Troy Built Tiller Old

[MerlinJerry]

I have joined this forum because I have an ailing TB horse. I have had it to a shop for belts jumping off and other minor problems. Shop mechanic replaced bearings on the shaft and said the worm grear was good. It seemed to work okay for about two hours and the belts jumped off the pulley. After replacing the belts, the unit worked for about five minutes and I noticed the pulleys had apparently slipped forward about one inch. The mechanic does not want to work on the unit anymore because of the age and uncertainties. I have found the identifying numbers on the transmission case. TH1001 also, there is a plate with the number 5 and then another plate with a third number 189V and a forth number 1003H. Is there any hope for a "wanting to retire" shade tree mechanic to get this sick beast up and running properly? I have no idea as to where to start or how much trouble I am facing. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[heehaw]

i don't have the info about which TB tillers are suppose to have 2 belts running at the same time and which are not: i do know, i have had about 6 different TB tillers and they were all designed to have one belt at a time: they were 4 speed tillers: high an low and move the belt from front to back an it changes the speeds to give you the other two: if your running two belts, you need to make sure its a model that is suppose to have both at the same time.
heehaw

 

[bontai_Joe]

If the pulleys have moved than the setscrew that locks them in place needs to be tightened. As mentioned above, be sure that your tiller is suppoed to have 2 belts. Closely examine the pulleys and if the 2 grooves in each pulley don't match, then you have a one belt machine and that would explain the belts popping off as you would have 2 different ratios fighting with each other depending on which belt grabbed the hardest.

 

[2manyrocks]

A picture of the unit would help. I'm not familiar with a two belt unit. Mine has a 7 hp kohler, and one belt is all it needs to transmit power.

bontai_joe's explanation makes good sense to me. I think if you took a set of calipers and measured your pulleys, you'd find that they are different sizes. One should be a high range and the other should be a low range.

 

[JakeBrake]

I have a 1976 Troy Bilt horse, two speed with two belts. Back in the day, Troy Bilt made a big deal of using matched twin belts. I assumed this was to enable them to sell matched belts at a premium price.

Now, I take my old belts to the local Belt Warehouse, where they can furnish two new belts and check to see that the two belts are matched at no extra charge.

Several years ago the local Troy Bilt dealer replaced the engine. The old engine pulley was frozen to the old engine. The dealer, in error, installed a new four speed pulley on the new engine and reassembled the tiller with only one belt. Amazingly, it worked well enough (two speed) that the dealer did not discover the error until I pointed it out. The dealer had to order the correct pulley from Troy Bilt because he did not stock the two speed pulley and, apparently, was not familiar with the two speed Horse.

 

[2manyrocks]

Which engine was on your two belt Troy Belt? Other than the two belts, it the tiller the same as the other non-PTO horse models?

 

[MerlinJerry]

Hi Guys, Thanks for your posts. Had a bad case of the crud for the past few days and had no energy to respond.

I will get to the suggestions tomorrow and see if I can have any success. I have tried to attach photos and hopefully they will be there. If so you will see that some previous owner used a lot of red paint to try to spruce up the unit.

Thanks again for your responses and I will be posting again on Wednesday with any results.

 

[MerlinJerry]

Hi Guys,
Things have gone better than I expected. I cleaned off a swath of dirt and located the S/N with a neighbors help. It is 118986.

Removed the engine and it was easy using a 2X6 bolted underneath and a floor jack to support the weight. The pulley to the shaft is part number 1008. This is a solid unit with all three pulleys cast as a single unit. The pulleys for the belts are both identical dimensions.

Discovered that the pulley should have been held on with a "C" clip. The shaft is 0.760 diameter. Does anone know the specific size clip I need? The clip of course was no where to be found.

Thanks in advance for any additional help.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

that's a pretty nice looking tiller.......worth fixing.....

i hate it when i finally break down and decide to take my stuff to a "mechanic" only to wind up fixing it myself........

keep us posted....

those tillers with two belts are a matched set.....

 

[bontai_Joe]

The shaft should be .750" and the "C" clip is available at most auto parts stores as a nominal 3/4" clip. They are standard sizes, not specific to Troy-Bilt.

 

[MerlinJerry]

Thanks. I will try to acquire one tomorrow.

 

[jeep44]

I just bought a 6hp Horse just like yours from a Craigslist ad this past weekend-$65. Rusty and neglected, but seemingly not used too much.I just can't imagine why a machine like this was allowed to get into the condition it was in. I have it all apart replacing seals and such right now, and I'm repainting it,too. It has the two belts also (I have an '87 TB Horse I bought new, and it is quite a bit different in a number of details-just one drive belt,for one)
Someone must have had the front main shaft bearing cap off once, and failed to replace the shims-the shaft had loads of slop, and had totally worn away the oil seal there. Thankfully, the gears look to be undamaged. This tiller is much simpler than my other one-no safety switches at all, and it appears that the tines turn all the time.

 

[bontai_Joe]

I just bought a 6hp Horse just like yours from a Craigslist ad this past weekend-$65. Rusty and neglected, but seemingly not used too much.I just can't imagine why a machine like this was allowed to get into the condition it was in. I have it all apart replacing seals and such right now, and I'm repainting it,too. It has the two belts also (I have an '87 TB Horse I bought new, and it is quite a bit different in a number of details-just one drive belt,for one)
Someone must have had the front main shaft bearing cap off once, and failed to replace the shims-the shaft had loads of slop, and had totally worn away the oil seal there. Thankfully, the gears look to be undamaged. This tiller is much simpler than my other one-no safety switches at all, and it appears that the tines turn all the time.

My Horse is from around 1980, has only one drive belt, and if the wheels are turning under power, so are the tines, just like yours. That was the way they worked then.

 

[jeep44]

My '87 Horse has a lever to shift the tines into neutral-a little safer, I guess, when moving it across the yard or something. It also has the handlebar interlocks which will kill the motor if you let go of both of them.
I ran around today, and rounded up various parts I needed,and also ordered some from Custom Parts. I replaced the condensor and points on the 6hp Tecumseh engine, and was pleased to see a healthy spark. The carb was gummed up worse than I have ever seen before, and it took quite a while to get the thing cleaned up,and all the passages clear-I got a rebuild kit from a local shop. If it still doesn't work, I have a donor engine with a good carb. I thought about just replacing the engine with a new one, but I have a weakness for cast iron, and this Tecumseh seems to be a heavy-duty motor.

 

[jeep44]

The shaft should be .750" and the "C" clip is available at most auto parts stores as a nominal 3/4" clip. They are standard sizes, not specific to Troy-Bilt.

I replaced those external snap rings also-Lowes has them in those drawers in the hardware section with all the nails and screws and such. .80 cents for two 3/4" snap rings.

 

[bontai_Joe]

Your '87 Troy-Bilt is a PTO model that allows you to put the tines in neutral. The pre-PTO units didn;t have that feature. Glad that you got your "C" clips. I am blessed with an old fashioned "mom & pop" hardware store locally that has all sorts of drawers and bins full of just about any hardware imaginable, including metric, brass and stainless steel, and you are right the prices are MUCH more reasonable than at some Power Eq. dealers.