OK just posting this up for those of us that have the Trailer Tug.
No longer in production and nothing out there near as handy to use to back your trailer into & out of tricky parking spots.
I have several types of trailer movers, electric and gas and the Tug is amazing with it's hydrostatic drive, nothing like it.
They came powered with the Briggs and Stratton Intek 6.5 Vertical shaft gas engine.
On it's first service 17 years ago I went online to learn adjusting the valves, cleaning the carb jet and oil change. Maint beyond what the owners manual had illustrated or recommended. It was expensive and I take care of my stuff.
I learned the Intek was probably the reason Briggs and Stratton went bankrupt.
Never ran that good and unreliable.
It was a common and essential PTO for farm and industrial equipment and would grenade within a few hours of running time.
Cam shaft failure, connecting rod thru the crankcase wall,, valve failures, a puking mess farmers, ranchers and firewood choppers reported. Now videos all over You Tube.
In the 17 years me and my borrowing neighbors with 35 ft boats on trailers probably put less than 5 hours on it, then 20 hours of duty at the Jose' Cuervo Children's Hospital wing tight-fit spaces visitors RV park (that's another thread for a different forum but true, the RV park was paid for by & sponsored by Jose' Cuervo hence the name) and then,, ka-pow it grenaded.
No drop-in replacement motor from Briggs and Stratton's online parts & engine store which is also winding down operation when they sell out.
Farmers have been using the Harbor Freight $229 vertical shaft replacement motor with ease of installation and report it runs way better than the Buggs and Stratton.
I'm doing that now.
Getting the B&S off the tugs chassis was a bit difficult with a seized pully on the hard to access shaft until I busted out the sawsall. Cut through the B&S shaft like a knife in hot butter.
BTW 7/8" bore X 2.5" dia 4L/A pully. 37" 4l/A drive belt - big sellers on
Amazon.
I'll be back with pics and tales of how the job went in part II.