Tiller Project..er, deal

[prof fate]

Picked up a 7hp rear tine, dual rotation, sears tiller. Used 3 times..about 6 years old.

has the typical frozen/rusted shaft for gear selector. Starts on the first pull, looks new.

Seems it's about a 3 hour project to tear down to pull the shaft out (via a hammer...) and sand it/lube it and reassemble. I can't do that till tuesday, so till then gonna try pb blaster and other 'techniques' I've used over the years to try and free it up.

Here's hoping it works - saves me 3 hours and any chance of error in the reassembly.

Very much looking forward to using it once it's done. Borrowed a friends reverse rotation MTD last spring and WOW, it's the bees knees. this one is more hp and goes both ways, i mean, well, dual rotation.

 

[prof fate]

OK more rain so had time today to tear into the tiller.

Yep, shift shaft is rusted SOLID.

Took an hour to get to it - EVERYTHING comes apart. Easily really.

then over an hour to get the shaft out of the case! BFH and whacking like you don't care. I tried heat, fluids of all kinds, air hammer...to no avail

OK, buy the part and the case half then, screw it. with a seal and such it was about $100. OK, I can live with that. Let me check one last time if there is anything in that case half, a seal or such, that I'll need. Well...if I'm buying the case half then why not sledge this sucker! Nothing to lose, right? Well..that did it. Actually quite abit of 5lb sledge hits. to the point I bugger the top of the shaft (ground it round to finish removing it) and broke the spot weld on the end of it.

Have to silicone some of the case casket..I suppose. there was water in the transmission..well, on the floor now. Lots of grease in there so no rust..still, shouldn't be water in the transmission!

Tomorrow I'll weld the shaft back to it's lever and reassemble. Change oil and fuel, and go till!

Guessing 90 minutes or so for reassembly...if the trans halves go together nicely.

 

[tomplum]

Determination seems to be a quality that you have! Really, I literally hate these things and won't open them up anymore myself. Give us the good word when you're done and how much time you ended up on the clock.

 

[prof fate]

got it back together...when removing the stubborn shaft ended up with a 5lb sledge and all my might..a gear fell out the trans..50/50 shot which direction it went back in. I guessed wrong. So everything works EXCEPT with tine in reverse rotation the wheels don't pull..they're in neurtral.

So apart again it must come.

Will be quicker this time. Have 6 or 7 hours in it so far - 2 of that for shaft removal/cleanup/welding. The longest part of reassembly was putting the case halves back together - 6 or 7 shafts stick through or seat in the case halves - the tine and wheel shafts are easy, the others where much more difficult to align.

Figure 3 hours, maybe 4, to reverse the gear. I'm a big sore from all the bending over, stooping and such to work on it. TOmorrow they're calling for rain so maybe I'll attack it then. Or friday, another day of all rain.

I have to do the alternator on my car, weld a running board support on the truck, and put a zero turn back together this week. Plus, you know, work a full time job.