Soooo. 14hp Kohler vs 13hp Honda Pony Motors. opinions??

A construction just took delivery of a new Landoll 855 RGN with a Yanmar diesel for a pony motor I can't wait to see how it works in the middle of January

 

I'm more interested in three January's from now.
I haven't put a battery in my trailer in 4 years!
Why?
Cause it's a Honda. It always starts first or second pull, and the dang batteries die at the worst possible time, so I pull it every time. Recoil always works, and rope isn't dry rotted.
Yup, not kidding, even all of '15 ice road season! First or second pull every time...even at -52C. That was at least 30 pull starts colder than -30C, most below -40C.
Don't even think about touching my Honda!

Oh yeah, it's ~8 years old!

 

We've got a couple Honda pony motors one on a water pump and another on seed tender. Neither receive ANY real maintenance. Make sure it has oil and fill with gas and off they go. Start and go every season

 

I call bull shiat on anything firing right up at -52. I work and live in northern Ontario and at -52. Nothing starts.

 

I'll trade 1 drippy wet line for 1 feller/buncher leaking all over the wagon.......

 

I know where your from, call it all you want. I don't care, cause it's true.
Sat Jan 24, 2015 in Amos, QC...look up the weather history you're from the area, colder than -40C and I started the Honda and dropped the trailer across the street from the hotel with the Petro-Canada gas station. The one where the tire shop burned down. I was way too big to fit into the Petro-Pass to fuel up.
Took that load from Trois Rivières, QC to Gachue Kué mine Kennedy Lake, NWT. Even did a write up in on it that is dated 2015 on this site. You might have even seen me, I was police snorted accross ON on the 26 & 27th with that Superload.

A little gas line antifreeze in it all season, and a new recoil spring and rope before the season, and the only time I had an issue was after the four day storm, I had to dig the snow out of the motor box to allow airflow and to get to the rope.
The key is Yves, you have to use it regularly for them to work in the real tough conditions. If you ignore it, it will ignore you. It's mine, and I start that motor a couple times a week. First or second pull every time...unless I forget to put gas in it, lol.

 

I came back to this topic, I am more set on larger Kohlers, such as the 20 horse plus for tractor work around the land. Ive gone through a number of them. If they ever fail, they will do it through either the piston rings or the block.

 

That's pretty impressive. I had a Honda powered compressor on a truck I ran for a bit. At -30 I had to crank it about 3 or 4 sets of 20 seconds before it'd go. Of course months later I found out the previous guy let the thing suck in a bunch of coal dust when he had the truck up in Grande Cache.

 

I never shut mine off. I turn the gas valve off, and let it run out of gas so there is no chance of the gas varnishing the carb, or being vacuumed into the cylinder to run down into the crankcase.
Here is my Honda maintenance program:
Change the oil and air filter once a year
Always put a little gas line antifreeze in the gas from Oct thru March
Spray some carb cleaner into the carb in the spring & the fall just before winter
Pull start it, screw the battery!

That's it. It is the most neglected moving part on my whole unit, and it's the most reliable.

I've had both wet kit and pony motor.
They both have their pros and cons, and depending on the operation as which I'd prefer.
With a wet kit, not every truck can pull your trailer...this can be both good and bad. Good because then it's yours, bad because if you breakdown, getting said trailer moved somewhere safe for you can be quite challenging.
With my 7 axle it was nice, because I almost never unhooked from the neck so I wasn't messing with hydraulic lines. I would drop the trailer and just take the neck with me when I went to fuel because it was easier.
With my 9 and always unhooking the jeep , flipping the neck, stacking and unstacking, no thank you, pony motor please! Imagine getting to a corner you can't make cause your too long, then having to drop the trailer, move the jeep around the corner, picking the trailer (probably short necking as well) and negotiating the corner, then reconnecting it all. All while fiddle farting around with hydraulic lines on top of that...not very efficient. Sure you can put lines through the jeep instead of draping hoses, but then you have another 6/8 connections, 2ea at; front of jeep, back of jeep, front of flip neck, back of flip neck...
Horses for courses. You'd never run a Thouroughbred around a barrel course, or sic a chihuahua on a bear, even though both would be hilarious to watch.

As far as pony motors go, pretty darn tough to beat a Honda

 

tender trailers around here have 4cly duetz air cooled diesels running the hydralics a 2cly air cooled duetz would make a slick pony motor.