The Laughing Wolf

Oh my. I haven't seen one of these new "rototillers," but I can only imagine what's been done to them. I used to use one like you described; just the tines, motor, and a drag spike (whatever the proper name was) on the back. In my youth when there was much I was not good at or even capable of physically, I could rototill with the best of them, as if the machine and I were one.

"I was not good at or even capable of physically, I could rototill with the best of them, as if the machine and I were one."

You know, that describes me to a T as well. I have a lot of fond memories of using or "helping" to use the roto-tiller even as a small child. I could do few other things, but...

ah god, them roty tiler kant keep up with my mule!

My dad's was from Monkey-Ward's, as he used to say. Must of been made in the mid-50's, but was still running strong well into the 70's when I was a kid. Had a three speed tranny, and as a kid I remember running behind it in third gear, just to keep up. Disc attachment, bulldozer attachment, and the most dangerous of all, a sickle-bar mower, three feet wide in the front that would take off your feet at the ankles if you got in it's way. You turned the motor off by shorting a small bar to the spark plug, which scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. The only tool more dangerous than the tiller was the kerosene-flamethrower he used (not kidding) to cook the dirt in the dog kennels to kill flea eggs. I miss those dangerous days, the tiller, and most of all, Dad.

The only rototiller I'd care to use is the Troy-Bilt rear tine tiller. The engine isn't quite directly over the tines, but I think the rest of the tiller outweighs the engine by a goodly amount. I used to till about 5000 square feet of Alabama clay with their 5-hp Pony model; I was sorely tempted to step up to the 8hp Horse, but that was a largeish chunk of change to part with. The only safety on the thing is a pair of levers (connected; you can hold the safety on with one hand) that cut off the drive (not the engine) if disengaged. Since the tines are driven from the same shaft as the wheels, when you let go of the safety handles, the tiller stops and stops tilling, but doesn't shut off.

The bigger tillers even have a PTO arrangement so you can run a log-splitter. Sold separately, natch.

I think either one of them would have had problems with the original tilling; we had a guy with a full-sized tractor (with 8-foot-wide rototiller attachment on the back) come in and break it up for us. It had been used as a pen for horses, so you can imagine: compacted clay will send any tiller weighing less than a small car hurtling forward uncontrollably.

Here ya go, circa 1971, Craftman / Briggs and Stratton 8hp Rototiller. This was the tiller my dad had. Very cool, it even had a gear shift.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4548964070&category=46093

For a great compromise and a good machine, try this one...http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29519&item=4381320632&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I tilled a new tomato patch with a loaner front-tine tiller yesterday. I can barely move my body now.

You're welcome!

Signed...
A Little Birdie

:>

Related to the Troy-Bilt company...

I've got a Troy-Bilt riding mower and a roto-tiller. They're good machines, however the company is not what it once was. It seems the guy who built the company up ended up passing it on to his kids who promptly ran it into the ground. So the kids ended up selling the brand to MTD who makes all kinds of power equipment. In the same way that GM sells a Suburban through their Chevrolet line and an Escalade through their Cadillac line, MTD now puts a Troy-Bilt body and paint job on the same machine they sell under many names. So the Troy-Bilts you see today (probably at Lowe's) are not really the same Troy-Bilts from yesteryear.

Speaking of little birdies.
I forgot to recycle the old Christmas tree this winter and laid it on the garden patch to add its needles to the soil before sawing it up in Spring. So last weekend I go back there to prep for a few hours of roto-tilling with a rental (no place to store a tiller in the garage what with all the furniture that needs to be stripped and kids toys). I picked up the brown tree to pull it towards the garbage and out plops two baby sparrows.
I notice Mom & Dad sparrow flitting around raising a ruckus, so I move the tree back and leave them be. The babies are close to flying so I figure in about another week it should be okay.

I have an old rototiller that I know is at least
40 years old. It has the motor over the tines
and linkage that kicks the tines in and out, and
it has a simple throttle control. It has two
belts and the inside one is supposed to be turn-
ed into a figure eight. Is that the way it's
supposed to be? Someone please tell me. I'd
like to get the schematics for it. It was like
that when I got it and they tell me it's better
than the new ones.I'd like to get it going one
more life time.
Sam

The comments Posted by: azlibertarian at May 13, 2005 12:29 PM are not all true. In the world of instant news the truth sometimes gets twisted. I worked for Troy-Bilt for 18 years right up to the end in 2001. MTD did buy the Troy-Bilt rights from Bankruptcy court in 2001. Troy-Bilt went Bankrupt after a conflict of interest with the Banks and the CEO was forced to resign,the Banks took over and drove it into Bankrupcy. It was not sold by any children of the founder. The Troy-Bilt equipment sold after 2001 is not made in Troy, New York but MTD products with Troy-Bilt Decals. Hands down, the best Tillers in the industry were the Original Troy-Bilt made in Troy, New York
Many peoples lives changed forever from that example of corporate greed.

Troy Built was never that good. I bought a new electric start in 1977. The thing would never reverse and always chewed up the reverse disc. Brought it back to the plant in Troy, N. Y. and one of the repair techs shorted out the electric start push button switch in the handle assy. They did the best they could with it and it was never any better when I trucked it back home. The Techumseh engine was always a hard starter as well so I mounted a car battery on it for enough cranking power. My son now has it trying to fix at his place as it hasn't run for 15 years. Good luck to him, maybe he can reinvent it. Too much complacency and Americans not having their job on the top of their to do list was the cause of Troy Built's demise as it has been for many other products-not to mention the ignorance of the American public in allowing free trade to steal manufacturing from this Country.