Troy Bilt Horse Tiller

2manyrocks · Mar 13, 2009

There has been a badly overpriced Tbilt horse on our local Mid TN CL for a couple of months. We had a brief warm up about a week ago, and I noticed the seller had boosted his price to $1,000, but had the same photo of his unit with the same flat tire. There was another listed at $300, and it's sold.

boxygen · Mar 14, 2009

An "equivalent" machine purchased new today would cost well over 2k, and it would be not nearly as durable. As far as parts go, you can download a parts and service manual on the troy-bilt website (free) and look up parts diagrams as well as purchase any part right on the website. I purchased new wheel seals and a set of belts last week, although I had to phone it in because the online ordering didnt seem to work. All I can say is that I wish all my machinery had that kind of resource available. These older horse models are extremely tough. If I were you I would try to start the tiller right on site. I started mine a few days ago just to see if I could, it fired right up in 2-3 pulls and it was in the 20s outside. They also used to make front snowplow attachments for these so they are meant to run in the winter if you use the correct type of oil in them.
I wouldnt go near the new troy bilt. They are owned and built by MTD like every other piece of Homedepot-grade garbage that is available today. These old horse models were built in Troy, New York by people that set out to build an extremely durable HD tiller and they suceeded. I have the original paperwork on mine and it is very interesting reading. IF you wore out your tiller, they advertised that they would completely rebuild the tiller at their plant for half the cost of the original purchase price. THe original purchase price I think was around 900 dollars twenty plus years ago. Technically, there is no expiration date on the document and it is binding, but we all know you would never get anywhere with that. Don't give up on this lead if you are serious about buying a tiller. Best of luck.

oldmanmike · Mar 14, 2009

boxygen wrote:

I have the original paperwork on mine and it is very interesting reading.

I'm interested in reading it. If you could scan and post, or scan and email miketuch1@aol.com I'd appreciate it.

bontai_Joe · Mar 14, 2009

BATTY54 said:
My 6 HP tecumseh horse has 2 matched belts, that is the older 2 speed. The 2 speed has the reverse disk the goes into a groove in the pully. The newer model has a single belt that you switch to a different groove in the pulley to get your 4 speeds. It also uses a flat reverser disk that rubs a flat on the transmission pulley.

My appologies, I learned something new today. I didn't know that the real old ones were a 2 speed. I've never seen one, but sounds like the drive would be more positive.

BATTY54 · Mar 15, 2009

No apologies needed, I read a few groups daily and learn new stuff all the time. As far as the drive being more positive, it is when adjusted correctly and matched belts. It is tough to find a matched pair of belts lately I assume that is part of the reason for the switch to the single belt. I used to buy them from NAPA and now Stens but they only have singles.

oldmanmike · Mar 18, 2009

Troy Bilt Tiller Parts

Another Horse parts house - small selection - has Horse axle seals.

Does anyone have an opinion on how well the 90 degree Bolo tines work versus the 45 degree stock tines? My tiller is half and half, 4 Bolos, 4 standard. Why do the Bolos cost double?

The Bolos are installed so that when you look at them from the rear, they form 3/4 of a rectangle, causing a two-track dirt turnover pattern. I'm about to move those tines around so that they alternate better.

oldmanmike · Mar 18, 2009

Forget my last questions. You're not supposed to mix bolo and cultivator tines. I'm going to take them apart, mix and match correctly, and put them back together.

The manual is here. RTFM as they used to say.

PDF Manual Web Archive

Type in Horse for Model, 1 for Serial.

You have your choice of the entire manual (huge), or the manual sectioned out. Be sure and look at the index to get an idea of where the info you're looking up might be, because the PDF sections do not equal manual sections.

Accept. (I had to repeat this several times to get it to "take".)

FYI - the manual says to use SAE 90 or SAE 140 for transmission gear oil. The T handle is the transmission filler hole. Duhhhhhh. I used the oil level plug.
Eventually I got it done........

oldmanmike · Mar 28, 2009

I have the manual and parts list for the Troybilt Horse 1 on my machine as a .pdfs, if anyone's interested. I bought a $7 CD off EBAY. I suppose I could burn CDs for you guys, but I'm not sure if it would work for everyone, as it calls up AOL (even though the Adobe doesn't need it.) (why I don't know). Anyhow email miketuch1@aol.com.

