1970 Yard-Man EarthBird Tiller Problem

[BlazNT]

Did you fix the pin and problem. I have the same machine and my tines turn but stop when under a load. But they sometimes catch under load and do fine. I've checked all pins, disassembled the drive train and only severely worn part is the worm gear spacer. I can't find the part but if I had the original dimensions of the part I could make one. Can anyone help? Thanks!

Start your own thread and include model number.

 

[Carscw]

The problem was a groove pin inside the gear box.

 

[philadelphia1]

Carscw,

Happy to hear your tiller is fixed....Awesome!!!

Yes, I was able to fix mine too, the groove pin . Thank goodness for the groove pin, right? Did you find any damage in the gear box or metal shavings?

When my pin let loose it did quite a bit of damage to the drive gear. My worm gear was fine though.

What I did after replacing the pin, as an extra precaution, is slightly loosen the belt that drives the tines.... then when the tines are under stress... the belt slips over the pulley and squeals, at this point I know to back off a little. I can till pretty deep with this configuration.

Very hard to find parts for these suckers, especially the gear box. My main seals at each side of the tines are shot and leak oil. Not much of a concern though, I just add heavy weight gear oil before each use.

How old is yours? Mine has a manufacture date of 1970. It's 46 years old. It's my fathers... he bought it new. What a great piece of equipment. We don't owe it anything. Has been very good to us. What a workhorse. Wish they still made equipment like this. The motor was replaced with a Briggs back in 1982. Motor is strong too. Just a diaphragm, couple of spark plugs, and an air filter or two over the years.


Just tilled with my beast today. Was thinking about you. These old machines are few and far between.

 

[Native2ky]

Mine is still unfixed. I think if I can find or make the worm spacer it will take the play out of the drive shaft and the gears will stay aligned. That's my theory anyway. If you need parts, another resource is the IH 526 rotary tiller built from 72-77 by Yardman. It's essentially the same tiller. My uncle was a Yardman dealer in Henderson Ky and my dad bought our tiller new back in the early 70's. It raised a half acre garden that fed 8 kids. Ours too got a new motor a few years back. I'd like to get the drive fixed while I have it all torn down. I have three more of these tillers in the barn that I've picked up used over the years. All three run so I'm not out a tiller but I'd like to get our family tiller back on line. If the spacer doesn't fix the problem then I'm resigned to assume the gears are toasted and I'll rob a gearbox off one of the other tillers. Good to hear about your history with your tiller. Those tine shaft seals are still available. A good part number from National Seals is 472311. The seal on the pulley end of the drive shaft is National Seals 254270. With the modern number you can cross reference with any seal manufacturer like Timpken etc.
Take Care.....Tim

 

[vafsr1]

Thanks for the pictures Philadelphia1,

Clean it up, good. I'd use brake cleaner to spray off the parts. Some light metal would be expected, the fine powder you see.

The pinion gear looks rough. The wear pattern looks like its had a lot of hard use. I don't know if you'll be able to find another so just put it back together and see what happens. If you're easy on the tiller it should last a while.

Good luck.

where can i purchase a air filter for my tiller

 

[vafsr1]

where can i purchase parts like a air filter for my earthbird tiller?

 

[Native2ky]

Mine is still unfixed. I think if I can find or make the worm spacer it will take the play out of the drive shaft and the gears will stay aligned. That's my theory anyway. If you need parts, another resource is the IH 526 rotary tiller built from 72-77 by Yardman. It's essentially the same tiller. My uncle was a Yardman dealer in Henderson Ky and my dad bought our tiller new back in the early 70's. It raised a half acre garden that fed 8 kids. Ours too got a new motor a few years back. I'd like to get the drive fixed while I have it all torn down. I have three more of these tillers in the barn that I've picked up used over the years. All three run so I'm not out a tiller but I'd like to get our family tiller back on line. If the spacer doesn't fix the problem then I'm resigned to assume the gears are toasted and I'll rob a gearbox off one of the other tillers. Good to hear about your history with your tiller. Those tine shaft seals are still available. A good part number from National Seals is 472311. The seal on the pulley end of the drive shaft is National Seals 254270. With the modern number you can cross reference with any seal manufacturer like Timpken etc.
Take Care.....Tim

Update, used the tiller today. Found a source for the gear spacer back in 2016, reassembled the gear box and it runs great. A tension spring for the reverse arm was broken and in searching for that part I rediscovered this forum. The tiller is nearly 50 years old. While going through the original papers in the tiller file I found the original hang tag. It states the tiller is powerful, fast, and will last a really, really long time. Pretty cool!