The Daily Yardman Thread

[Roger B]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

I know most people overlook signatures but read mine. I really do live by it.

Chuck
We Do Not Stop Playing When We Grow Old
We Grow Old If We Stop Playing

Chuck! Yer back!! HooRay!!

Your signature does indeed succinctly sum up what I've been trying to tell Boo-Boo.. He's all upset 'cause this "little" medical issue has slowed him up for a bit.. ("Little" - That's easy for me to say as it wasn't preformed on ME!!) That's like a "minor" operation.. They are only "minor" when they are preformed on somebody else!!

How's th9ngs in your neck of the woods? We have been struck by some sort of weird weather pattern! The sun actually came out ALL DAY yesterday and it did not rain!! Right now it's almost 80 here on the water and they are talking about 90's inland!!

Thanks for trying to help poor old Boo get through this difficult time.

Rog

 

[Roger B]

TROY-BILT's

The Troy-Bilt repower went well.. I have the newer of the two machines functioning.

I bought a Harbor Freight Predator 212, which is a Chinese copy of a Honda 6.5 HP..

The proper way to remove the belts and engine from a troy-Bilt tiller is to back off the two side mounted retaining bolts and then drive out the two large pins that hold the pulley-housing/engine-mount to the tiller.

Pictures:

1.) Shows the engine removed and the two pins out.

2.) Pulley/housing, engine-mount mounted on new engine.

3.) Pin and retaining bolt.

4.) Driving pin out with brass drift.

5.) Same as #4

6.) New tiller showing two belt-drive pulleys and friction driven reversing wheel. It uses another flat reversing wheel that drives the machine backwards via friction.

7.) Older tiller showing two belt-drive pulleys and third friction driven reversing pulley. It uses a tapered reversing wheel that fits into the pulley grooves and drives the machine backwards via friction.

8.) Predator all mounted

9.) Same as #8.

I think it is going to work fine, although I am going to replace the after market drive belts with OEM Troy-Bilt belts.

Roger

 

[Roger B]

TROY-BILT's Pictures 7-8-9

Here are the last three pictures.

 

[BlazNT]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Chuck
We Do Not Stop Playing When We Grow Old
We Grow Old If We Stop Playing

Chuck! Yer back!! HooRay!!

Your signature does indeed succinctly sum up what I've been trying to tell Boo-Boo.. He's all upset 'cause this "little" medical issue has slowed him up for a bit.. ("Little" - That's easy for me to say as it wasn't preformed on ME!!) That's like a "minor" operation.. They are only "minor" when they are preformed on somebody else!!

How's th9ngs in your neck of the woods? We have been struck by some sort of weird weather pattern! The sun actually came out ALL DAY yesterday and it did not rain!! Right now it's almost 80 here on the water and they are talking about 90's inland!!

Thanks for trying to help poor old Boo get through this difficult time.

Rog

Im always here just have very little to say.

 

[Roger B]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Im always here just have very little to say.

Well, we are glad you're always here, but we would like to encourage you to engage more often in our daily conversations.. ("Conversations"!! - That's a lofty word for what goes on here, isn't it?)

For instance, what do you know about 'belts'? The old Troy-Bilt tillers I have been working on, (the oldest was manufactured in August of 1976) only had three belts between the two of them. (Each uses two drive belts between the engine and the transmission.) The oldest one did have two, but when I removed them I could see they were some aftermarket belt and we understand they were last changed over 20 years ago! One snapped when I finally got the tiller operating and I was running it around the driveway in high speed. So I looked on-line, using the two Troy-Bilt part numbers I'd located. Those being, P/N 1128, which I found in an on-line manual and P/N GW-9245 which was printed on the single belt on the newer of the two machines. I picked a supposed replacement for the GW-9245, but they are made of Kevlar! My experience with Kevlar (other than reading about it's properties) had to do with the repair of an Old Town Canoe which had gone down over several dams on a river here in Maine.. Without it's occupant, fortunately! The starboard side had been split from gunnel to chine and I repaired it with Kevlar cloth and Marinetex. Kevlar is VERY strong stuff! I had never heard of it being used in belt construction before. Would you think it would make a strong belt? As engaging power to the transmission is accomplished by tightening the two belts via a mechanical operation, they take a great deal of abuse. Troy-Bilt says that with 'care' they can last up to three seasons! As a tiller isn't something that is operated on a daily basis, you can see their life expectancy isn't very long.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has experience with Kevlar belts. (No Boo, not chastity belts!) Knowing you, you'd find some way around those too! You rascal...

