover by the warranty. I nearly ended up suing them and Plymouth over it just to get it repaired.

bertsmobile1 said:

Looks like a Honda clone of some sort.
Don't know either the vendor nor the brand
Should work good enough for a log splitter
Just remember you are splitting Aussie hard woods and they are HARD
A lot of the cheap n nasty Chinese imports fail big time when set to work on river reds, iron barks or even the softer sydney grey gums.
They are downgraded copies of splitters designed to work on USA oregon, spruce & firs that all have strait grain and split clean if you look at them hard .

And of course Welcome to the best place to live on what is left of the planet .( not that I am biased ) .

Click to expand...

You're not biased. I'd wager you'd be 100% correct. If anyone reading these posts were born down under,I wonder who'd opt to come above 0 degrees latitude?

StarTech said:

No but they make it as hard as they can at times to get one honored.

Bu '86 I brought a brand new Plymouth Sundance with 12,000 bumper to bumper (I got it in writing, luckily; not just their little hand out). With 800 miles on the car it broke down. The dealer service center was telling me it wasn't cover by the warranty. I nearly ended up suing them and Plymouth over it just to get it repaired.

Click to expand...

My mother-in-law has a n almost new Dodge Durango. Last snow,the 4wd wouldn't engage. Under warranty? Nope. The dealer said the shift motor was stuck because it was not engaged often enough.

Bob372 said:

Wait, what?

Most warranties don't expire in the US when you walk out the door, but the great thing is is that you have a choice. Spend less and take your chances or spend more and get a decent warranty. It's up to you! It's called freedom of choice. It's a wonderful thing.

Do you really feel the need for the government to protect you from retail decisions like this? How can you possibly feel better by letting the government take that choice away unless you feel that people are too stupid and need to be protected by the government? That's crazy talk.

Click to expand...

Choice is fine provided that the purchaser has enough information to make an informed decision presented in a form that they can understand .
So if an item is very low quality and can not be repaired then it must be LABLED as low quality item not able to be repaired.
So the purchases knows they are buying throw away junk .
Much of the EU now had a mandated durability index so if I buy a line trimmer there both the trimmer & power head have an indication of their expected service life, either in hours or as a star system like energy rating .
Selling garbage is fine just so long as you are not decieving the purchaser into believing it is a quality product .

Taking a different tack .
Making single use garbage requires almost the same resources & energy plus creates almost as much pollution as making a quality product that will last for many years.
The logistical pollution ( transport , storeage & distribution ) is exactly the same except you do it many more times with throw away items .
The reason why the planet is in the state it is now is because we are consuming resources and generating pollution at an unsustainable rate .
So if you want to have tornados ripping through New York city and 2' of snow in Death Valley and the Great Lakes to consume 1/3 of the cities & towns that surround them then continue to buy single use garbage because you have the right to decide what you buy . After all when ( not if ) we pollute the planet to a state it will no longer support human life then it will have a chance to recover without the most useless destructive species ever to have existed , humans .
We know what happens when we consume at an unsustainable in the "knowledge" that what ever diety we chose to believe in will provide for us.
It is called Easter Island , and they all died no matter how many statues & offerings they made .
There is no planet B .
The only reason that the USA & Europe has not starved over the past 5 years is that Australia & NZ has exported over 100,000,000 queen bees to replace those in Europe & the USA that were infected by the Veroa mite.
Without these bees the worlds cereal crops would have been reduced by 65% because there were not enough bees to pollenate the crops so the only grain crop the US would have had was corn because corn is wind pollinated , soy is also wind pollenated, but canola requires bees , google to see just how much canola the US & Canada grew in the past 5 years & imagine what you would have done without it, no sunflower oil either .
And now Veroa is in NZ so it won't be long before it is in OZ as well , but of course the person who exported the plants that harboured the Veroa had the RIGHT to export it because the purchaser had the RIGHT to have it and did not want to pay the extra for certified pest & disease free plants which would have cost more .