Old thread. I re-engined my 70's vintage Horse tiller. Did the belts like all the videos and what a hassle working by myself. Got a different engine and did the belts differently. Since everything had been cleaned and greased, parts slid together. Thought I would pass along this hint. After bolting the mounting casting to the engine, I took the engine pulley, placed it on top the transmission pulley with both belts loosely installed. Then took the engine and casting, lined up the engine shaft to the pulley (I set keyway up, but it doesn't matter, just so they are the same), slid the shaft into the pulley about half way, popped the belts under the guide pins, and inserted shaft the rest of the way. Installed both posts. Then installed crankshaft screw and washer. Maybe 15 minutes at most. Two people would make getting the belts under the guide pins easier.

I bought a very good Troy Bilt Junior rear tine tiller used today. Is the Junior the same thing as the Pony? The engine needs to be replaced. The Tecumseh has a whole blown out the side of it. Where can I find replacement Engine? It has separate shaft that reverse works off of. I tried looking for a replacement block but Tecumseh seems to have gone out of business. Is there a Robin a Briggs & Stratton or Kohler engine to fit this tiller? If I go to the Harbourfreight store and get 6 1/2 hp greyhound engine and forget about reverse shaft and just pull the tiller backwards or spin around, is that really working for so many others who are doing it? Is finding reverse shaft engine really next to impossible?

SUCCESS TONITE! I cleaned the tank and put the entire unit back together as it was all over the floor and put in fresh fuel and it started. I trimmed it our a little bit and started right into the tilling clay. It never once stalled on me. I even gave it a good low height and it bogged down but it kept tilling. This was so good! Now I need new tires. These are 27 yrs old and lose air all of the time. But, this thing is back to where I need it to be and I just need to adjust the carb a tad bit. This was my Pops and I really wanted to fix it. As an aside I fixed my truck window and wiring problem over the weekend; then I had to throw away an 11 yr old johh deere trimmer and 25 yr old bench grinder. They crapped out. Then I needed a new magneto for the Stihl trimmer. Then I tried the tiller and just fell down laughing at the whole darn thing. I do have a Tomahawk C/S and it always starts, but I need to replace a dry rot fuel line. Then I will have all units in working order. Thanks for the tip! Gyp

I finally got things undone. Had to pry off the belts. Put on new ones & guess what--as soon as I put the tiller in forward, the new belts jumped off the pulley. On close inspection, the pully is out of allingment with where it should be & needs to be shimmed. I took it to the dealer. They ground down the pulley and shimmed it and now all is supposed to be well, although I haven't tried it yet. It took them all of ten minutes to fix. & cost me $50. Where oh were did my little horse go? All I would have had to do is get a $ worthe of shims, and I could fix the problems myself. Funny thing is I called Troy Bilt (MTD). They said they found me in their computer and that my lifetime warranty was changed by them to a ten year warranty. I had two years left in the ten. However, when I took the tiller in to be fixed, I was told it has NO warranty and whoever told me it did (which was more than one person) was wrong. they said they called troy-bilt to confirm that there was no warranty. Troy bilt that they spoke to said that is right. Funny the stories you get. I'm a bit peeved at TB (MTD). To be told my lifetime warranty from the original troy-bilt was no good, but they put a ten year warranty on those tillers, then I try to get my tiller fixed, under the warranty, and am told I have no warranty. I hope I'll never have to do business with this company again.