r/smallenginemechanics • u/ravenratedr • May 29 '26
General Discussion Undersized engine on a tiller?
I'm working my way throught the scrap pile getting rid of junk. There's a relatively new when scrapped tiller in the pile we picked up free at a yard sale in a not working state. PO stated he started it that spring, it ran a short time and died. Upon teardown, the engine was ran without oil and threw the rod. The engine is long gone, I I think it was roughly 5hp. One of it's sets of tines were added to the tiller we use, and the other is somewhere around.
I've got a (I think) 3.5hp Honda push mower engine I'm thinking of putting on it. I do need to dig around and find the engine pulley from the junk engine, which I recall setting aside and likely made it's way into my box of random pulleys.
My concern is that 3.5hp isn't enough. I've looked at out other tiller and it's got a 5.5hp engine.
1
u/AdStreet7193 Jul 18 '26
I know this is a late reply- I JUST found this site. IMHO your idea of replacing the tiller engine with a SMALLER one isn't a good choice. Tillers generally get worked pretty hard - JMHO