Interesting Question!! FWIW, I live in the country on a farm and have farm tractors, as does my brother who lives nearby. We both have portable generators for the convenience of just dragging them out and starting, connecting and it's done. The only tractor mounted gensets I'm aware of in this area are used by dairies to provide power to their "milking barns" in an outage-no idea why. Does your tractor have a tach (accurate) so as to assure that you're putting out something real close to 60 cycles? Assuming you're going to run your house and we all have computers, flat screen TV's etc. and they are notorious for being unhappy with "rough" power from a generator. I've read, but have no experience with, the fact that microwaves, dishwashers, etc. have sophisticated "computer" controls and are also sensitive. Will the tractor always be available and ready to go or will you have to remove things and hitch up the genset? Also, it's a '58 is that a 6Volt system and does it start well in cold weather? I know I can get any of my tractors going, but it may take a while, particuarly the diesels. Will you always be available to do whatever is needed to get the tractor up and running or will your family be in the dark while you're at work or out of town? Do you have kids, dogs, or anything else who might wander up to the spiinning PTO shaft and be injured? PTO's have killed and maimed more folks than all other tractor accidents combined. What provision will you have to connect the tractor genset to your load? If you're talking 20KW that's some big cable or a bunch of smaller ones via a sub panel. While the tractor genset would work, you may find that by the time you buy the additonal panel, cabling, transfer switch, etc. it would be easier and cheaper to buy a Generac where all that's provided. Set the generator somewhere close to your house, wire it in and forget it. Do you have access to propane? A lot of folks in this area bought Generac units from Lowe's for around $2500 and they work really well. Auto start once a week, start when the power fails, shut down when it returns, don't have to haul gas, low oil shutoff. etc. I've included a link to a generator interlock which is pretty slick should you decide to go with something smaller and portable. Using this, you don't have to add sub panels, transfer swithces, etc. and it's legal. I suppose you could also use it with the tractor, depending on size. As I said, very interesting question! Let us know how this develops as you continue your exploration. Good Luck, Ev Here is a link that might be useful: Generator Interlock

Huh, smells like spam to me! Message also implies that these generators are manufactured in South Carolina but they sure look like run of the mill China stuff.

I have a similar generator, and the noise will drive you crazy. Mine has a 8 hp Tecumseh, there are several mufflers/muffler kits you can buy but they are only going to do so much. A lot of noise is transmitted through the engine itself and not the exhaust. And running wide @ss open, it gets to be annoying. Make sure and keep a can of either near by, starting one of these on a cold day can wear you out. I keep a can of "easy start" right with the machine and use it any time it's below 70F. I think the only way to really reduce the noise is with a "geared" machine which allows the motor to run at 1800 rpm vs 3600 rpm. Make sure an read the instructionns on "flashing" the field before you need the thing in an emergency. Regarding the price, in atlanta, they have a new "Big Box" store for electronics (I think called AppliancesMart). You can buy that machine new for just under $400. Probably has several feartures not found on the one you are looking at (built in converter for DC power, load meters etcc), you might want to use this as a bargaining chip. I wopuld search the internet for retail prices first.

While I would not suggest that anyone choose a brand based on one anecdotal data point, in a slight defense of Generac our 15kW Generac whole-house generator has been outstanding in both performance and reliability for the 8-10 years we have owned it. Our small New England town tends to get power restored later than most because we only have about 1300 people. We lose power at least several times a year. The Generac was particularly nice to have during the 11 days we were without grid power during the ice storm of 2008 (until the Quebecois crew arrived to get us connected again). Maybe we have the only good Generac in the world. Or maybe their build quality is terrible now compared to when we bought ours. But ours is great and has been worth every penny. One of the best purchase decisions we've ever made. Having it wired to power the whole house seems like overkill to some people. Well, to be fair, it is overkill for some people. By "power the whole house" I do not mean turning on every electrical device and running them all full tilt simultaneously. It means that the generator can power any circuit we have rather than a select few. To be honest, I just didn't want to think about what circuits to connect. I did want to be able to use anything I have anywhere on the property. Maybe I need to keep the heater going in the cow trough and a light on in the chicken house because it's 10 degrees outside. Or it is August and I need to run the two freezers in the barn because they are full of moose. Maybe I want to watch TV in this room and use the laptop in that room. I want to do whatever I want or need without rewiring all the buildings or moving things around just so I could pick a few circuits to be powered. And I can. bws