The guy in Jacksonville, you've been around. My engine is a Tecumseh 8HP. Do I have breaker points and a cap buried in there, or a transistorized module? Are they behind the flywheel? If they're behind the flywheel, does it knock off with a hammer?

J_J · Mar 28, 2009

oldmanmike said:
I have the manual and parts list for the Troybilt Horse 1 on my machine as a .pdfs, if anyone's interested. I bought a $7 CD off EBAY. I suppose I could burn CDs for you guys, but I'm not sure if it would work for everyone, as it calls up AOL (even though the Adobe doesn't need it.) (why I don't know). Anyhow email miketuch1@aol.com.

The guy in Jacksonville, you've been around. My engine is a Tecumseh 8HP. Do I have breaker points and a cap buried in there, or a transistorized module? Are they behind the flywheel? If they're behind the flywheel, does it knock off with a hammer?

I have mostly worked on Briggs, and Kohler's, and I can't remember about the Tecumseh engine. I know the Briggs do like you said.

Would love to have one of those Cd's. Send me a PM. Thanks

oldmanmike · Mar 29, 2009

Gotcha covered, JJ

oldmanmike · Mar 31, 2009

2manyrocks said:
There has been a badly overpriced Tbilt horse on our local Mid TN CL for a couple of months. We had a brief warm up about a week ago, and I noticed the seller had boosted his price to $1,000, but had the same photo of his unit with the same flat tire. There was another listed at $300, and it's sold.

After using my orginal $250 machine for a couple of months or so, and seeing what everyone else has around here, and paying out the money for new tines, belts, seals, parts for normal maintenance, and adding an electric start to my 8HP Horse-1, I'm thinking that $1000 is not too much to pay for a Horse-1 that has NOTHING wrong with it, and runs good. It's got every other tiller beat hands down.

J_J · Mar 31, 2009

oldmanmike said:
After using my orginal $250 machine for a couple of months or so, and seeing what everyone else has around here, and paying out the money for new tines, belts, seals, parts for normal maintenance, and adding an electric start to my 8HP Horse-1, I'm thinking that $1000 is not too much to pay for a Horse-1 that has NOTHING wrong with it, and runs good. It's got every other tiller beat hands down.

I have a spare 8 HP Honda engine, with a 1 in shaft, do you think it would work on the Troybuilt Horse? The engines used on the Pony Troybuilt us a special engine that has a reverse shaft plus the regular shaft. I haven't seen one in a long time. I just might fix it up and sell it. I also have a 72 in hydraulic tiller that I use with my Power-Trac.

oldmanmike · Apr 1, 2009

J_J said:
I have a spare 8 HP Honda engine, with a 1 in shaft, do you think it would work on the Troybuilt Horse? The engines used on the Pony Troybuilt us a special engine that has a reverse shaft plus the regular shaft. I haven't seen one in a long time. I just might fix it up and sell it. I also have a 72 in hydraulic tiller that I use with my Power-Trac.

JJ, the Horse-1 is a single shaft engine/transmission. Once you get the CD you'll be able to answer your own question. It's a matter of shaft adaptability. 1" rings a bell. 1" milled down to 3/4 for a spell also rings a bell.

The CD will go out in the 4PM mail today.

heehaw · Apr 4, 2009

are you folks sure there are troy bilt tillers that use 2 belts at the same time? i've had several different models over the years, have 4 right now, an never seen one that uses 2 belts: have seen a bunch with 2 belts installed.
heehaw

BATTY54 · Apr 4, 2009

I just did a quick check,

The replacement engine for a 6hp tecumseh has a 3/4" x 2 7/16" shaft listed on tulsa engine warehouse.com I didn't check on the 4 speed model.

