83 TroyBilt Horse with 13 HP Honda

[Crazy like a Horse]

I replaced the 7 HP Kohler engine on my Horse tiller with this 13 HP Honda engine.

I've since named my tiller: "Atilla the BeastMaster"

More Power!

 

[BCSSHOP]

Hello Crazy,

That looks like a very neat installation to one of the best TroyBilt Models. I especially like the way you reworked the bumper. People forget that the TroyBilt sold well over a million just Horse model tillers before being acquired by MTD in 2001. I good solid 1980's to early 1990s Horse tiller is well worth restoring and maintaining. Thanks for sharing your update to a 29 year TroyBilt. Enjoy Atilla

 

[Crazy like a Horse]

Thanks BCSHOP and good eye spotting the bumper mod. Just in case anyone wishes to do something similar I'm posting some pics of the process. I used a junk bike frame for donor tubing and formed it with a 3/4" electricians pipe bender. JB Weld holds it all together.

I'm looking forward to plunging Atilla's tines deep into the fertile Oklahoma soil.

CLAH

 

[TimberXX]

Is that the tiller than can accept attachments? Do you have any for it.

Did the Kohler wear out? How many hours did you have on it?

 

[Crazy like a Horse]

Is that the tiller than can accept attachments? Do you have any for it.

Did the Kohler wear out? How many hours did you have on it?

Yes this tiller is the PTO version that accepts other attachments but the tiller is the only one I have.

The 7 HP Kohler engine is in really good shape and starts first pull but could use a ring job. I bought this 83 tiller in 89 while in California and the previous owner stored it outside and water looks to have entered the upper cylinder. I may bore it out .010 and install an 8 HP crank to make it the equivalent of the 8 HP Magnum. I repainted the engine covers and added an electronic ignition back in 89.

Don't know how many hours on the engine but the original tines were only half worn when I bought it and it's been in and out of storage for the last 20 years with less than 10 hours that I put on it, in the last two years.

CLAH

 

[farmerboybill]

Hi Crazy,

You did a very nice job with the Ol' Troy-Bilt. I almost bought one at an estate auction before I bought my first BCS, but quit bidding at $300 and the winning bidder got it for $325. It was an older Horse, but I have no recollection if it was a Horse, Horse II, or Horse III. At that time, I didn't even know they had PTO models.

I know very little about Troy-Bilt tillers, but had thought the engine had to be 3/4 inch shaft to fit a special pulley made for the reverser. How did you get around this? Are you planning on building a bigger tiller to accommodate the nearly double HP you now have?

 

[NativeSon]

Great looking tiller. I had an old Troy-built that I bought new that I really miss. It got stolen and I bought a new one in 2002 and it's not half the machine the old one was. This one will do but I miss my old iron. If I ever run on to an old one somebody wants to sell you can bet I'll grab it up.

Charlie
Quitman, TX

 

[BCSSHOP]

Hello Crazy,

That Kohler 7hp is my all time favorite engine but my records show that the PTO models used Briggs 8hp IC and the Kphler 8hp Magnum version not the old 7hp K161. You could idle that engine down to about 400rpm then snap the throttle wide open and it would rev up without missing a beat. How nice it was in pre-pollution control days.

 

[5030]

Hello Crazy,

That Kohler 7hp is my all time favorite engine but my records show that the PTO models used Briggs 8hp IC and the Kphler 8hp Magnum version not the old 7hp K161. You could idle that engine down to about 400rpm then snap the throttle wide open and it would rev up without missing a beat. How nice it was in pre-pollution control days.

I have a K241 driving a Lincoln ac/dc welder-generator and it sounds sweet just ticking over. Great sounding engines.... Not like the modern stuff....

 

[Crazy like a Horse]

Hello Crazy,

That Kohler 7hp is my all time favorite engine but my records show that the PTO models used Briggs 8hp IC and the Kphler 8hp Magnum version not the old 7hp K161. You could idle that engine down to about 400rpm then snap the throttle wide open and it would rev up without missing a beat. How nice it was in pre-pollution control days.

On this site: http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=153157 there is a PDF file that shows the 7 HP was availiable from 78 on and somewhere around 87 the 8 HP Kohler Magnum was offered. I like the 7HP Kohler but I'm tilling deep in heavy clay with the HD custom tilling tines and it really is hard on the 7 HP. See attached picture for comparison of the standard vs HD tines. With the HD tines you're moving a lot more soil. I laugh when I see some of the tiller demos on Youtube. The soil looks like sandy compost. Who has soil like that anyway.

My plan is to rebuild the 7 HP Kohler and keep it for awhile. Maybe I can pick up a TB tiller with a bad engine and repower it.

CLAH