In a rare burst of Motivation, I picked up a new toy last week for a project I have become quite keen on. Everything I have in garden equipment is all petrol and nearly all Verticle shaft engines for which there is no Diesel Replacement.
I got myself a Honda F700 2 Wheel Tractor/ Tiller which will be perfect for setting up with one of the several China Diesels I have required and are sitting round the shed.
I wanted another tiller for the garden but after looking at YT vids of what this thing can actually do, I'm very keen on the thing as it will do far more than I thought around the place. As It does not have the rotavator attachment and the hoes are just fitted to the Drive Axle, the other tiller I have will probably be better for that. This one with a Ripper will be better for doing hard ground and tearing out tree roots which are everywhere here.
The one I picked up has an old Honda Sidevalve engine rated at 6.8 HP. The Engine looks in pretty poor nick and does not have spark. After a bit of a washdown and removal of the original engine, the rest of the thing which is built like a tank looks pretty good.
I was hoping I could do a straight swap with the China Diesel I bought the other day but of course that is wishful thinking. That said, it's not too bad either. The Diesel is a little longer and wider than the Honda engine so I'll have to make up a new engine mounting plate to move the thing over a little to line up the drive belts and give it something to hang onto on the far end mounting holes.
Just last week I did some Dumpster Diving in a local engineering shops scrap bin and came up with the perfect Size Piece. All I have to do is drill the holes for the diesel and to mount it to the original Mounting holes on the Tractor.
The Diesel I got the other day surprisingly wouldn't take any of the pulleys I have. Bit of research shows it's a 20mm Pulley Not the standard 3/4 - 19mm. I'll either have to get a Pulley bored for it ( original 3" is a 22mm Bore) or I'll have to get one of the other Diesels I have out which do have 19mm shafts on the same engine and fit one of those. I also have a 13 Hp Ruggerini which is a big engine I could fit but I think that's going to take a fair bit more engineering to fit that. For the smaller engines, not sure if it's worth getting a Taper lock pulley or just a plain ally one will be fine.
After the Mounting plate and Pulley, all I should need is a longer belt and I'll be in business.
There are vids on YT showing these things Pulling single Moldboard Ploughs as well as single tine Ripper type's. They have also been fitted with Blades which I would also like to do as there is a LOT of garden I want to strip out and re plant. I'm thinking to make a Narrow, 30 Cm Dozer blade for the thing and a wider one for pushing loose material around. I have piece of 1/4" plate that is nicely sized that I will have to try and bend a curve in it.
I don't have any tools for this so I'm thinking strap the thing to the tree which has the right sort of diameter with a whole bunch of ractchet straps and try tightening them down in succession till I get the curve I want and a bit more to allow for Flex.
Other thing may be to bend some of the thick flat stock I have and then tack or screw the sheet to that to curve it round.
The machine has a single 30mm receptacle to take a bar for weights and implements. At the back is a Hitch type fitting where the Ripper Plough attaches. I'll make a few things to go there, a straight plough Blade, A bigger ripper/ Knife and an offset Cutter for doing the garden edges.
The Diesels I have are 6Hp and have a little more torque than the original petrol engine. There are a few Vids on YT of these machines with Diesel Conversions as well as China petrol engines. Thinking I might just order a 7 Hp petrol engine in case the diesel isn't a success for any reason as I'm keen to get to work with this thing. Come to think of it, I have a brand new 13 Hp petrol as well as a diesel up the back shed.
I'll post up some Pics tomorrow of the thing and progress so far. I left the camera in the garage and as we are advancing well toward the -4 C night predicted, I'm not going up there now for them! :0)