So what do you do when your 1982 troy-bilt Horse tiller engine dies? I started checked prices on OEM engine and to my surprise they wanted close to $500 dollars, not willing to pay that I thought about sending it off to the scrap yard and maybe making a few dollars. The tiller was given to me so I would only be out the cost of the new carburetor and muffler probably not more than $50 dollars. One day while looking at a tractor forum I came across a post that said you could direct bolt a 6.5 h.p. Harbor Freight engine on an old horse tiller. Finally this spring I decided it was time.
To remove the original engine you need to remove the crank bolt, slide the pulley back to access the four engine mounting bolts (pictured above) and remove them. Once the four engine bolts are removed the engine will pull right off the front.
When installing the new harbor freight engine I had to add some washers to space the pulleys farther from the engine so that the upper and lower pulleys would align. Once I had the correct spacing the engine was bolted back to the fame with the four engine mounting bolts. The last step was finding a new crank bolt, the old crank bolt is too big to fit the new engine. After a few trips to different hardware stores I found the right crank bolt and the engine was on.
Now all that was left to do was fill the engine with oil and gas and give it a test run.
The harbor freight engine comes with a low oil shut off that might cause it to shut off if you are tilling at too much of an angle, I haven't had that problem, but I have read about it happening to other people. So far I am happy with the engine it has plenty of power and for $99 dollars you cant go wrong.
