As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This is going to be my fun, and for those not donating, Up Yours, because I would have a new rototiller, instead of having adventures with this old Montgomery Wards joy which had me about dying of heat stroke in battling piles of iron to pry it out of it's grave.
I had a good day with the Monty, because two events took place.
The first is, I doubt at this time that I can fix the engine, as the breather is missing, the carb has wires attached to nothing, the metal gas tank is bent as the cap is, and the starter cord is broke, and the clutch housing is bent as someone dropped the old girl on her head. Probably when the one handle broke off.
I got this thing to put on an electric motor, so not a big deal, but I want to restore this engine as it has the old pull on choke on the carb, and to shut it off, there is a metal slide that you touch the spark plug to, to short it out. This was from the days before lawsuits ran supreme.
With all of that bad news, my 10 dollar purchase got worse. I would take a picture of it, and probably will, but it is really in rough shape.
When we got home, I noticed that the belt clutch was not working and when I tried to turn the tiller, it was stuck. I was like, 'This is going to be horse shit too much work!"
So I got the vice grip, and started checking the drain plugs. This engine is odd in it has two fill plugs and two drain plugs. It also like old rear wheel drive vehicles has plugs to fill the tiller gear case and one to make sure it does not get too full.
I got the fill plug out, and it still had oil......old oil or something in it, just like the engine. It was black and thick, but it was not water, which was good. The tiller was still stuck, so I was standing around and figured, "What the hell, get the vice grip on the little overfill plug which is stuck, and put a 15 inch crescent wrench on it and see what happens".
So I cranked it down, and put the big wrench on the vice grip. (this works on rounded off things and small bolts like this which you will never get loose with a quarter inch wrench, and with a hammer handy, I applied pressure and that POP CRACK sound came, which means I just broke the bolt or it came loose. God was helping as He sent Holy Angels to move that pile of iron the day we got this thing, as that over fill plug came loose.
Talk about good news, but there was that matter of the stuck gears, which meant things were rusted, things were broken or things were I had to figure out how to tear apart something with another huge plug that looked like it needed a special wrench to get it loose.
So I propped the thing up on a salt block and started trying to move the pulley which runs the tiller, and it sort of came the day before, and then refused, and then I went back and forth and just like that the pulley started to move. I was stunned and thought, "Did that really happen!" So I did it again, and the tines were turning, the engine was turning over, things were squeaking and I became convinced that 10 dollars for a working roto tiller was making me look good.
The main part I got this for, looks to be in working order. I now have to look online as to what put into this gear box after I drain the fluids out, so whether it is some kind of Mobil 1 synthetic or 90 weight outboard motor gear oil......remains to be ascertained but we got no problems in Houston at the moment and I do not expect any.
Well...........the Holy Ghost reminded me that my neighbor had given me a 1/2 HP motor which he said worked. I took the electric box off as he said it needed to be wired.......it needs to be soldered, so I put things back together and I forgot about it in the back of the pick up I had hauled it home in.
Well, it got turned over so it has been sitting in snow and rain for years, and even the oil holes are rusty, and not to mention the shaft was froze. My cheap motor looks not so great, so out came the oil bottle, out came the vice grip, out came the hammer and with a whack, sure as blessing, the thing started to rotate loose enough. I will leave it set for awhile, spin it some, but I have hopes this thing with a Nigger rigged electric, that it just may work. Is another adventure and cheaper than a 150 bucks for a new electric motor.
So in assessment of this day, things went really well. They went so well that I am thinking of painting this thing when it is done.......probably red and seeing how it goes from there. I still have the list of things to do, like making sure the motor runs without melting down, if it will run, fixing the belt clutch, welding a new handle bar on it, getting the old 3 HP off, probably will need a new belt, the motor will need a same size pulley, and the motor better turn the right way too and should as most turn clockwise when facing away, wiring a switch on the handle bars, putting some vehicle water hose on the handle bars.......and the bullshit little things that have to be done, but this project is looking pretty kosher or my kind of project in taking piles of junk and making them into something which will work.
Yeah I spotted a weld today in someone used this old girl too hard, but welds mean it will not break there again, as it was good welding. I have to find a non Chicom bolt for the right side blades as that bolt is wore.....figure it was a soft bolt replacement from long ago as the original sheared, and other than that, just mounting the motor properly will have me all ready to go.
It is just kind of time consuming at this stage in doing some thinking in positioning things and not wiring things wrong to get electrocuted.
It looks like my kind of machine, and I suspect it will run for longer than I will once I get it going. Just is too bad that unappreciative people had this, probably Gramps had it, the kid got it, and sent his worthless brats out to till the garden hard as cement and things went down from there.
If you just maintain this American made old stuff, it will last forever, and I hope to breathe it to life, and by posting this stuff here, inspire some people to think, "Gee I can afford a rototiller if I put some time into it".
It is what being poor is about.
I still wonder if I poured some gas in it, changed the plug and put a rope on the flywheel, if this thing would fire up. It just needs some fixing.
Nuff Said
agtG