marty9930
Full Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon May 11, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: Tempe, AZ

Tiller Squeal Solutions?

Good afternoon from Phoenix Arizona :D

My fiancé and I have a "new-to-us" Troybilt Pony tiller that I picked up for quite a steal. Immediately, I replaced the motor oil, gear oil, and air filter. It has fresh gasoline in it and runs very well. I noticed on occasion an awful squeal would develop, so I would just shut it down. The obvious solution was to replace the belts, but it still made the same sound with the belts removed. It either makes the sound on start up, or a short while after it is running. Maybe a pulley bearing or something needs to be oiled up? Maybe it needs a better cleaning? Is this conundrum familiar to anyone?

gumbo2176
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Posts: 3065
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:01 am
Location: New Orleans

Is there any way you can run it to try to pinpoint the source of the noise to a specific area of the engine. I'm assuming it is the engine making the noise since you mention it does it with no belts on the machine.

Is there any part of the metal of the engine housing that is bent and maybe hitting a moving part? Have you tried oiling any moving parts you can get to and see if that helps. If it were me, I'd start the engine and oil the moving parts I could see one at a time and eliminate them as you go.

It could be a bearing inside the engine cases that has spun and that may be why you got it for "quite a steal". I'm assuming you purchased it "as is" when getting it used.

jasonvanorder
Senior Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:18 am
Location: West Michigan zone 6a

Had the same problem on an older troybuilt pony tiller. For me it was the recoil on the pull start wasn't working right. Sometimes it wouldn't recoil at all sometimes it wouldn't fully disengage. Changed it out and not a problem since. The issue I'm running into is parts for it. I'm 33 and its older than me. But runs like brand new with very little maintenance

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jal_ut
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Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Yep, I'd be looking at the recoil pull start mechanism.



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