Troy Built tiller engine problems

Got this odd problem with this Koler engine. 7HP has a fuel pump and is old as in 1972.
Well any how as long as the tank is full of gas and the gas is above the carb it runs good but when the level of gas gets below the carb it will not run.
I'm thinking the fuel pump is bad what do you guys think??
Thanks
Oh by the way I just tilled my very very bog garden. Ya right it is all of 30 feet by 25 feet and that is my big area my small area is 10 by 20

yep...sounds like the diaphram is shot
does it have a mechanical or pulse powered pump?
just about any pulse power pump can be made to work if it has one...mechanical pumps are spendy...i cant even find replacement diaphrams anymore...just new.

I think it is mechanical but not sure since I have not taken it off. And yep I priced one for my Lincoln welder with an onan engine and it was like $75 for the pump. On the welder I just took the tank out from under the hood and strapped it on top and ran the gas line to the carb and it works just fine that way. Been thinking about doing the same on the tiller. Oh and on the welder it was getting gas in the oil so I had to by pass or replace the pump no matter what

I had one just like it and it was the fuil pump put a new on it and it is still runing.
Whats ya been up to BUD, not much here but working in the yard. Try that fuil pump and see if it works for you, Good luck.
JR.FRYE

About all I have been doing is tilling my garden and cleaning up my raised beds and planting some stuff in my cold frames. I did plow one area for wild life cover that other day. Starting to get way to dry around here for April plus hot as in the 80s almost every day which is to hot for this time of year

Rich, what motor series is on yours? I have a Troy Bilt Horse, with a 7HP Kohler, the engine series is a K161-T and it is gravity fed to the carb., no fuel pump on it.

I'm thinking yours must be an older model K series emgine, I'm not sure, but I think mine is either late 70's or early 80's, seems odd to have a pump if the fuel tank is above the carb, then again, I've got other Kohler powered things around, and I'm not sure as I sit here if any of those have mechanical fuel pumps on them, seem to recall some did, but I do know those Kohlers vary a bit and many were built specific to an application, like most small engines I would suppose. None of that is really of any help to you though, sounds like either the pick up in the tank is getting clogged or if it has a pump on it, the diaphragm etc. it's definitely fuel related.

One thing I like about this tiller, and I was real fortunate to find a low useage one owner last year, after searching for quite some time, calling for sale adds etc., finally got one. Those 7HP Kohlers start on one pull just about every time, even after sitting. My father has a later model with the 8hp Kohler magnum, it too starts on one pull. I made the first pass on my garden patches 1 month ago, which is really early here, even though the areas are facing south, top of the hill side etc., I look forward to tilling it every year.

if pumps bolted to side of engine its mechanical...the pulse pumps have 3 or 4 hoses...1 hose goes to crankcase breather.

Well the model of this engine is K181T and for decades I have thought it was a 7HP but when I went out and got the numbers it says right there 8HP. What I like about a troy built is you could hang a 50 lbs weight on the handle bar and it would till all the way around the world with out a person so much as touching it they till so easy that a 5 year old can run run one

Yep sits on the side of the engine sort of below the carb

Must be another variation of the horse, obviously before the 8HP Magnum series ?, must be that one has the fuel pump on it.

They can pull ya around in the rocky soils we have here, so I found it wise to dig out existing soils and replace with top soils from around the place + organic matter and so on, then they till like you say, if you have clean soil small or no rocks, on the flat, once you've worked up a patch, they work great. Tilling into sod and or rocky soils, seems better not to till so deep, repetition, making more passes gradually increasing depth then they don't seem to bite in as hard and or pull ya around. Any significant tree root or rock makes them hook right up and walk on the tines. One thing is for sure they sure used to build em heavy enough to hold up a long time. Only thing I don't like about mine is the fumes, you need to run it when there is a breeze otherwise the exhaust fumes are in your face.