Troy bilt horse with bad shaft seals

[Randy Rooster]

The last time I used my early 70 s vintage TB horse tiller I had oil pouring from the left tine shaft seal. It is time to replace it and I was wondering if anyone here has done it? How big of a job is it and can you give me any pointers or advice? Also what sort of oil should I fill the resevoir back up with once the new seals are in?

[JoePa]

I changed the seals on my Troy Bilt years ago - don't remember much about it though - other than it was real easy -

[geo in mi]

I've got to do it on mine ASAP this Spring. I've done it before, and it isn't too hard--just the removal of the handle and tiller shroud in order to get to the tiller shafts. I've already got the parts, but I will need some Loctite for the screw threads instead of ordering all new screws. This site shows the schematic and part numbers you will need to order. More than likely, the early cast iron assemblies have carried on through the years, so these parts "should" fit...you might want to do some more internet searching if you can find the model and serial number of your tine unit. Main problem will be getting the sulfur oil smell out of your hands and clothing. 80/90 Wt is used now, if you have a good seal. You should definitely order the gasket seals, too. Spraying WD-40 on the rototiller tine shafts that connect to the drive stubs will help you get them back on without beating on them and damaging the internal worm gear. The internal gearing is all bronze, so you should never run the tiller without gear oil. Sand and weeds wrapped around the shaft at the oil seal location will wear the seals out (rubber) pretty quickly. You should park your Horse on a surface where you can early on see if it has started leaking.

Hope this helps.

http://www.troybiltpartsonline.com/p...e-Tiller-Parts

geo

[Randy Rooster]

Originally Posted by geo in mi

I've got to do it on mine ASAP this Spring. I've done it before, and it isn't too hard--just the removal of the handle and tiller shroud in order to get to the tiller shafts. I've already got the parts, but I will need some Loctite for the screw threads instead of ordering all new screws. This site shows the schematic and part numbers you will need to order. More than likely, the early cast iron assemblies have carried on through the years, so these parts "should" fit...you might want to do some more internet searching if you can find the model and serial number of your tine unit. Main problem will be getting the sulfur oil smell out of your hands and clothing. 80/90 Wt is used now, if you have a good seal. You should definitely order the gasket seals, too. Spraying WD-40 on the rototiller tine shafts that connect to the drive stubs will help you get them back on without beating on them and damaging the internal worm gear. The internal gearing is all bronze, so you should never run the tiller without gear oil. Sand and weeds wrapped around the shaft at the oil seal location will wear the seals out (rubber) pretty quickly. You should park your Horse on a surface where you can early on see if it has started leaking.

Hope this helps.

http://www.troybiltpartsonline.com/p...e-Tiller-Parts

geo

thanks George that really helps

[Randy Rooster]

I just wanted to make a few notes here in case anyone else has similar problems they may be able to learn something from me- this was my first time doing this job- hopefully my last as well. This may be old hat to some of you folks but for me was a learning experience.

My troy bilt horse is a 70 s model. The tine shaft oil seal on the left side was fairly easy for me to remove, because there is a cover that hold the seal, which you remove and then you can tap out the old bad seal from the backside of the ccover. The one one the right side is not so easy. In order to get to it from the back side would involve removing the tine drive shaft, bronze bull gear, and bearings that are pressed on each side of the bronze gear onto the shaft. I also had the problem of the 3/16 " shaft key for the tines being stuck in place that no amount persuasion seemed to be able to remove. I tried heating it with a torch and tapping it but no luck - used pb blaster and let it soak for a couple of hours - still stuck- I wound up carefully drilling it in 4 places to its full depth and that allowed me to finally pry and punch the old key out.

I did a little bit of online research and found a great idea for removing the remaining oil seal and found some good advice. I drilled a starter hole into the face of the seal ( carefully so as not to go all the way through the seal ) and then screwed a machine screw part way into the seal - I did this in 2 spots 12 and 6 oclock - then I used a pry bar under the head of the machine screws to pry out the old seal - it worked great - just like pulling a bent nail out of a piece of wood with the claw end of a hammer - leverage is a wonderful thing. I cleaned everything up good and - I am going to order my new seals and gaskets today. With luck I will have my tiller up and running in a week or two.

[retire2$]

Suggest you go to YOUTUBE and type in Replacing seals on troybilt tiller.

[||Downhome||]

need to do the axle seals myself, the you tube vid I found looks easy enough,
He just used a flat head to piry the lip out opposite it was then smashed it down a bit and used some needle nose visegrips to latch on and a hammer smack.

[geo in mi]

Randy,

Your comments sent me back to the drawing board, hmmmm. My memory wasn't clear enough, so I may have steered you wrong. I assumed there was a similar cover on the right side, like the left, and that it would be "easy" to just pull out the seal..... Sorry about that. Looking at the original drawing, though, it looks like the tine seal would clear the key, since the shaft is tapered and if you could get the seal pried loose, it would just ride over the key? If so, you wouldn't have had to take the key out--nor the shaft and gears and bearings, for that matter?

At any rate, a stuck key might indicate that the tines have hit some rocks which might have warped it or dislocated it--or put some burrs on it? I don't know if the key is supposed to be a shear point or not, but it would be better than breaking the bronze gearing........

I guess I'll find out pretty soon. It's the first thing on my "do now" list just as soon as this cast comes off and the Doc gives me the okay for light duty.

geo