Ahh, the rewarding feeling of hard labor and success.

[shardian]

This morning I bought a dead tiller for $40 at a flea market. It had a Briggs & Stratton engine, so I figured I could figure it out. After educating myself a bit, I tore it down, cleaned it, replaced the filter, drained replaced oil/gas, and replaced rusty spark plug. Tried her out and...nothing. Looked for a spark and saw nothing. Went and edumacated myself some more, since this was a 1976 era engine. I had to tear it down even further and pull out the flywheel. took apart/cleaned the condensor and cleaned some nasty green corrosion fouling up the points. Cleaned it up with the air gun, put everything back together and pulled the string... SUCCESS! That baby starts up and purrs easier and better than most brand new engines. They just don't make 'em like they used to...

It is always quite rewarding to bring a dead machine back to life.

[Cakemeister]

Well done, sir.   

A new, probably crap quality, gas-powered tiller costs $300+. So your $40+parts+labor was a good investment.

[ark_ader]

Thanks for finding new ways to enlarge your carbon footprint.   

[SavannahLion]

Thanks for finding new ways to enlarge your carbon footprint.   

Is that supposed to be sarcasm?

What's worse? A throw away society that discards goods at a rate of every five years or less? Or a society that maintains and keeps what they do have ensuring produced goods last 30 years or more? The intent is there, but the mentality is all wrong.

[DaOld Man]

If it quits again, check the flywheel key.
They are made to shear to keep from tearing up the crankshaft if it hits something solid.
B&S machines of that era are notorious about the key just slightly deforming, throwing off the spark timing.
If it happens again, look at the key, see it it has a mark on both sides.
I have had to make a key out of some steel stock, just so it wont deform. The keyway gets worn a little and allows enough play to deform the key.

Nice find, BTW.

[shardian]

Thanks for finding new ways to enlarge your carbon footprint.   

Wow... just...wow.


Forgive me for trying to plant a crap load of plants, trees and vegetables.

[mountain]

Thanks for finding new ways to enlarge your carbon footprint.   

Wow... just...wow.

Yeah...wow..

Great Job shardian! I know the feeling and can appreciate the work. Good job.

[leapinlew]

Good job. A bit of a risky gamble if you ask me. 40 bucks is 40 bucks!

I thought the carbon footprint comment was funny. 

[Ummon]

Thanks for finding new ways to enlarge your carbon footprint.   

Is that supposed to be sarcasm?

What's worse? A throw away society that discards goods at a rate of every five years or less? Or a society that maintains and keeps what they do have ensuring produced goods last 30 years or more?

Well, there's the rub.

Good job. A bit of a risky gamble if you ask me. 40 bucks is 40 bucks!

I thought the carbon footprint comment was funny. 

I sorta thought he was joking, but perhaps not.

Anyways, not to minimize your achievement here, but I thought manual labor was actually digging the trenches an ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- yourself. No?

[ark_ader]

At least someone here can understand a sense of humor.

The rest of you need to lighten up. 

[hypernova]

$40 bucks for a 30 year old engine on a tiller that didn't work when you bought it?  Man...that seems like a large amount of cash for a risky endeavor.  At a flea market, no less...

So how many hours till you finally got it up and running?  My guess is you got a bit lucky in not needing to buy any new parts to get it functional.

[shardian]

$40 bucks for a 30 year old engine on a tiller that didn't work when you bought it?  Man...that seems like a large amount of cash for a risky endeavor.  At a flea market, no less...

So how many hours till you finally got it up and running?  My guess is you got a bit lucky in not needing to buy any new parts to get it functional.

It's not too much of a risk to buy a non-working Briggs and Stratton. I've heard of people buying 1930's era B&S engines that have sat out in the weather for 20+ years that get them running in no time. I wouldn't have bought it non-working with an off-brand engine.

I worked 3 hours or so on it - most of that was research. It's not like small engines are brain surgery.

[Ed_McCarron]

I bought two Dreamcast controllers at a flea market today.

Whats that do to my carbon footprint?

[shardian]

I get the feeling I'm not the only one who confuses pbj and Ark_ader sometimes by their posts.

[SavannahLion]

$40 bucks for a 30 year old engine on a tiller that didn't work when you bought it?  Man...that seems like a large amount of cash for a risky endeavor.  At a flea market, no less...

So how many hours till you finally got it up and running?  My guess is you got a bit lucky in not needing to buy any new parts to get it functional.

It's not too much of a risk to buy a non-working Briggs and Stratton. I've heard of people buying 1930's era B&S engines that have sat out in the weather for 20+ years that get them running in no time. I wouldn't have bought it non-working with an off-brand engine.

Are B&S engines still good engines? It seems people don't feel that way about B&S engines anymore. I don't have a lot of experience with B&S motors. The first small engine tool I ever had the joy of working with is a 1990 era Honda motor on a snow blower. I liked how reliable it was so much that when my GF insisted on buying a mower to manage this hideous thing called a, "lawn," we went with a Honda mower. I'm not sure but I think her tiller is a Honda as well.

