Tiller Resurrection Part 1

One thing I love about living in a small town is when you put the word out that you're looking for something, everyone knows what every has and word gets around fast.  (Note to self: Keep my nose clean and this won't be something to scorn!).  I had been talking about wanting a tiller for behind my tractor because my 4000 SF garden soil is going to be daunting and nearly impossible to prepare otherwise.  Soon enough, my friend from church said he knew a guy about 45 minutes away who had an old Yanmar RS 1200 5' tiller with many broken tines and a good gear box for $100.  Considering tillers that size start at around $1500, my ears perked up considerably and away we went on Friday with trailer in tow.  Looking at it, one of the U Joints on the shaft had a missing bearing and I ended up scoring it for $50.  I had looked into purchasing a new set of tines which would run about $300, so total with a new bearing and tiller, I was going to have a nice working tiller for right under $400.  Sweet.

Daisy Mae inspecting

Unloading with my tractor.  Hey, colors match!

Resting till I get tines replaced.  

Now... since it's a small town and people talk, a Facebook friend said he had an old 4' Chinese made tiller that wasn't a 3 point but had tines he believed were the same as the ones on my Yanmar.  I removed one of the few remaining tines, brought it to his daughter who works at the one grocery store in town and she took it home to him where he confirmed they and the bolt sizes were identical!  With that said, he said I could buy his tiller for $50.  He will be delivering it to me this week plus a cultivator I can borrow to remove the rocks from the garden plot before I till.  All said and done, I should have about $150 into a working tiller.  Can't wait to get the tines bolted on, the gearbox filled and hooked up to the tractor.  This will make life much easier.  I'll put a post up of the outcome in the next week or two when I get it hooked up and running.

The two pictures below is the shaft when I got it.  I had to grind off a couple burrs and some rust before I could even connect the two pieces, but with a lot of grease it slides in and out like new!

Following is the shaft connected, greased and with the new bearing installed in the U joint.  It's ready to rock!