JD TEK Generators

[mechanic]

Does anyone have any experience with the JD TEK Generator. We had to buy this generator in an emergency during the ice storm. It works fine, we can not return, so I was wondering if anyone has had any long term experience with these generators. It is the 5500 watt generator.

 

[slowrev]

Know nothing at all about it, but I doubt if JD actually made it.

 

[RonMar]

Is it a Diesel engine? That was the only 5500 listed on their website. At any rate, with most of these portables, it is not so much the quality as how they are treated. They of course were not rated for continous service so they have a definite lifespan. Most don't make it to their forcast lifespan because of the way they are treated. A lot of people buy them and they set in storage(sometimes for years) untill the lights go out. Then they are immediatly thrown into service and expected to keep the lights on and refer cold. They of course were not put away properly at the last run so they are running on bad gas and the moisture laden oil and corrosion are doing nasty things to the insides. So they run for a while and die in a gross viscious fashion right in the middle of American Idol(dam cheap generator!).

Or they run them without checking the oil every few hours. All engines burn oil, but aircooled ones burn more! Without an auto shutdown, they run out and burn up/sieze. Does yours have an automatic low oil shutdown? If not, I would look into adding this or get methodical about checking the oil every few hours.

Don't leave old fuel in it(especially gasoline). If it is gas, do the final shutdown(without electrical load) by turning off the fuel at the tank and run/burn the last out of the carb. This is impracticle with a diesel, but storing it with an empty tank is not. Then you only have to deal with the fuel in the lines and pump. Diesel is more tollerant of storage.

Run it under load(50%?) at least every few months(this will rotate the fuel in the fuel system). Portable space heaters and large wattage halogen shop lights make great test loads. Run it long enough for it to stay at operting temp for a while. This cooks moisture out of the insides, refreshes the fuel in the carb and recoats the innards with fresh oil to cut down on internal corrosion. Lawn mowers last a good long time because they are run fairly regular. A portable genset should last at least as long if used regularly.

The automated backup power systems I work with start and run once a week for 20-30 minutes. Some of them have been installed and operating as emergency backup in excess of 20 years. We are only now looking at replacments, not because of reliability problems, but because of efficiency and speed of transfer to backup power.

 

[schmism]

The automated backup power systems I work with start and run once a week for 20-30 minutes. Some of them have been installed and operating as emergency backup in excess of 20 years. We are only now looking at replacments, not because of reliability problems, but because of efficiency and speed of transfer to backup power.

much of what you said is also true of the large systems. THe STL airport went down last year. BUt the back up generators failed to come online as they hadnt been tested in over a year. (turns out money to do maintance and required cycleing was "diverted" to other areas and the maintance people were told not to do it)

as a result when they were required to come online, they didnt work properly and left the airport in the dark for a few hrs.

 

[Unregistered2013]

Is it a Diesel engine? That was the only 5500 listed on their website. At any rate, with most of these portables, it is not so much the quality as how they are treated. They of course were not rated for continous service so they have a definite lifespan. Most don't make it to their forcast lifespan because of the way they are treated. A lot of people buy them and they set in storage(sometimes for years) untill the lights go out. Then they are immediatly thrown into service and expected to keep the lights on and refer cold. They of course were not put away properly at the last run so they are running on bad gas and the moisture laden oil and corrosion are doing nasty things to the insides. So they run for a while and die in a gross viscious fashion right in the middle of American Idol(dam cheap generator!).

Or they run them without checking the oil every few hours. All engines burn oil, but aircooled ones burn more! Without an auto shutdown, they run out and burn up/sieze. Does yours have an automatic low oil shutdown? If not, I would look into adding this or get methodical about checking the oil every few hours.

Don't leave old fuel in it(especially gasoline). If it is gas, do the final shutdown(without electrical load) by turning off the fuel at the tank and run/burn the last out of the carb. This is impracticle with a diesel, but storing it with an empty tank is not. Then you only have to deal with the fuel in the lines and pump. Diesel is more tollerant of storage.

Run it under load(50%?) at least every few months(this will rotate the fuel in the fuel system). Portable space heaters and large wattage halogen shop lights make great test loads. Run it long enough for it to stay at operting temp for a while. This cooks moisture out of the insides, refreshes the fuel in the carb and recoats the innards with fresh oil to cut down on internal corrosion. Lawn mowers last a good long time because they are run fairly regular. A portable genset should last at least as long if used regularly.

The automated backup power systems I work with start and run once a week for 20-30 minutes. Some of them have been installed and operating as emergency backup in excess of 20 years. We are only now looking at replacments, not because of reliability problems, but because of efficiency and speed of transfer to backup power.

this is a very good post -- thank you for it -- !!

 

[rissacher]

I just hooked up a JD-TEK 6500 (propane). It won't start. Bought it from Northern Tool. They directed me to contact the manufacturer, but I can't seem to get ahold of anyone. I'm stumped and angry after about 200 pulls.

 

[Egon]

As to the original post I have no idea but as to succeeding posts ?



Blimey, have I been living in the dark ages.

My little cheap gasser generator without a rusted muffler had been left in the trailer after it last run several years ago. All I did was shut it down. I had to move it to a shed last month and decided to start it.

Well, Land of Goshen on the first pull it started right up and seemed to run quite well! Where did I mange to mess up on the storage thing or was it just blind luck?