Rog

 

[Boobala]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Rog the ONLY thing I remember about chastity is ..that WOMEN who are chaste are NOT very often CHASED !!

:laughing:..:laughing:..:laughing:..:laughing:

 

[BlazNT]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Kevlar is supposed to give you 3 times the life of a regular belt. That being said I have gotten 4 to 6 times the life of the kevlar belts I have purchased. Rock on!!!

 

[Boobala]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

UP-DATE :
Hey Gang, just to get the jump on Goomba this morn. I'm lettin everybody know he got the carb. on his Kawi. running...Yep, ...he
went into it and got that baby runnin after sitting outside abandoned for many years , he's so proud of himself ... he don't know
whether to schitt or go blind !! ( just close one eye and fart Rog ) ( LOL ) Sure hope they end this #@&%%$#@ Gateway issue !!
I wonder how many people thought it was THEIR computer acting up ....??? ..:confused2: ..:thumbdown:..:thumbdown:

 

[Roger B]

Carburetor Rebuild

Well Boo did sort of steal my latest news, but that's all good. He was pretty much responsible for my getting the job done anyway.

I believe my reticence at tearing a carburetor apart comes from back when I was a kid. Mechanical things always intrigued me and when I got my hands on a couple old carbs, I immediately took them all apart, removing every single thing that was removable. The chances of my ever getting one of them back together however, was nil... That experience fostered the assumption that I wasn't capable of taking one apart and having any hope of ever getting it back in operation again. Boo-Boo's constant haranguing to get me to try it again, coupled with the fact the Kawasaki FC401 wouldn't run and the problem was obviously due to the carburetor, finally got me to pony up the gumption and give it a go..

Inside it was a mess! It looked like maybe water got into it sometime during the 12 years it sat out in the weather. I used up what was left in a spray can of Gumout that I'd had for so many years, most of the pressure was gone, so I ran over to the local NAPA and bought a new can, That really made the difference! It blew crap out of all the little holes and orifices, many of which were plugged solid. I used a soft brush to clean off everything else.

One of the on-line manuals Boo sent me had a blow-up drawing of the carb and that helped me see what should come apart and where the resulting little parts should go during reassembly. I was able to save both gaskets that were involved and once the cleaned carb was put back on the engine, it started right up and ran like a charm!

Like Boo said, I'm proud as a peacock!

Rog

 

[Roger B]

Kevlar Belts

Kevlar is supposed to give you 3 times the life of a regular belt. That being said I have gotten 4 to 6 times the life of the kevlar belts I have purchased. Rock on!!!

Chuck,

I'm not 100% sure I've read this right. Are you saying that Kevlar is supposed to last 3 times longer than a regular belt, but that in your experience you've had them last 4 to 6 times longer than a regular belt?

I hope that is what you meant, because the belts I ordered arrived yesterday! I order four of them, two for each Troy-Bilt. I used an ebay seller called "OffRoadBelts" and they were great!! Super price and really fast FREE shipping!

I've got to take the one Troy-Bilt I replaced the engine on apart and put two of the new Kevlar belts on it. Then I've got to go to Harbor Freight and buy another Predator engine for the older Troy-Bilt and repower it. I had to soak it's reversing wheel and the two drive pulleys in Kroil for a couple days before I could get them apart and at that, I had to use quite a bit of force. I put Boo's "Get a BIGGER hammer" theory to use and coupled that with a heavy duty pry-bar, which got everything apart without breaking anything.

We are going to use one of the Troy-Bilts and hope to sell the other to cover the costs of repairing both of them. Those Predator engines are so inexpensive, that shouldn't be a problem, although we may have to wait until next Spring to attract the most interest in it.

Roger