Tiller died, fix it or buy new/used

I forgot to say to spray the PB Blaster on the crankshaft behind the pulley too. That way it can work from both sides. If it has a hex key, if you can get it out, spray some in there too.

I've been watching this thread with interest because we have a TroyBilt 7hp Horse that we bought in the late 70s. Reverse is gone, the throttle is unreliable, and compression is going, but honestly, the reliability of this machine has eclipsed just about anything and everything we've ever had. We paid the insane price of nearly $800 back when you could get five loaves of bread on sale for a dollar, and it's been one of our best investments.

Reliability is very important to me-- more important than price or some convenience features. Now that reliability is slipping, and since the current TroyBilt machines only resemble mine in name and color, we've been considering BCS. Again, pricey, but I find that long after I've forgotten what I paid, the pleasure of reliability looms large.

I'd be open to opinions about BCS versus a complete rebuild. We have a good small engine man who could do the job, but this is also an investment, and we wonder if the money would be better spent on a new machine versus pouring it into an old one.

Ideas? Experiences?

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What do you do if the mounting bolt holes don't line up with a new engine?

I bought a Predator for my tiller last year but haven't tried to mount it yet. The hole diagram is different than the tiller holes. The pulley should line up fine because the belt can take up a lot of slack.

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TroyBilt is now MTD, and also total crap. Mine TB tiller is probably 40 years old, and I wouldn't trade it even up for anything new MTD makes.

Just my opinion of MTD products.

Horseyrider, I expect you already know, but reverse is just a disc that is adjustable and not difficult to replace. I've replaced the throttle on one of mine, no big deal.

If it were mine I would replace the throttle, reverse disc, and replace the engine.

http://reno.craigslist.org/grd/4332614131.html

Thanks! We did replace the throttle once, but it freezes up and really doesn't work well. I end up leaving it in the frozen position, where sometimes it tachs up fine, and other times is fine for idling but not for getting in deep. The tines are new, the fuel line is new, and I love the old girl more than words can say. For probably thirty years she's started up every spring on the first or second pull. Only in the last few has she been giving me troubles.

We used to love the customer support from the TroyBilt company, and even the little newspaper they sent out to owners every few months called The TBON News. It had lots of information about maintaining the machine, different ways to use the machine, modifications that some owners have successfully used, and even gardening advice and recipes. Sales manager was a guy named Dean Leith, and he really understood customer relations. I hope he was well compensated when the company was sold because the guy was a genius.

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‎"The trouble with quotes over the Internet is that you never know if they are genuine." - Abraham Lincoln