So we are at the end of the year. I have a few more jobs to do then I’m winterizing the machine. Here are my thoughts on the predator motor.
1 if you are like me and are “part time” or less than 5-6 houses a week it’s a strong choice. I haven’t had a major problem other than stated below. I can see the motor working fine for full timers but without running it as a full time setup I couldn’t say for sure.
2 if you buy one know this. You will have to pull the choke each time you start it even if it’s warmed up. It’s weird but all predator motors are this way I am told.
3 you will likely end up putting a name brand (I installed Briggs and Stratton) fuel pump. You can find an exact replacement for the stock fuel pump for $30. The stock one seemed to give me problems. It could be because I’m pulling through 10ft of fuel line.
4 you will want to install a tachometer. The motor will run about 4500 rpm at wide open and my udor with a gear drive is designed for 3k. I purchased a digital tachometer with hour meter from amazon for about $15 and it’s been handy keeping track of oil change intervals.
I’m sure I will think of more but nothing major to note. I am actually going to build 2 more units this winter.
1 will be a 12.5 gpm at 2,000 Psi. This will be my new housewash machine for larger jobs. We are working on apartment complex bids and I want to be able to move along quick.
2 will be my current unit 8/3000 that will be used for hot water and cold water jobs and flat work. I am going to buy a hotbox for this unit.
3 will be a 4/4000 that will stay mounted to the truck all year. This will be for late season work and gutter Cleaning. My plan is to shut down the house Washing each October 15th but still be able to wash out gutters after fall. The point of a small unit is that I won’t need the buffer tank and can blow it out easily each day. Basically I should be able to do gutters well into winter if I choose. Likely will be a direct direct drive so it’s cheaper if it were to crap to bed or freeze up.
I have a Gmc W4500 that has a 16 foot bed that I’m going to go look at hopefully friday. The plan is to mount around a 800 gallon tank against the headache rack that will stay in place all the time. Right behind that I’ll be mounting a gas powered air compressor, generator, and 4/4000 gpm washer. Then I’ll be building a removable skid that will hold the other two washers, reels, equipment and chem tanks. Then each winter I can pull the skid and transition into snow removal.
I never posted a good video of the washer running and washing other than time lapse. I’ll see about getting something before winterizing.
