Tiller How to offset Maschio tiller?

marthagrace · Apr 23, 2015

I've inherited a Maschio W rotary tiller as part of a farm lease - it's offset right now to cover one wheel track, and I'd like to move it back to center. The manual has a very vague description of how to do this, showing a diagram that isn't very helpful in terms of which bolts to loosen. All of the bolts on the tiller frame are rusted and stuck, so before I attack them I want to make sure I'm loosening the right ones. Does anyone have any experience adjusting the offset on a Maschio tiller? Thanks!

jenkinsph · Apr 24, 2015

A few pictures of the tiller would help us help you.

marthagrace · Apr 25, 2015

Good point - here are some pictures:

The manual makes it seem like loosening one of the two sets of screws on the back of the tiller (the second picture) allows the whole thing to slide in order to adjust the offset. My guess is it's the bottom set, which don't want to budge at all.

At first, I assumed you could just loosen the points where the lift arms attach (first picture) and side them to adjust the offset. But that's not mentioned in the manual at all.

Any help is much appreciated!

jenkinsph · Apr 25, 2015

I don't know for sure but it appears that the gear box can slide over the output shaft. So I would see if loosening the mountings will allow the whole top section to move over. Then move the hitch points to line up with the gear box new location. Are there predrilled holes for the center mounting position on the top of the tiller housing?

Train · Apr 26, 2015

Here's what I see. The areas in purple are your clue. They appear to be slide marks. So I'm thinking it's the four bolts marked with yellow that need to come loose. The blue arrow shows where someone has persuaded it with a large hammer. The area in green shows a repair that was welded. Hopefully it wasn't welded to the deck by mistake. Use some type of penetrating oil on the nuts and let them sit a day or so. Also use type of lube where the slide marks are. I think if you loosen the bolts right up, you should be able to slide everything to the center of the deck. It may take a little persuading, and I'd do it with everything disconnected. Remember, you want to move the gear box and mounts along the deck, not move the deck through the mounting points.

Train · Apr 26, 2015

Here's what I see. The areas in purple are your clue. They appear to be slide marks. So I'm thinking it's the four bolts marked with yellow that need to come loose. The blue arrow shows where someone has persuaded it with a large hammer. The area in green shows a repair that was welded. Hopefully it wasn't welded to the deck by mistake. Use some type of penetrating oil on the nuts and let them sit a day or so. Also use type of lube where the slide marks are. I think if you loosen the bolts right up, you should be able to slide everything to the center of the deck. It may take a little persuading, and I'd do it with everything disconnected. Remember, you want to move the gear box and mounts along the deck, not move the deck through the mounting points.

Also, maybe lift her up and see if there are anymore mounting bolts. It doesn't look like it in the pictures but you never know.

marthagrace · Apr 29, 2015

It's working! Thank you so much. The gear box moved well without having to bang it any more, and I'm just waiting for one more of the mount bolts to come unstuck. Again, thanks so much, I wasn't sure this was possible and it's going to make my (tilling) life easier.