But I digress. When I worked at Home Depot, we got a lot of mowers returned. I don't really know if that's because 80% of all the mowers sold there are B&S and sold to complete ---smurfing--- morons so it's just a matter of playing the numbers game or if their complaint that B&S engines, "are crap," is a legitimate and valid complaint. eg, the post by daniel123 were what I usually heard when I worked there.

[shardian]

I don't know about the current line of B&S, but they have been a great engine for a long, long time. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if the newest ones suck. There isn't a single product line left that is built to last more than 3-4 years. That's really sad.

[ChadTower]

Anyways, not to minimize your achievement here, but I thought manual labor was actually digging the trenches an ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- yourself. No?

Where did shardian say manual labor?

If it helps, though, my kids and I are digging the trench by hand for the electrical conduit to our shed.  Shovels and pitchforks, baby.  It's really slow going because we are trying to minimize damage to the tree roots passing through there.  Can't use a trencher without cutting those.

[shardian]

Oh, there is plenty of manual labor going on. I just used manual tilling tool to tear up some grass out front for a flower garden. Laid 30' of stone trimwork, and went at a big tree stump for an hour with brute force and an axe.

The damn tiller mocked me by not starting up yesterday. It ran so well the day before...

[mountain]

Anyways, not to minimize your achievement here, but I thought manual labor was actually digging the trenches an ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- yourself. No?

Where did shardian say manual labor?

If it helps, though, my kids and I are digging the trench by hand for the electrical conduit to our shed.  Shovels and pitchforks, baby.  It's really slow going because we are trying to minimize damage to the tree roots passing through there.  Can't use a trencher without cutting those.

You're using a pitch fork to dig a ditch?! I am sure it is slow going 

I wouldn't worry about those roots. When I built my deck, we wrapped it around a huge ash tree. I had to cut out several roots between 1"-2" in diameter. I was a bit scared that the tree would suffer but it didn't. No sign of trauma at all.

[Ed_McCarron]

Laid 30' of stone trimwork

Do the Mario pixel-block patio and you'll have won.

[ChadTower]

I'm hoping that's the case but this particular tree isn't exactly huge or 100% healthy.  We're digging around them and cutting as few as possible.  Lots of 1/2" or smaller have to be cut but the rest are being left there.  I'm letting my sons handle that part with gardening hand tools, they are loving digging a long hole in the yard.    

I'm just hoping the building inspector doesn't give me crap about the PVC line we found crossing the yard 3" deep with no obvious reason.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I just spent 6 hours "tilling" my garden. My machine only cost me $12. And it runs great!

[Ed_McCarron]

You need a new rake.  That one tine leans to the right...

[shardian]

I just spent 6 hours "tilling" my garden. My machine only cost me $12. And it runs great!

No wonder you've been on this site for years and have no projects to show off. 

[ChadTower]

The funny part is that picture shows the whole garden.   

[Ummon]

Anyways, not to minimize your achievement here, but I thought manual labor was actually digging the trenches an ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- yourself. No?

Where did shardian say manual labor?

Ah, yes. A sort of amalgamation in my mind, but not a stretch.

[danny_galaga]

If it quits again, check the flywheel key.
They are made to shear to keep from tearing up the crankshaft if it hits something solid.
B&S machines of that era are notorious about the key just slightly deforming, throwing off the spark timing.
If it happens again, look at the key, see it it has a mark on both sides.
I have had to make a key out of some steel stock, just so it wont deform. The keyway gets worn a little and allows enough play to deform the key.

Nice find, BTW.

ah yes. had exactly the same probably with a motorbike. key had sheared, timing was all over. always a perplexing problem, because all elements are there for ignition- spark, compression, fuel, air...

[shardian]

Ah, I guess I need to update. I fought with this thing not starting for a while. Not getting spark, and I couldn't figure it out. I went ahead and got the ignition rebuild kit from NAPA - $10 so no big hit. Came with an extra flywheel key and everything.

Damn thing still wouldn't start. I figured at this point that it had to be the kill wire. I traced it all the way to the throttle lever, and saw nothing. I wiggled the solder tab a little bit, and the damn thing started up. Thing runs like a champ now that it is completely rebuilt. It is good to go for another 20 years or so. 

This was 2 weeks or so ago. Since then, I have tilled up the front flower garden, and about 200 sq ft of garden. I have a little more garden to do, then I have to go back over it all with a layer of composted humus and manure added.

[richms]

I would never get anything new with a B&S motor on it, just because the hondas are so much better now, but the B&S has not changed in so long really that the older ones are a pretty safe buy, if you are happy to have something thats pretty inefficiant - so ok for occasional use power gardening but far from ideal for a generator etc.

[shardian]

Latest update:

A few weeks ago I added compost and tilled it all up again. the drive belt was slipping pretty bad by the end, so I had to change it before tilling up the center 14' of the garden. I went through an adventure finding a proper belt, but got it on no problem. Set it down to start her up and get to work, and the damn pull start string snapped at the winding coil. Son of a...