The matched pair of belts are listed for s/n 1001-314150 2 speed tillers. I found that on custom parts inc.

heehaw · Apr 4, 2009

"FYI - the manual says to use SAE 90 or SAE 140 for transmission gear oil. The T handle is the transmission filler hole. Duhhhhhh. I used the oil level plug.
Eventually I got it done........"
WOW, i just changed the gear oil using the top filler hole an it took about an hour an a half: can't imagine how long it took you using the side hole??
unless you use something that will allow you to pump it in??
heehaw

oldmanmike · Apr 4, 2009

heehaw said:
"FYI - the manual says to use SAE 90 or SAE 140 for transmission gear oil. The T handle is the transmission filler hole. Duhhhhhh. I used the oil level plug.
Eventually I got it done........"
WOW, i just changed the gear oil using the top filler hole an it took about an hour an a half: can't imagine how long it took you using the side hole??
unless you use something that will allow you to pump it in??
heehaw

Wheel off, tipped, long-necked transmission tube slipped over a 3/8" hose. Gravity does the job. Took me an hour and a half, also.

I did this because at the filling station where I worked in the 60s, part of a lube-oil-filter was checking the rear end. We always had a wire bent 90 degrees at the end, short end being 1", this is how we checked rear ends, through the filler hole. If there was no oil showing on the 1" portion, then we got a "grease-gun look-alike" with a small tube on it, which we dipped into the 90W barrel, sucked it up by pulling the plunger out, then pushed the tube in the hole in the rear end, pushed the plunger in. Carefully. Replace plug. Then you were done. Fords and Chryslers were easy, Chevvies were a *****. I have not seen one of those heavy liquid dispensers in years.

Anyway, that's why I did what did, through the side, seemed natural to me.

oldmanmike · Apr 4, 2009

heehaw said:
are you folks sure there are troy bilt tillers that use 2 belts at the same time? i've had several different models over the years, have 4 right now, an never seen one that uses 2 belts: have seen a bunch with 2 belts installed.
heehaw

Heehaw

PDF Manual Web Archive

Type in Horse on 1st line
1 on the second line
Click view on sectioned Horse 1 or 2 Operators manual
Click I accept.
Click on Maintenance (belts)
Wait for .pdf to load
Go to page 93.

Belt(s) plural. Matched pair with old Troybilt part number. The pictures aren't good enough so you can see them up underneath the hood.

oldmanmike · Apr 4, 2009

J_J said:
I have a spare 8 HP Honda engine, with a 1 in shaft, do you think it would work on the Troybuilt Horse? The engines used on the Pony Troybuilt us a special engine that has a reverse shaft plus the regular shaft. I haven't seen one in a long time. I just might fix it up and sell it. I also have a 72 in hydraulic tiller that I use with my Power-Trac.

I gave you the wrong answer, JJ. I apologize. Here's the right answer, for Troybilt Horses that came with Tecumseh engines:

208106A

Horsepower 8.0
Crankshaft Orientation: Horizontal Shaft
Single Cylinder
Cylinder Type: Cast Iron Sleeve
Cylinder Head Style: Flat Head
Crankshaft Diameter: 3/4 inch
Crankshaft Length: 2-7/16 inches
Tapped: 5/16-24
Auxiliary PTO: No
Gear Reduction: No
Charging System: 3 Amp
Cooling System: Air Cooled
Lubrication Type: Splash Lube
Oil Sensor: No
Oil Filter: No
Muffler: Yes
Starter Type: Recoil w/12 Vt. Provisions
Fuel Tank: Yes
Fuel Pump: No
Throttle Controls: Remote
Engine Weight: 60

Engine Features:

One year consumer warranty * Mechanical governor * Electronic Ignition * No Rust Fuel Tank * Float Style Carburetor * Compression Release

Engine Applications:

Troy-Bilt Rear Tine Tiller Replacement

Sales Notes: 1 Year Tecumseh factory Warranty.

Supercedes to 208106B
=========================================================
126392-0070 Briggs & Stratton Small Gas Engine Motor From Tulsa Engine Warehouse Discount Briggs and Stratton Sale Prices

Pony - 3/4" x 2 5/16

Will not work 1989 and earlier. Evidently, Ponys are date coded by year.