New tines are not sharp like a knife, they are beveled so the edge cuts into the soil. As they wear, eventually the cutting edge gets rounded and becomes difficult to rip into the soil. At that point, cutting a bevel similar to the way a lawnmower blade is sharpened will make them effective again. As they wear further, they get thin, sharply pointed, and almost sharp like a knife. At that point, they are no longer doing the job and should be replaced. You don’t sharpen them like a knife, rather, like a lawn mower blade with a flat bevel at about 35 to 40 degrees. I’ve never sharpened more than one time on a set of tines because they were replaced the next go around.
I’m never a “my way or the highway” person. You do you. I’ll do me. I like my tools to perform at their best. Using a tiller with good tines is a lot less work.
Also, I see that off-brand 3 hole tine in your picture.
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Yes I put a set of the Chinese 3 hole ones on years ago and 2 of them shattered. The OEM tines that are not hard faced dont last very long…they turn into ginsu knives for me in about 2 years. The hard faced ones from KD tool seem to last the longest. The OEM hard faced ones are $350/set
These that i bought 5 years ago were $250…they are now $400
Im guessing my tiller is worth $1000+ with these good tines on them adjusted for inflation.
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I didnt mean sharp like a knife… lol I meant beveled like the new ones are. You can restore that fairly easily with a grinder
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Getting ready for the upcoming season and one of my tasks was to replace the carburetor on my tiller today. While I was doing that I noticed a part that sits above the carburetor that I thought was some kind of filter at first. A quick search says that it’s a carbon filter and might be related to reducing emissions. But I can’t find an answer on whether it’s something that I should replace periodically. Wondering if that not being replaced could be the cause of my carburetor failing?
I hope that the replacement carburetor is a high quality one and works perfectly for you.
Years back I was working on an old lawnmower that someone accidentally left the fuel cap off of and rainwater collected inside the steel tank until it rusted through. Briggs and Stratton either had the tank as being made out of unobtainium or was just plain expensive. The affordable fuel tank from eBay sorta fit, but the carburetor that came already attached to it was plain ole not going to function as well as the old one. I try to restore the function of the existing carburetor if there’s ever any way.
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I was able to get the OEM part from troy-bilt and resisted the urge to buy the knock-off version from Amazon for much cheaper. It fired right up after changing it.
I did save the old carburetor and if I get some free time I might try to see if I can figure out why it’s not working. I’ll have to watch some videos though. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for.
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That is great to hear! Luckily carburetors are much more universal than the fuel tanks so their availability and price should be much better for OEM.
