13 replies to this topic

[GTTinkerer]

Setting on the front porch today and a guy pulls up and wants to know if I am interested in buying his "antique" rototiller and old Craftsman mower.. I explained that all old stuff isn't a valuable antique.

He told me the tiller was a Sears with a gearshift which makes me start thinking too much. I went out to his house and took a look and it turned out that it has the parts I have been looking for over the past few months. I ask him what he wants for it and he tells me he'll take $120 for the tiller and the Craftsman 830 mower. I offered him $100 for just the tiller and he said that I can have them both for the hundred. I believe the guy was just a little tipsy.

Anyway brought it home and will start working on it as soon as I finish wiring my son's house that the PO stripped out all the wiring and copper plumbing when it was foreclosed on and wiring the SIL's new barn. Ain't being retired great?

Bill

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[MH81]

Get that mower running and you'll get that tiller for free (and then some)

Really glad to hear you found the parts, are you going to leave the shifter intact or peel the case and replace the case on yours?

With the way mine whips, the lower gear might be nice.

[Fabman]

Glad to hear you found your tiller parts or tiller. That could be an advantage with high lo. If my memory is right you were doing your front yard when she blew on ya.Nice find for the price.

[GTTinkerer]

My youngest son has already laid claim to the mower since his soon to be ex-wife sold the mowing deck to his Craftsman GT II for scrap. He has been looking for a new deck but found nothing local and shipping is pretty high for the ones on eBay.

I will be leaving the shifter in place and plan on just bolting the "new" lower assembly onto the old engine and three point lift unit and will be using the adjustable depth wheels off the old unit.

The two speeds will offer a little more control for different soil conditions. May have to change the input pulleys around to get the right speed in high and just live with the low gear speed. It would be great if there was forward and reverse gearing instead of just high and low though.

Will also have to modify the three point lift shaft to get it to work with the John Deere lift arm spacing.

Bill

[Alc]

I started smiling as soon as I read this "Setting on the front porch today and a guy pulls up and wants to know if I am interested in buying ...." Bill you must be well knowned for your GTs , oh yea , happy you got the parts your looking for too , Al

[JDBrian]

Nice story Bill. Sometimes things work out and you find just what you need. You gotta love that when it happens!

[olcowhand]

Bill, I've never seen a tiller with a shifter before! I used to have a Roto Spade, but vertical 6hp TEC & direct drive via cone clutch. It was one heck of a good tiller too! I'd say you did very well on this deal!

[MH81]

It would be great if there was forward and reverse gearing instead of just high and low though.

Bill, I think it does have a reverse. Many of them did.

[GTTinkerer]

Bill, I think it does have a reverse. Many of them did.

I'll have to pull the shifter and see what it looks like inside but when I spin the tine shafts the input pulley turns in the same direction just a little slower.

I started smiling as soon as I read this "Setting on the front porch today and a guy pulls up and wants to know if I am interested in buying ...." Bill you must be well knowned for your GTs , oh yea , happy you got the parts your looking for too , Al

There isn't a small engine service and repair shop in our town of about 1200 folks and the owners of the two local hardware stores know that I have been doing it for years and keep sending folks down to see me for repairs plus a lot of folks stop by to see if I work on them since there are usually a few of mine sitting around the house. Word of mouth always helps out too. The repair shop owner in the town 14 miles down the road asked me yesterday if I wanted to work for him just doing small engine and transmission repairs and rebuilds so I am considering doing that three days a week. He wants me to be able start next week but I just don't know if I want to work that hard or be that tied down any more.

[GTTinkerer]

Bill, I've never seen a tiller with a shifter before! I used to have a Roto Spade, but vertical 6hp TEC & direct drive via cone clutch. It was one heck of a good tiller too! I'd say you did very well on this deal!

Daniel,
This one has a horizontal 6 hp Tecumseh on it. Pull starts and runs fine but I will be using the horizontal 8 hp B&S when I put it all together.

Maybe I'll bring it along in October. Still trying to buy an Ohio Steel 12" moldboard plow (turned out to be a Brinly) with the category 0 three point, the only thing stopping me is the $200.

Bill

Edited by GTTinkerer, June 18, 2012 - 11:57 AM.

[MH81]

Bill, my FIL's had 3/4 of an H pattern. I'm 98% of them was reverse. I can check next time I'm up there.

[GTTinkerer]

Bill, my FIL's had 3/4 of an H pattern. I'm 98% of them was reverse. I can check next time I'm up there.

I will definitely take a good look at it today. I need to get the model number off it and see if there is a manual available here or somewhere else on the net.

Thanks,
Bill

[GTTinkerer]

Finally got a chance this afternoon to look at the rotospade I picked up and didn't like what I saw. There is a 1" X 2" hole on the casing that looks like it was caused by a rock getting caught between the case and one of the tines. The hole has a patch out of what looked like a pop can and JB Weld. It just peeled off with a putty knife and showed signs of leaking. I have found that JB Weld will hold much better if I use a cut off disc and rough up the surface before applying it. Awhile back there was a post about a product that was stronger than JB Weld and I may try that if I can find it in the forum and up here.

The tines on the walk behind were longer and there were more of them probably because there wasn't a several hundred pound tractor pulling them through the soil. MH81 was correct on the shift pattern for the transmission on the walk behind. Top right--low, bottom left--high and bottom right--reverse.



Thanks,
Bill

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Edited by GTTinkerer, June 15, 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[MH81]

With the week being what it was, I haven't been up to his house yet, glad to hear you found the "R". That might be a handy little feature to have, even if it wasn't an OEM option.