I was discussing the need to de-thatch my yard at work when one of my
co-workers began describing his machine, it not only thatched but had
tiller attachments as well.

After giving it some thought and surfing the web, it is obvious in
many cases a thatcher and tiller WERE the same machine, except for
attachments and sometimes fenders.

I have a Craftsman 917.298331 tiller with a 3HP engine.

The drive shaft is 3/4" in diameter, driven in the center of the
machine, with two shafts sticking about 6" out each side. Each shaft
has two shear pin holes 3.5" apart since this unit has four tines.

It seems to me (with all of the parts bin engineering out there) that
someone would make a 3/4" shafted thatching attachment, which I could
buy the parts for and swap on demand.

Does anyone have a thatcher with this sort of drive?