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bolens 1256 01

S

steve19438

Well-known Member
looks like I might be bringing home a 1256 01 ser no 105283. anyone know what year it is?
thanks.

also coming with it is mower deck, front blade and roto tiller.
 

I have a 1256-02 and the owner's manual is dated 11/70

Hope you got the good rototiller. Bolens had two versions. A cheap one with worm-gear drive and a really good one with chain drive.
 
is this the good one?
a220401.jpg

a220402.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 12:17:50 03/19/16) is this the good one?
Click to expand...

I can't tell from the photo. The light-duty model tiller that we had many failures with is model 18609 or 18610
 
That looks like the lighter duty 'round back' tiller.

Nothing wrong with them as long as you use them for what they were designed for. Bolens recommended that they be used in already worked ground, not virgin ground.

For virgin ground the heavy duty 'square back' tiller was recommended.

As for the 1256, I personally think it's the best of all the tube frames.
 

Certainly is a big difference. We had several of those light-duty tillers come to the shop with burnt up worm gears. And the HD tillers? I never saw one fail. I had one that I widened to 4 feet and made it self-powered with a two-cylinder Wisconsin engine. I used it for years in ultra rocky soil in central NY and it never failed.
 
Sounds like the people using them didn't bother to keep tabs on the lube.

With the proper amount of lube they shouldn't do that.
 
(quoted from post at 03:32:23 03/20/16) Sounds like the people using them didn't bother to keep tabs on the lube.

With the proper amount of lube they shouldn't do that.
Click to expand...

They were full of oil when they failed. Note when working in a shop - we usually only see the bad ones. May of been plenty of others that did not fail. As I recall, the worm-drive tillers we are are talking about were only intended for tractors with a max of 9 horsepower - yet they easily fit on to tube-frame tractors with more power. We are told, at the time, when I was working at a Bolens dealership (in Middletown, NY) - that excess power was the issue and for that the HD tiller should be used. Whatever the problem was - it was not from being run dry. And I repeat - I never saw one the HD units fail.
 
I agree with oldbuzzard many abused the "Light duty tillers"
They still made the "Round back" right into the mid 70's along with the heavy duty ones so you had an option between them depending on what ground you had to till.

If you used the tillers as intended there were no issues, alot of trouble came from tilling virgin ground and tilling backwards which was real brutal on the worm drive.
 

What exactly does "use as intended" mean? I don't recall too many - if any warnings from FMC about not using the worm-drive tiller in certain ways that they DID recommend for the HD unit. Bolens also sold extension kits for the worm-drive tiller to make it even bigger and put more stress on the little gear-box. I'm not sure what the argument is here. They are what they are. Reality is the HD unit is a more rugged unit. The reality also is - when I worked for a Bolens dealer - I saw several of the light-duty units with burnt up gears. I never saw a HD fail other then a need for a U-joint once in awhile in the driveshaft.
 

Several service bulletins were issued about the tillers and the owners manuals also noted about soil conditions and the tine extensions were stated to be used for cultivating only, not tilling soil.

Not trying to get into an argument but just trying to say the Light duty tillers are not junk if you use them as designed.

These are tough machines but it seems many people use them as mini Bull Dozers and thats where you wind up with trouble.
 

Service bulletins? This is nearly 50 years later. Often, likely most often, people buy a tiller and expect to be able to use it in rough or soft ground. I doubt few are aware of old service bulletins, just as many are not aware there were LD and HD versions of tillers that fit the same tube-frame tractors. My original point - which is still all that I am saying - is the HD tiller is a much better rig and I've never seen one fail - even with extensions on both sides.
 
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