jimfrits
New member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2013
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- Springfield Mo. area
- Tractor
- John Deere 1026R John Deere 2520
First thing is: I'm not a new member, just someone who hasn't posted in some time but I forgot my user name and password and have since changed email address so I just registered again.
I just purchased a new 4 foot Tarter tiller and I'm having trouble reversing the direction. The manual shows what looks like a simple procedure to reverse the tiller direction, but it does not work in my case. I'm supposed to take the bolts out holding the gearbox to the tiller and then slide the gearbox to the left until the shaft disengages the gearbox. Sounds simple enough, but the shaft does not disengage the gearbox the the gearbox can't be slide any further to the left because it hits the frame of the tiller. I called Tarter Manufacturing and the gentlemen I talked to told me to take out a retaining ring on the opposite side of the gearbox, remove a washer and then simply slide the shaft all the way through the gearbox. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! The shaft will not disengage from the gear drive side of the tiller. I've tried loosing the gear drive assembly to allow some movement so the shaft would not be in any bind, but no luck. I tried tapping on the shaft in case it was just "frozen" for some unknown reason, but not luck. I tried putting a clamp on the shaft and then tapping the clamp to try to drive the shaft toward the gearbox, but not luck.
So now I've taken the cover off of the gear drive to expose the gears and hopefully give me a method to tap the end of the shaft but the drive gear has what appears to be a freeze plug. The drive parts picture calls it a seal cap. I don't know whether or not to remove the seal cap or not. I don't want to do that if I won't help.
Has anyone out there had this problem?
Another frustrating and messy side to this problem was: The tiller came with a large sticker warning that it is shipped without oil and to fill it prior to using. When I took the cover off the gear drive I was using an impact wrench so the capscrews were coming out fast. I had most of them out when the cover popped open and out came a full load of oil on my drive! That caused a fast trip to the my wood working shop to get a bag of saw dust from my vacuum. Sigh!
I think I've come up with an easy solution and wonder why I didn't think of it before. I have to take the tine shaft out anyway to turn it around so I'll take the gear drive completely loose and that will allow me to move the gearbox to clear the tiller frame and slide it far enough to disengage the shaft.
I went to my local rental agency and my friend who owns the business suggested tapping the shaft from the gearbox end (through the opposite side of the gearbox) and drive the seal cap out so I could reuse the cap and avoid going through the hassle of trying to find someone to order a new cap from. I hadn't thought of that and I believe it would work. The shaft is tight in the gear drive end for some reason. The parts drawing does not indicate any method that the holds the shaft in the drive gear so I thinks it's just stuck.
I just read some old posts about this tiller and the fact that the manufacturer does not want to deal with the end user. I called Tarter and the man I talked to was very helpful although his suggestion didn't work because the shaft will not disengage from the gear drive. I tried calling again and talking to him about that but he wouldn't return my call. In my 70 years experience on this planet I've found some manufacturers that are happy to talk to you and some that are not. Just a frustrating fact of life. In my experience it's hard to find a retailer that knows very much about the things they sell. Take Lowes for instance. I love Lowes because they have a lot of things I use, but can you imagine asking anyone there about the internals on this gear drive! Tarter lists them as a retailer for this tiller. I can't imagine, but maybe they are.
Jim
I just purchased a new 4 foot Tarter tiller and I'm having trouble reversing the direction. The manual shows what looks like a simple procedure to reverse the tiller direction, but it does not work in my case. I'm supposed to take the bolts out holding the gearbox to the tiller and then slide the gearbox to the left until the shaft disengages the gearbox. Sounds simple enough, but the shaft does not disengage the gearbox the the gearbox can't be slide any further to the left because it hits the frame of the tiller. I called Tarter Manufacturing and the gentlemen I talked to told me to take out a retaining ring on the opposite side of the gearbox, remove a washer and then simply slide the shaft all the way through the gearbox. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! The shaft will not disengage from the gear drive side of the tiller. I've tried loosing the gear drive assembly to allow some movement so the shaft would not be in any bind, but no luck. I tried tapping on the shaft in case it was just "frozen" for some unknown reason, but not luck. I tried putting a clamp on the shaft and then tapping the clamp to try to drive the shaft toward the gearbox, but not luck.
So now I've taken the cover off of the gear drive to expose the gears and hopefully give me a method to tap the end of the shaft but the drive gear has what appears to be a freeze plug. The drive parts picture calls it a seal cap. I don't know whether or not to remove the seal cap or not. I don't want to do that if I won't help.
Has anyone out there had this problem?
Another frustrating and messy side to this problem was: The tiller came with a large sticker warning that it is shipped without oil and to fill it prior to using. When I took the cover off the gear drive I was using an impact wrench so the capscrews were coming out fast. I had most of them out when the cover popped open and out came a full load of oil on my drive! That caused a fast trip to the my wood working shop to get a bag of saw dust from my vacuum. Sigh!
I think I've come up with an easy solution and wonder why I didn't think of it before. I have to take the tine shaft out anyway to turn it around so I'll take the gear drive completely loose and that will allow me to move the gearbox to clear the tiller frame and slide it far enough to disengage the shaft.
I went to my local rental agency and my friend who owns the business suggested tapping the shaft from the gearbox end (through the opposite side of the gearbox) and drive the seal cap out so I could reuse the cap and avoid going through the hassle of trying to find someone to order a new cap from. I hadn't thought of that and I believe it would work. The shaft is tight in the gear drive end for some reason. The parts drawing does not indicate any method that the holds the shaft in the drive gear so I thinks it's just stuck.
I just read some old posts about this tiller and the fact that the manufacturer does not want to deal with the end user. I called Tarter and the man I talked to was very helpful although his suggestion didn't work because the shaft will not disengage from the gear drive. I tried calling again and talking to him about that but he wouldn't return my call. In my 70 years experience on this planet I've found some manufacturers that are happy to talk to you and some that are not. Just a frustrating fact of life. In my experience it's hard to find a retailer that knows very much about the things they sell. Take Lowes for instance. I love Lowes because they have a lot of things I use, but can you imagine asking anyone there about the internals on this gear drive! Tarter lists them as a retailer for this tiller. I can't imagine, but maybe they are.
Jim
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