Old Rotohoe tiller 990-5

Hello Folks; I am looking for info about an old tiller 990-5 rotohoe. I have access to a parts manual but do not know where to shop for the parts. I need to know the size of the needle bearing and the wiper bearing for the tine shaft. Thanks in advance.

I bought a new one in 1975.Dont work to hard on it.It has a 3/8 drive belt that wears fast.If you keep the belt tight enough to keep it moving the trans mission bushing will wear out.It has a 5 speed transmission but wont move in 3 4 and 5.The 3/8 belt just slips.

Hello 36 coupe; did you find a place to get repair parts?

I have a way old Roto Hoe tiller. The bearings will very likely be standard sizes. Remove them and take them to Motion Industries, or Kaman Industries.
Jim

Hello Jim; Thank you for the info. I found that the bearings are gone and it appears they may have been replaced with something like a nylon plastic material or some other strong plastic material set inside the bearing housing. Does this seem right to you?

The Distributor had a few parts left.When the tiller drive chain jumped off I found it had been put to gether with the adjustment all the way out.I had to put a new chain in it.The L shape tines were worthless.They picked up every small flat stone in the garden and jammed the rotor.

It seems unlikely to work for long. Measure the shaft and bore accurately. Then purchase caged needle bearings to fit. If the shaft is hard, it will be fine. (seals need to be on the dirt side. Jim

Again; Thank you Jim!!

Good luck with it. Mine has worked well for the 12 years I have had it. It had a hornets nest in the points when I got it. Jim

I bought one in about 1977 with an 8hp Tecumseh. That engine lasted a few years and then sent the rod through the side of the block. I bought an externally identical 10hp engine, but the output shaft was larger than the 8hp, so the original pulley would not work. Since one of the main problems I had with the original setup was that in heavy tilling, I could wear out a new drive belt in an afternoon, I decided to put on a larger pulley. I got the smallest 2 piece pulley I could find that would fit and added the proper sized belt.

It worked OK, but I would not say good. With the larger engine pulley, the tines turned quite a bit faster. This was OK most of the time, but I found that if I hit a small rock just right, the tiller would shoot the rock out the back with dangerous force. I had to make some shin guards out of plastic sewer pipe to safely till my garden. At least I didn"t have to buy a new belt so often. I also got the snow thrower attachment, and it would sure toss snow a long way.

I thought it was poor engineering to have used so small of a primary drive belt and also to use such a small diameter engine pulley. What they should have done was to increase the size of both the engine pulley and the pulley it drove. That original setup would smoke a primary belt really fast. Maybe they engineered it as they did so the primary belt would slip fairly easily if it encountered anything tough, rather than breaking something else. I never had any trouble with the rest of the machine. I would not say that it was easy to till with it though.

I now have a repowered Troy-Bilt. It is a lot easier to use than the Roto-Hoe. But then, when both were new, the Troy cost about twice as much as the Roto-Hoe. Good luck!

I've had about 30 of those Troy Bilt tillers. I use to buy them back in the 80 and 90's and do repairs on them and then resell them. Some had those interlocks on the handles and owners left them out in the weather then wondered why they wouldn't start. Almost all of them needed tines.

I bought this tiller in 2005 for $100.00. In 2006 I sold the 6hp Tecumseh engine for $65.00 and bought a 10hp B&S engine for it with electriic start. I had to replace the seals under the tine holders and it needed new tines.
I also painted the tiller. Hal

Thanks Hal. Good information.

Hello El Toro; Smart deals' Nice looking machine!