Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse

   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse
  • Thread Starter
#12  
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse #13  
You're welcome. I hope you find a great tiller and get a good deal on it.
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse
  • Thread Starter
#14  
Well, I bought them. :) Yah, both.

One of them, the guy broke the T handle off of...broke about 3 threads out of the top of the cast iron trying to force the thing through the garden with a flat tire(not the guy I bought it off of, previous owner). :confused2: It then sat outside for the winter rusting and rotting. :( Looks like heck, motors locked up(sat nose down in the mud and snow...keep in mind, it was running when the guy got ticked at it. So it was ROUGH. Looked very tired. No oil on the bottom, tines were decent...not new but OK and the tine gear box was tight.

The other one, looked great....looked ready to go to work. Taken OK care of, showed its age, but overall, it was the one I wanted. UNTIL I rolled it up on its nose. All greasy and oily on the botom, top, around the front wheel shaft, grease. Bad. Tines wobbled back and forth and walked in the bearings very badly. :mad: So I was trying to decide what to do. Oh, both non PTO models with Tecumseh engines on them.

I told him what I was seeing. He wanted 300 apiece(one came with a brand new Harbor Freight Honda-like engine...the seized one). I explained to him what you guys had old me. He said 'I don't want to force them on you, but would you be interested in both.

I thought about it...we discussed what I was willing to pay for the decent one wiht the shot gearbox....then I threw out 400 for the pair. He acted hurt...but I told him he could keep the Harbor Freight engine(that engine sounded sweet btw). He thought about it and said he wished I'd have been with him when he bought the first one! :laughing:

Anyway, he had a very nice PTO model Horse there and we checked the gearbox on it and it was fairly decent...tiller looked awesome btw.

Anyway, so I now own 2. Hoping he gearbox on he one can be transfered ot the other one and I can make 1 decent tiller out of the 2. Hope I didn't get hurt too bad.

Oh, the one that is in decent shape except for the toast gearbox has 157951 stamped in the top of the trans housing to the right of the T handle. The other one appears to look more like 16XXXX but I can't make it out.
 
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   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse #15  
Pictures of where you're starting would be nice.

Sounds like a lot of part swapping is about to happen.
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse
  • Thread Starter
#16  
Yup, thats what I'm kind of thinking. I'm hoping that the parts will interchange.

I got home with them about 9 pm in the middle of the rain/wind storm central Indiana was getting. All I wanted to do after the 4 hr round trip was to unload them and do a bit of research and go to bed.

This weekend, I should have time to roll them outside and snap pics and get them uploaded.

I expect it will be a bit of work to get them running
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse #17  
I have a 1989 model Pony that I bought new -- still runs like a champ (though it smokes a little on startup) and is simply one of THE best purchases I've ever made, if not THE VERY best. Always started on no more than 3 pulls after sitting all winter, and one pull after that. I replaced the axle seals and tines a couple years back -- other than drive belts and welding up a broken handle, no other repairs in 20 years. It came with a RED engine, BTW...

IMO, you made the right decision to go with the Horse, over the Econo-Horse. As I recall, the Econo-Horse was a "mid-price" model, larger than the Pony and smaller than the Horse, that used different drive belts and pulley configurations to control speed, while the Horse used a true, multiple-gear transmission. The Pony is a single speed, with reverse, using belts. The Econo-Horse was a two-speed, using belts, plus reverse. The Horse is a true 3-speed gear-driven transmission, plus reverse. Note that the Horse does use a drive belt from the engine to the transmission -- which is a good thing. That belt serves as the clutch, and is a cheap, easily adjusted/replaced item, in comparison to a clutch disk somewhere in the drivetrain, whether a wet clutch or dry clutch. A clutch is essential, not only for normal clutching of the engine/transmission, but also to serve as a "slip-clutch" when something like a rock or large root gets caught in the tines...

Bearings, seals, and tines are readily available, and a good Horse is worth investing in a new engine, if necessary, because it will keep on working for a long, long time... Go through it mechanically, clean it up, get it running good, and it will likely give you another 20 years of service...

I bought the Pony when I did, because of garden size. Now with larger garden and a larger tiller for my garden tractor, I use it almost entirely for cultivating. Small, lighter weight and maneuverability are good things for that usage. The Horse, in comparison, is a beast that can break sod, if necessary...

Not quite as versatile a machine as an old Gravely, or new BCS, the Horse is still a rock-solid tiller that will last a long, long time (at a fraction of the cost, BTW). I have a neighbor who vegetable farms and runs a maple sugar business for a living. He has a 1970s vintage Horse that must be on its 3rd or 4th engine by now, and who knows how many sets of tines over the years in this rocky New England soil. I'd guess that tiller probably has close to 5,000 hours on it and he still uses it daily during the gardening season...
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse #18  
I'll also add that the Junior was the size smaller than the Pony...

Troybilt used many different engines over the years. At the time I bought mine, the Econo-Horse, Pony and Junior all had Briggs & Strattons, while there were choices on the Horse, at different prices. The top of line Horses came with Kohler Commands, and an electric start option. I think (not sure) there was an electric start option on the Econo-Horse Briggs also...
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse #19  
The Pony was probably a better choice than the Junior because the Junior had smaller wheels and they locked to the driveshaft via a key that had to be removed to freewheel the machine. I liked the forward and reverse controls on the Junior. It did a great job of tilling in the garden--almost too great because the smaller tires allowed it to tend to bury itself.

87iroc, you must have Troy bilt fever to drive 4 hours to buy two parts machines to rebuild.
 
   / Troy Bilt Horse vs Econo-Horse
  • Thread Starter
#20  
It was actually 1 hr 45 minutes each way... :) I didn't think it would be that long.

The guy didn't advertise these yet and I was afraid that he'd advertise them and they'd get snapped up in a hurry. To be fair to myself, I drove that distance thinking that each tiller only needed minor work to fix. Not until I got there, using the info from this thread, did I realize what was actually the case. So, if not for this thread or others like it on here, I would have bought the one, for 300 bucks, and gotten home to find out I had a wore out POS that needed a couple hundred in parts plus he didn't give me the air cleaner bottom plate with it.


I've been chatting with Wayne via PM. I may take a vacation day to sort through them next Wednesday. 5 day weekend to work on the car(just put a new engine in it) and the tillers would be nice.
 
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