My neighbor let me borrow his Befco 50" off-set tiller the other day to do some yard work. This unit has seen some use and has the battle scars to prove it. One problem in particular is a leak on the tiller shaft where it exits the gearbox, which in this case is a chain drive unit. My neighbor was aware of the leak and stated he just adds oil (whatever he has sitting around) periodically. To get a better feel for what "oil" should be used, I asked him for the manual but unfortunately he cannot locate it. Aside from that, I noticed the carrier bearing on the opposite end of the tiller shaft is lubricated via a zirc grease fitting. I was going to place a call to Befco but before that I thought I'd give the TBN experts a chance to answer my questions, which are;
(1) Does Befco stamp the model number on their units and if so, where would I look? (I do not see any metal tags with model/serial number.)
(2) Since one tiller shaft bearing gets greased, would it be harmful to believe that the gearbox (chain drive) also receives grease instead of gear oil. My oil friends that are in the gearbox now seem like they are fighting with each other to see who can leak out the fastest.
(3) If the gearcase does in fact take oil, its obvious a seal replacement is necessary. Has anyone ever tackled this on one of these units/or other brands and if so, was it a major undertaking?
(4) Could someone give me a ballpark price for replacement tines. This one is missing three...
Thanks for any help you guys can pass along.
Russ
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