Craftsman (Husqvarna) tiller transmission broke

[Elkins45]

I have a Craftsman 917.294482 17” rear tine tiller. I understand it was actually made by Husqvarna. I went to till up a patch for some spring flowers and the transmission broke. The belt is fine and the tines will spin but it won’t move either in F or R. I looked at the Craftsman parts diagram and it appears to be chain driven so my guess is that either the chain has snapped or a key has sheared on one of the drive gears. I can’t really get much of a sense from the diagram of how difficult it would be to disassemble and fix it.

Any advice? Is this a common issue? The tiller is at least 15 years old.

 

[Rivets]

How difficult is it to repair? Depends On your mechanical ability. On a scale of 1-10, I would say a 5. Is this common? No, but with the age could easily happen. Broken chain? I doubt it, more than likely a problem with the shifter, as the tines are drive by the chain. I wouldn’t buy any parts until I had opened the case and found the problem. If you decide to open it up, clean the tine shaft on both very well, so the case slides off easily and you don’t cut the seals. If you decide to repair I would recommend replacing the gasket and seals. Here is the owners manual if you don’t have one. https://c.searspartsdirect.com/pd-content/is/content/Sears/L0312150

 

[StarTech]

Well it does depend how you like fully disassembling the tiller as it nearly needs to be completely disassemble just to get to the transmission assembly. And if the shifter is broken you are SOL as it is NLA.

 

[Elkins45]

How difficult is it to repair? Depends On your mechanical ability. On a scale of 1-10, I would say a 5. Is this common? No, but with the age could easily happen. Broken chain? I doubt it, more than likely a problem with the shifter, as the tines are drive by the chain. I wouldn’t buy any parts until I had opened the case and found the problem. If you decide to open it up, clean the tine shaft on both very well, so the case slides off easily and you don’t cut the seals. If you decide to repair I would recommend replacing the gasket and seals. Here is the owners manual if you don’t have one. https://c.searspartsdirect.com/pd-content/is/content/Sears/L0312150

According to the parts diagram there are two chains. One (still working) #29 drives the tines and another #50 drives the wheels. Thanks for the link to the manual. That’s a nicer parts diagram than the one I was looking at.

I figure it won’t cost me anything to open it up, and I can’t make it worse. It’s not very useful as a stationary tiller, although I suppose I could guide it while my wife drags it behind the truck.

 

[Rivets]

OK, but I’ve never seen a broken chain.

 

[Elkins45]

OK, but I’ve never seen a broken chain.

Which part is the shifter? Is it something that could be fabricated?

 

[Elkins45]

Well it does depend how you like fully disassembling the tiller as it nearly needs to be completely disassemble just to get to the transmission assembly. And if the shifter is broken you are SOL as it is NLA.

Which part are you referring to as the shifter?

 

[Rivets]

Parts 10-16 in the owners manual I posted. I’m not Santa Claus who knows which parts are good and bad, to tell you if they can be fabricated until we know what’s wrong. You’ll need to open it up.

 

[Elkins45]

I’m not Santa Claus who knows which parts are good and bad

LOL

I asked about the shifter because Star Tech said it was NLA. All my Craftsman stuff was bought at about the same time and it’s all breaking at about the same time. I had to replace the sump gasket in my riding mower in the fall so I’m getting used to taking things apart.

 

[StarTech]

Okay here is what the shift looks like. Both end were resistance welded and those welds do break.

As parts going NLA a lot companies are taking the habit of killing off equipment after it is five old now by making parts NLA. It is an industry practice that pencil pushers talking companies into. They just want to make money by selling new eqiupment and to kill off us mechanics as industry. Out the door is the reduce, recycle, and reuse policy, now it use it, throw away, and buy new.