graham paige tiller

kenbob

Well-known Member
I have a chance to pick up the model 6 graham paige tiller pretty cheap. It was supposedly redone 20 years ago. I watched a few you tubes of folks using them. I am not really looking for a collectable piece. I am looking for a tiller that works better than my troy horse. If anyone has hands on experience with these machines I would be interested in hearing about it. Thanks all.
 
Is this what you are talking about? ROTOTILLER They are a monster. Also beware. They are 2cyl. so you need to run them on a 32 to one mix. Know a guy who collects them. He shows up at the Kinzer show. They have a very distinct sound when they are running. Kinda a low moaning whistle sound. The blasted carburetor is the same size as on my CUB. BIG single cylinder magneto.
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Yes, this is the beast. My Troy is tired, I have a long way between my plots. I was looking toward a newer tiller that had faster travel speed. I looked at some videos. It is pretty big, but with individual axle clutches it would seem to be pretty maneuverable. Most parts are availible. I was hoping to go newer, but I can pick one up cheap. Do they do a good job of tilling? I couldn't tell by the videos. I realize there were 4 different tines so who knows what I watched, and I haven't seen this tiller to know what I got. THe question boils down to: If this tiller was in good working condition, would it be superior to a Troy Horse? I have noise suppressors.
 
The one I have is a 2 stroke and pain in the back sides to start. You have to hold in on a button and pull the starter with the other hand and while I have done it before it was not easy back then and would be harder to do today
 
Yeah, I saw that. I watched several videos and I don't think anybody started theirs on the first pull, and it looked like a hard pull too. One thing with those machines is you could smoke out all the critters as you tilled. This one is $100 and was supposedly rebuilt and stored 20 years ago. If it is free I might take a chance on it just for grins.
 
The one I have I was told dates back to some time in the 40s so it is very older and can be a real pain to get running.
 


I had one for about 35 years. When they run right they are a really great tiller. Understand they need a MAN to handle them, kinda like a Gravely. The problems I ran into were mostly an easy fix. The mag, like all mags, doesn't like moisture and it needs to be kept dry and sheltered. The original mix ratio was something like 16-1. I thought that was due to the old oils, so I tried 35-1. I ended losing a piston, but if the leaner mix was directly responsible I can't say. I wouldn't run 16-1, but I wouldn't try any crazy stuff like 50-1 with a miracle oil either. They are not easy to find parts for, although there is a guy selling parts on Ebay now. He bought out the remaining inventory of the Frazer Rototiller Co. Thats the name you need to look for- Frazer. Graham-Paige bought an interest in the company at one time, then it went back to Frazer. The big $$$ is in the consumables- tines and tine holders. I have literally gone into virgin ground filled with Spruce roots and rocks and in one pass had enough of a bed to plant potatoes. I've also had it fling football sized rocks into my shins! They do an absolutely lovely job on tame ground. The tines WILL break eventually as will the spring style tine holders. Those aren't cheap. I got rid of all my Frazers after the cost of maintaining them got too much for me for the gardening I did. Those old machines did put a lot of food on my table and money in my pocket back in the day though.
 
That is the kind of info I was looking for. It looks like to replace all the tines would be about $320.00!! I think it would really be cool to have
one, and $100 is cheap enough, but it looks like that 2 stroke would be tempermental. THe fact that someone made an electric starter for them to the
tune of $750 makes me think I don't want anything that starts that hard. I really appreciate the info!

I do have an affinity for rare, old things that can be bought at a cheap price. It will probably require some self restraint to keep me from buying
it anyway. Not sure where you are located but there is a 2 day sale the end of Nov in Leavenworth KS that has a bunch of those small, odd garden
tractors, including a Jacques Frazier (same engine as the above tiller I think), a Western (a kc tractor with only 3 known and 2 are on the sale) and
numerous other orphans. I think I will use that as an excuse to stay away from the tiller, though I am guessing all of stuff will bring high dollars.
 
Sounds like you would love to come to my place and see all the old junk or should I say old treasures I have laying around. Like a Yazoo mower where the steering is under the seat and to me it was the first zero turn mower made. Or the Mot Fail mower I have. Or the D/B garden tractor I have. I could list more and of course the Frazier tiller I have
 
Old, where are you located? Did you see the comment about that sale in leavenworth. THere is another sale I saw on facebook, a consignment. Not sure where THey had a porsche made tractor and a couple not even listed in tractor data. One was called an Intercontinental...Don't remember the others.