Does any one know if the rated expect life span is the number of running hours the engine is expected to meet emissions standards or does it refer to the actual life span of the engine.

Uhh, the only real time this generator saw serious duty was back in Hurricane Juan time when it kept the utilities in several houses going. It managed well. Don't know if it annoyed any of the neighbors as it was being used at a relatives place!

 

[schmism]

troubleshoot just like you would any other small engine

do you have spark?
is fuel getting to the regulator?
take a propane torch unlit and hold at intake see if it wants to turn over after you verify it has spark

if you can get it to run off a torch held by/near the intake then you know your regulator needs maintenance.

 

[EastTexFrank]

RonMar, thanks for the reminder. It's been about 3 months since I ran my little generator. It has a 4 gallon tank and I run about a gallon through it with 2 - 1500 watt space heaters for load. I always run it dry before putting it back in storage. I'll have to get round to that tomorrow. Winter is just setting in here and I better make sure it's ready to go if needed.

Once again thanks for a good, informative post.

 

[ArTrvlr]

Does anyone have any experience with the JD TEK Generator. We had to buy this generator in an emergency during the ice storm. It works fine, we can not return, so I was wondering if anyone has had any long term experience with these generators. It is the 5500 watt generator.

Don't let the "JD" in JD TEK fool you. It is NOT a John Deer. It is Chinese, same mfg. as All Power America, and Gentron. The company is Jiangsu Jiangdong. If you check those brands at online stores with customer reviews, quality seems to be all over the scale, from no starts right out of the box to the best thing since sliced bread. It just seems to be the luck of the draw.
I have been shopping for a portable generator for about a month is how I found out. I would really like to have an LP generator, and they have the only one I have found (portable, not standby) under $1K, but I am real unsure about the quality. I also can't find any local dealers, another negative.

 

[groundcover]

Propane is nice in that the fuel won't go bad. You can get a kit to convert a gas engine to propane but it will set you back a few bucks. Also might be hard to come by fuel in an extended event,can't swipe it out of the car. I knew of a 8hp Briggs that was converted to LP but was still able to run on gas,could never get it to run on gas though.

 

[tommu56]

I used a beam t50 regulator to make my 3000 watt generator dual fuel

tap a vacuum 10/32 port after the carb, a 1/4 pipe thread feed port before the carb, supply bottle pressure to regulator the vacuum has to be pulled in its port to get flow out of the fuel port
The carb causes the vacuum it worked for years it was hard to pull start but electric started with out any problem.
To switch back and forth just turn off the running fuel when it starts to sputter turn on the other.

tommu

 

[billy johnson]

I just hooked up a JD-TEK 6500 (propane). It won't start. Bought it from Northern Tool. They directed me to contact the manufacturer, but I can't seem to get ahold of anyone. I'm stumped and angry after about 200 pulls.

I also have this generator, with the exception that mine has a electric start and pull. I purchased mine thru peak power. It ran perfect for the first 5 times (about 2-4 hours each time). But after that 6 thru no telling how many. It started fine, but had a shorter run time with each start. It's down to about 20 to 40 seconds, then dies. I can give it about 2 minutes and it will start right back up but won't run over a minute. I'm currently in the process of getting warranty work on it. If you have a warranty or if you would like the information I have, let me know I'll still have the names and numbers. I'm going to give mine a little chance to redeem itself after the warranty work, but if it don't get alot better it'll be for sale for half price (shortly there after). billy johnson email address johnsonb@pine-net.com

 

[tommu56]

billy
Ist try another bottle of gas.

Do you have spark?
What type of regulator dose it have for the gas?
Does it have a primer buton on it? to let some gas in to "choke" it

Most regulators have a vacuume line to let them turn on make sure it isn't loose or something.

tom

 

[billy johnson]

It does start and run, but only for a minute. It does have a regulator on top with a button to purge the line, but it does not have a vacuum line. it doesn't have a model # or part # anywhere on the regulator only http,//china....... sumthing or other "web page". I'm almost positive it's the vaporizer/regulator on top but in the manual it describes it as a decompression valve. I'm going to see if it will be fixed under warranty. but if it isn't i'm going to try a vaporizer/regulator made in the good old USA.
and see if that will fix the problem.

 

[otto36]

morning all
I bought a JD TEK generator with a blown motor, I am having an issue with cracking the case. I can not get the generator head and the cooling fan part to come off, I need to get this off as it is stopping me from getting the case open. any suggestions would help.

 

[timberjack1]

Does anyone have any experience with the JD TEK Generator. We had to buy this generator in an emergency during the ice storm. It works fine, we can not return, so I was wondering if anyone has had any long term experience with these generators. It is the 5500 watt generator.

I have a JD-Tek 8000 watt Gen I call 1-888-896-6881 They have all the info for these Gen I ordered a head for mine and they where great I bought it locked up so just got it running it is a 2007 but has not run very much if any. Only thing i have pull start and a starter but have no idea how that works because it has no battery hook ups so waiting for them to get back to me but so far it works great

 

[Dave M7040]

To Otto36
Most generator engines have a tapered end on the crankshaft which the rotor lock unto. Usually you need either a slide hammer or special puller to break them loose.
Dave M7040

morning all
I bought a JD TEK generator with a blown motor, I am having an issue with cracking the case. I can not get the generator head and the cooling fan part to come off, I need to get this off as it is stopping me from getting the case open. any suggestions would help.