Run away tiller

[dlundblad]

Ie the widowmaker.

I gave up on the engine that was originally in my hand tiller and put a HF 6.5 hp Predator engine on it. Couldn't get it running. Cleaned the carb, bought a new carb that didn't have matching holes. etc. Small engines aren't my forte.

Anyways, everything works the way it should including the self propelled, minus it having no reverse (original 5 hp Briggs had twin cranks that made reverse with a tensioner) and the throttle is now at the engine rather than the handle.

It does decent on soft soil with the depth gage lowered, but if it's angled just right, it'll shoot across the ground pulling me with it. Quite the site to see I'm sure. Any deeper amounts of soil and/ or lower throttle and it does the same thing.

What would cause this?

 

[Astro_Guy]

Sounds like a Try-Bilt Pony. Am I getting warm? Normally the drive wheels would hold it back. Mine would only take off like that when trying to till too deep into soil that hadn't been tilled before. Try multiple passes, lowering the tilling depth as you go.

 

[eljefino]

haha, I have the same setup. What's worse is the spring that held it in neutral broke, so it would jump into gear when idling.

Fixed that with a zip-tie and a leftover spring from a drum brake hardware kit.

You're catching roots or other obstacles with the tines. Wife is the "tiller operator" and she was mad that the factory tecumseh motor wouldn't pull like a bull at 1000 rpm, and kept stalling. I put the predator on and she's tickled now with the torque and smooth running.

 

[JLawrence08648]

If it's front tine, Normal; if it's rear, and no drive wheels, Normal; gear driven machines less so, heavy machines, Never!

 

[mk378]

Is the wheel clutch engaged? With the engine stopped you should NOT be able to roll the machine freely on the wheels. On a Troy-Bilt Pony, etc. the wheel clutch is the turn lever on the right side to disengage the wheel drive to roll the tiller around with the engine stopped. During operation it should be engaged instead.

I always thought the tires should be put on backwards from how tractor tires are normally mounted, since their real purpose is not to drive the machine forward, but to hold it back.

 

[dlundblad]

The garden was tilled with a 3 point tiller behind the tractor last fall. No roots or obstacles.

It's a rear tine forward rotating tiller. Pretty heavy too and has the front weights. Figured an old school beefy tiller with a reliable engine would be the ticket. The wheels are pinned when in use.

Could dull tines case this?

*The engine bolted right up btw. No drilling required.

 

[NormanBuntz]

I had a very similar tiller made by Snapper. With your throttle no longer on the handle, be careful! It could easily be a widow maker.

 

[user52165]

Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
I had a very similar tiller made by Snapper. With your throttle no longer on the handle, be careful! It could easily be a widow maker.



Yup. Install this or similar:

https://smile.amazon.com/Stens-290-163-Throttle-Control-Cable/dp/B00D9TI6WI/ref=sr_1_5

 

[eljefino]

I have not had great luck fitting throttle cables to HF engines. They have too much friction in the pivots of their throttle levers.

However, you could easily install an electric kill switch. Splice into or replace the low-oil shutdown wire.

 

[user52165]

Originally Posted by eljefino
I have not had great luck fitting throttle cables to HF engines. They have too much friction in the pivots of their throttle levers.

However, you could easily install an electric kill switch. Splice into or replace the low-oil shutdown wire.


You do realize there is an adjustable nut with nylon insert to set the tension on the pivot?

 

[dlundblad]

Good idea on the kill switch at least. I'll see if I can rig something up for the throttle too.

 

[over70pirate]

Ie the widowmaker.

I gave up on the engine that was originally in my hand tiller and put a HF 6.5 hp Predator engine on it. Couldn't get it running. Cleaned the carb, bought a new carb that didn't have matching holes. etc. Small engines aren't my forte.

Anyways, everything works the way it should including the self propelled, minus it having no reverse (original 5 hp Briggs had twin cranks that made reverse with a tensioner) and the throttle is now at the engine rather than the handle.

It does decent on soft soil with the depth gage lowered, but if it's angled just right, it'll shoot across the ground pulling me with it. Quite the site to see I'm sure. Any deeper amounts of soil and/ or lower throttle and it does the same thing.

What would cause this?

My Troy Bilt Horse tiller grabbed a root as I was approaching a fence. jumped right into a fence post, pushing the recoil starter into the flywheel, taking off 75% of the fins on my old faithful Kohler! ****.
Bought a bumper and a Predator motor for it.

 

[JTK]

We've got an ancient white and gold Montgomery Wards front tine tiller that's got an adjustable drag bar that you can drop down fairly low into the soil to help keep it from running away from you. I believe that one has a 5hp briggs on it. It may even have dual shafts and reverse. It's been at my brother's house for the last 25yrs and probably been longer since I used it last. LOL.

 

[dlundblad]

Just an update. I think it’s a combination of worn belts, dull tines and a loose tensioner.
Haven’t done much with it since planting is pretty much over.

 

[NathanEDavid]

I have an older 1990's Troybilt Horse tiller that likes to run away if it hits a hard spot while tilling. I used to try to till with the furrower on it to give it a little drag, but it was such futile and slow tilling that I just started tilling with my front tine Maxim tiller and then cutting my rows with the Troybilt. (That's time consuming with a 7500 square foot garden!) After recently watching videos of successful tilling without a furrower on, I tried again. I had better success, but one time last Friday it took off with me and shot over a hump, and it dragged me with it and fell forward over the hump. I landed over the tiller. Had the cover not been over the tines I would have been chewed to bits from my belly button to my knees. So I decided that the tiller needed something in between no furrower installed and when the furrower is installed, to give it some drag while still sinking in deep enough for the tines to be effective. So I found a furrower bracket (sold in Ebay for $60 as a furrower bracket for Simplicity brand), and I got a strip of marine stainless steel that I had left over from refurbishing an old fishing boat awhile back, and I fashioned a scratcher blade similar to what I have on my Gravely Walk Behind's cultivator tool holder. So far it seems to be the perfect solution for the run away tiller problem, but I haven't tilled but a few test passes with it. Check out the pics. The scratcher is about an inch or so shorter than the furrower blade, but an inch or so longer than the bare bracket. I haven't yet received the Simplicity bracket, but the seller said it is a fit and returnable if it doesn't fit when it comes. I plan to have it set up such that I can swap from scratcher to furrower by just pulling the pin, is why I ordered a second furrower bracket.

 

[jeepman3071]

My grandfather has one of those Troy-Bilt Bronco tillers, they are really only good for tilling soft ground. Since it has forward rotating tines, if you hit a tough clump of grass in the garden it will take you for a ride, even with front weights, and wheel weights. I have a counter-rotating rear-tine tiller which definitely works better in hard soil, but even that can be rough to operate. I usually just prefer my 1968 Gravely C10A walk behind with the rotary cultivator. It doesn't till as deep, but it's heavy enough where it doesn't get thrown around. The lighter machines will really beat you up.

 

[dlundblad]

The tiller in the OP is no longer.

 

[The_Eric]

The trick with those types of tillers is to expect that they're going to try to kill you at any given moment. The first time it happened to me, it drug me all over... Got my wife too. But once you expect it, the easiest thing is to lift up as soon as it grabs, then the tines are out of the ground and not able to launch the tiller into the nearest inconvenient obstruction.