This is the old style metal coil assembly, and is damn near impossible to get rewound. I spent an hour or so futilly trying to get it all back together properly. I finally threw it in a corner of the garage and got on with life. I've been adding grass clippings since to boost soil nitrogen.

Yesterday, I decided I HAVE to get the garden planted even without the middle section. I got 'er done, and now I just have to hope it turns out alright. I'll post some pictures later. So far planted: Carrots, onions, spinach, yellow squash, green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Once I get around to fixing the tiller, I will plant a few types of peppers, and potatoes. I may just say screw it and start building better soil in the middle.

[ChadTower]

Actually, it sounds like all of the consumables are going, and he's having to replace them one by one.  Old belts dry up, strings degrade.  All part of rebuilding an old machine. 

[shardian]

Dude no offense but this tiller sounds like it was basically the worst purchase ever.

I may have to agree, because the string snapping kind of made me snap. Crap like that really can suck the motivation right out of you.

Once the recoil is fixed though, I can't think of any other problems that could present. Chad is right, all of my problems have been with standard maintenance, consumable problems. I will tackle the recoil this week, till up what I need, then put the tiller on the market.

[shardian]

Here is a cel phone pic of the garden area. It is amazing how many gardens I have seen around the residential areas here. It seems almost every house has at least a small garden. One ultra tacky house in town replaced their flower garden out front with a garden. It looks totally silly to have tomato cages in front of your house in a flower garden.

[ChadTower]

Dude... is that pic through a weird lens or did you really do all that rebuild work to till a few 10' lines of soil?   

[DaOld Man]

I had an old B&S once that the recoil spring broke in it. Now this was when I was like a freshman in high school and had no extra spending money at all, so I couldnt buy a new spring.
I think I wound up removing the top part of the cover where the rope mechanism resides. I cut it off with a hacksaw.
I then rigged up a socket wrench that pretty much fit the shaft of the ratchet device (that tightens against the flywheel.)
I rigged the socket by cutting an old extension that fit the socket.
Put the extension in my hand drill and I had an an electric starter.
Just put the socket/drill on the ratchet thing and run until motor kicked off, then remove socket/drill.
Of course this only worked if I was near an outlet, because way back then we never heard of a cordless drill.
This might work for you. If you want to play around with it, try it with the cover removed before you cut off the rope thing.
Id hate to be the cause of you looking all over for a cover, of course, a used cover (if you can find one), would be a lot easy than rewinding the start cord.

[shardian]

Dude... is that pic through a weird lens or did you really do all that rebuild work to till a few 10' lines of soil?   

The garden area is roughly 32x10. I tilled it roughly 8" deep, which is a fun venture with a small front tine tiller. I wouldn't call it a huge rebuild job anyways. The whole engine can be torn down in 5 minutes or less. I must have torn down the B&S engine I used for my senior engineering project over 100 times. These things are almost dummy proof in simplicity of design.

Anyways, if you have a better/cheaper/faster method of working ---smurfy--- red clay soil, I'm all ears.

[ChadTower]

Anyways, if you have a better/cheaper/faster method of working ---smurfy--- red clay soil, I'm all ears.

Ew.  How deep is the topsoil?  I didn't hit clay in my yard until well over a foot.

[shardian]

Anyways, if you have a better/cheaper/faster method of working ---smurfy--- red clay soil, I'm all ears.

Ew.  How deep is the topsoil?  I didn't hit clay in my yard until well over a foot.

Pretty much all of it is clay. When I first broke ground out there in the garden, there was maybe 2" of actual top soil due to a garden being there a long time ago (allegedly). Rocks galore too. I add sand and topsoil any time I do planting on my property. We learned that the hard way by killing the first couple plants we tried to plant the 1st year we moved in.

Where many people would dig a small hole and drop a plant in, I have to dig  a hole 4 times the standard size, remove rocks, remove half the bad soil, add in plenty of sand and topsoil, backfill the hole to normal size, then put the plant in. If I don't do all that, I might as well throw the plant in a bucket of water - it will be the same effect.

[shardian]

I like how the cucumber section is three rows wide.  That must be his wife's section of the garden.

 

Her get out there and do actual work?? 

She talks a huge game, but never backs it up.

I'm gonna put some sections of lattice near each row of cucumber mounds to grow vertically. Some are standard cuc's, some are pickling cuc's. I figure she'll talk a big 'canning' game too once harvest time shows up. Considering I'm the only one with canning experience, I will assume I will do 100% of all that also!

[ChadTower]

I have a pile about two yards of soil from my yard I need to get rid of... come get it!    Everything and anything grows in my yard like it has mutated.  This time of year I spend a ridiculous amount of time managing the plants.  It's not even elaborately landscaped - they just grow that effin fast.  Anything planted takes instantly and then never goes away.  I have small garden patches from the previous owner I have been trying to kill for 8 years and they still come back strong.  One of those patches I covered with a tarp for 18 months and it all popped right back up the next spring.