[so] We got a load of compost a few weeks ago, spread it on the garden and let it settle. Pulled the tiller out yesterday and had problems pretty quick.
It's an
old Sears Roebuck model with an $80 Harbor Fright engine. I've acquired two of these tillers, because why not, they were free.
Both had engines on them, one had a GLASS bowl on it. NOPE.
Starts every time and low maintenance.
These tillers are ridiculously simple and durable. Unfortunately one gearbox took a dump last year. I imagine I had been running it dry for years as there wasn't even a trace of oil in the gearbox. I swapped the engine onto the other tiller and finished up. This year the bracket that holds the pulley that pushes the belt into the engine pulley flaked out.
These things are maybe too simple, any dirt in the lower pulley gets compacted between the belt and pulley creating strange harmonics. I'll just shut it off and clean out the dirt most times. This season the harmonics bent the factory pivot rod. This is the new one in place with a grade 8 1/4 inch bolt replacing the factory rod, the setup I had been using before I swapped engines last year.
The factory design had enough, bent the hardened pivot rod pressed into cast aluminum. The pivot rod was fixed in place with another hardened pin. I got in a hurry and thought I could press the old garbage out of the cast aluminum. I was wrong.
I made it nearly a full lap before I shut it down.
The one with the broken gearbox had tines twice as wide and was really a handful. This guy will dig down to china if you let it. Unfortunately I only swapped the engine last year, and left the original factory style pivot on the tiller frame. Should have swapped the stronger grade 8 pivot bolt setup also.
May have helped with the higher power and harmonics it was never designed for. Poor thing was just too high strung!
Anyweyz, garden is tilled and planetd. My kitty was amused.
I did make sure there was gear oil in this time.