Half of this memorial weekend was dedicated to the neglected Troy-belt. My
7hp cast iron Kohler horse tiller was purchased new from the mid 1970s. Not that much use really, only on second set of bolo tines, but much neglected left out in the open for a while and not maintained and loan it to all my neighbors throughout the years. Couple of them did a few numbers to it like ripping the pull rope off, lugging the engine all day long and ran the tiller into the fence post and broke the carburetor right off into many pieces and didn't tell me about it until I got it back weeks later. So it looks old and warn out. Anyways, got around to it this weekend and try to start it up. Flat tire, no spark, no gas so won't run. Tire was leaking from the edge of the rim. A bitch to separate the tire from the rim and next time I'll get a long tire spoon at Harbor Freight. Brush wired all the rust off from the inside rim, added a coat of primer, reinstalled tire - now it hold the air fine and not leaking.Next was to fix the no spark situation. Did something stupid and took a lot longer than necessary. Anyway, I visually inspected the points (big mistake, explain later) and the contacts looked new and the spring action was strong. Next was to measure resistance on both magneto primary and secondary - both open circuits. Thought the magneto was fried. Kind of long process to remove the flywheel and magneto but got it done anyway. Check clearance on magneto with shims to get maximum induced voltage. Turnout best without shims - long monkey motions in installing and removing the flywheel a couple more times to check the clearances. Still no spark. Took the magneto on my kitchen table and tested it with a single battery D cell - we have spark on the secondary, a few thousand volts at that! Reinstalled the whole mess back and tested for spark again. No spark, what the heck! Ok, I than put my meter across the points and crank up the old Kohler. With the points closed and tight, the meter read infinite ohms. So that was the problem even the contact surfaces looked perfect and new. Only took couple of seconds to clean up the points so this most day process of removing the flywheel could have been avoided. Note to self: Always check the points with a meter before tearing up the engine to get at the magneto. Visual inspection is worthless.
Next remove the carburetor, install the plug and squirt some starting fluid and gave it pull. It started right up ... wonderful!
Now if I fix the carburetor, I could do some tilling the next day. I happen to have a ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning parts but never tried a whole carburetor. Put in a few drops of dish washing detergent and added hot water (a trick learned from the wife on cleaning greasy hood filters). Put the carb in, turn on the ultrasonic cleaner and went to bed. Next morning took out the carb and blow dry with compressed air. Reinstall the carb and it started right up - the Troy-bilt haven't sounded so good in years.
Might as well change the engine oil while I'm at it. Oil was black, really black but not what your think. Oil looks fresh as it was the black graphite oil from years ago. Remember those? Way did they stop making it? I must put the oil in and let the tiller sat for years.
The last thing was to change the transmission oil. What came out of the transmission was some thick slight foamy dark mustard yellow stuff - almost about a gallon! Was it the 90 weight oil mixed with some water and rust? Anyone knows? I have a little leak from the front end on the transmission. Hope I don't have to tear into the tranny - maybe another chore for another long weekend.
This much neglected Troy-belt with the cast iron Kohler engine has outlived three lawn mowers (including one Honda mower I had for over 25 years!), 3 weed wackers, 2 chain saws and 6 cars. I think now it could outlast me.