Troy Bilt Horse Tiller Conversion to Dethatcher

[Shmudda]

Has anybody ever converted one of these old Troy Bilt Horse Tillers into a powered grass/lawn rotary dethatcher?

I have (2) of these machines and was thinking of this conversion for one of them. Wanted to see if anyone had the same hair brained idea and actually made it work.........

Craig

 

[beenthere]

Interesting idea. Would you buy the thatcher tines and bolt them on?

Or custom make something else?

My concern with a thatcher that has the heavy wire tines is breaking them off and losing in the lawn. Tossing them around later when mowing would not be good.

 

[Shmudda]

I'm thinking about replacing the tine holders and machining a special arbor that would fit on the tapered tine shaft but use the same bolt up design they have for holding the tine holders on. I will need to custom design a new set to hold the spring dethatcher tines on though. This is going to become my winter project, I can see it now!!

There are a few ideas floating around in my head right now, just need to figure out how to make them work.

Craig

 

[honorbound]

Troy used to make pointed thatcher tines for their machines. They were discontinued due to being to dangerous to use. Not to be negative, just letting you know why Troy discontinued them.