I am very close to the complete restoration of my grandfather's old garden tiller. The engine-less frame had sat in the elements for 25 years but now all I need to do is figure out how the belt wraps around the pulleys and idlers. A link below, which I hope will work, has pictures that might help. The tiller has both forward and reverse which would make you think it should have two belts, one for forward and a reverse belt that has been twisted to spin the drive shaft in the opposite direction. The mystery is that I have the original belt but it appears to be twice as long as it should be. All that I can figure is that it only had one belt and the slack is taken up because the belt is looped around in some manner allowing both forward/reverse with one belt. How in the world this is possible, I do not know. I took picture of the tiller before taking it apart and as far a I know I put it back together properly. The engine that is on there now is not the original so I may need to put a double groove pulley on the engine shaft as there is only a single groove pulley attached for now.

Finding a solution has been hard because it appears the company that built the tiller is no longer in business, or has merged with something else. I assume the model is from the 1970's (educated guess). The original labels said "White's Power Ranger 5 HP." I could not find a model number. Has anyone heard of this company before? I ran across a few manuals online for a White Roto Boss 300, 350, 500, 550, etc. but none of these match up to what I have. I do not think White is the same as White Outdoor. I hope to have this ready for the fall planting. Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2340403&id=27406929&l=3e42b1d23c

Thanks,

Joe

If it is Gilson, they use two belts, one for forward and one for reverse. The forward belt is closer to then engine and wraps around conventionally. The reverse belt is twisted into a "figure-eight" and the engine pully drives on the "Vee" side, and the tiller pulley contacts the "flat" side of the belt.

Suggest you look at the Rustytiller site below and go to "TECHINCAL" where the manuals are located.

BTW: Could also be a private label Ariens, although handles look different. Ariens mounts engine same way, but uses a special model with extra shaft from the camshaft to drive reverse.