I hear some folks swear by (not at) those Yazoos.
 
I'm in Missouri the Lake of the Ozarks area. This Yazoo I have has a big single cylinder B/S engine on it and i can be hard to pull over due to its size but boy will it mow good when it is working as it should be
 
Old,
I will have to make a day trip some time. How many Case tractors do you have. I have a VAC here and a 351 in Iowa.
 
I have 4 VAC tractors. 2 are 1946 parts tractors. 1 I use to rake hay with. and one needs some TLC but I have had it running. I was going to move the one that needs TLC but when I went to air up a rear tire I noticed things did not look right an the bead on the outer side let go. I was lucky I noticed something was wrong because I was not 20 feet from it when it let go with a very loud bang. I also have a VAI that ran good the last time I tried it. I also have IH and A/C and Oliver and JD and MH and MF ad Fords and a MM
 
You do have a collection! I grew up on a 70 Oliver. Had a CA Allis before I moved up to my VAC. That CA probably has as much power as any tractor of that size but I never liked getting on and off it. Before I got My Iowa Case 351 I would ride MMs in my brother's tractor ride. My cousin had an "R" named Suzie and that is a sweet tractor ride tractor. In my tight quarters I have to back down my rows in some spots so I had to stick with something resembling 3pt. I like my VAC a bunch, but it has the 34" rears and it is kinda fast in low gear and way to fast backing up.

I never had a tractor tire blow on me. When I was a kid a guy at the gas station was blowing up a bike tire and it blew. Knocked him down and blew his glasses off. Don't think I want to be standing next to anything bigger than that.
 
I have parts and pieces of 4 1946 A/C C tractors. I have 4 1940 Farmall H tractors. plus a few more. I have around 30 tractors here. Back 35 or so years ago I worked at a place that did truck tractor and car tires so I learned what to watch for when airing them up
 
(quoted from post at 12:21:21 10/26/19) That is the kind of info I was looking for. It looks like to replace all the tines would be about $320.00!! I think it would really be cool to have
one, and $100 is cheap enough, but it looks like that 2 stroke would be tempermental. THe fact that someone made an electric starter for them to the
tune of $750 makes me think I don't want anything that starts that hard. I really appreciate the info!

I do have an affinity for rare, old things that can be bought at a cheap price. It will probably require some self restraint to keep me from buying
it anyway. Not sure where you are located but there is a 2 day sale the end of Nov in Leavenworth KS that has a bunch of those small, odd garden
tractors, including a Jacques Frazier (same engine as the above tiller I think), a Western (a kc tractor with only 3 known and 2 are on the sale) and
numerous other orphans. I think I will use that as an excuse to stay away from the tiller, though I am guessing all of stuff will bring high dollars.


None of mine were ever hard to start as long as the thing had spark. You spush in on the spring loaded starter assy as you pull out on the starter cable. Then you just pull it over. There is a grease fitting there and it's easy to service.
 
Well if you buy it, and it sounds like you want it, you have all winter to fool with it before needing it for the garden next spring.
 
True. I found the site where used tillers of that make are advertised. They don't bring serious money. Sort of forgotten, and those who actually used them are getting scarce.
 
My brother and I both had one. I still do, but I'm not the muscular guy I need to be. I don't recall much difficulty in starting. A pioneer in the industry was C. W. Kelsey. He imported
rototillers from Siemens in the '30's. He made design improvements and sold his own version until 1946, when he passed it on to Graham-Paige. (Who built Kaiser and Fraser Cars.) We bought parts from a business in Auburn, Indiana, which also sold Hupmobile parts. [Hupmobile used Graham bodies to save money.] Troy-bilt claims to be a direct descendant, and I think, uses the same rotor tines.
 
(quoted from post at 00:55:28 10/28/19) My brother and I both had one. I still do, but I'm not the muscular guy I need to be. I don't recall much difficulty in starting. A pioneer in the industry was C. W. Kelsey. He imported
rototillers from Siemens in the '30's. He made design improvements and sold his own version until 1946, when he passed it on to Graham-Paige. (Who built Kaiser and Fraser Cars.) We bought parts from a business in Auburn, Indiana, which also sold Hupmobile parts. [Hupmobile used Graham bodies to save money.] Troy-bilt claims to be a direct descendant, and I think, uses the same rotor tines.


No, Troybilt tines and Frazer tines are completely different. The Frazer tines are a spring mounted 2 piece setup.
 

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