OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Question on Digging Equipment Rotary Hoes & Tillers Troy Bilt Rotary Hoe

Friend gave me a rotary hoe he found, a Troy Bilt TB146EC. When I picked it up had a chortle when seeing how small it is, first thought was whether it would be more useful in the kitchen than the garden :-)

Judging by the tynes it has hardly been used and of course needed a thorough going over, mud wasps nest in the muffler, rank fuel, air filter dripping with oil.

Surprised to find it is a 4 stroke and seems very well made.

Got it running, wow, it's a little beast !

https://www.troybilt.com/en_US/prior-year-models/tb146-ec-4-cycle-garden-cultivator/21AK146G766.html

Have done a bit of tilling and it does do a good job,albeit a narrow and shallow dig. Easier than using a pitchfork, impressed.

Decided to do an oil change and the plastic oil filler plug has been put in skewiff, so did a thread chase with a triangular file.

Problem is the "oil" was a light blue/turqoise coloured gloop about the consistency of a thin blancmangue/runny yoghurt. Never seen the likes - what could it be? Chainsaw bar oil, or ???

Have now filled with the recommended 30W oil as per the manual which is available online.

Of course the tynes are rusted solidly onto their shafts. Next job will be draining and refilling the gearbox.

Hi MowingManiac

These engines are very hard on oil - have seen many fail. Could have been bar oil but there is/was a brand of mower oil that was blue/green.

There is often a plug on one side of the gearbox

I have the mtd trimmer attachment version which I think uses the same reduction box and it has a plug on the RHS, but is actually filled with some sort of nlgi 2 moly grease. I got given an older attachment as well so I split the case, scooped out the old dried cracked grease and refilled