I would check that everything rotates smoothly and the bearings have no play. Check gearbox (s) that it (or they) are full of oil... if not then it probably has a bad seal. Also check for excessive slop in gearbox (s). The reason I put the plural in parenthesis is because on the side some will have another gear case to drive the main shaft, some will have belts. If it had belts check the condition of them.
Most of these will be easy fixes if you are somewhat mechanically inclined, but they need to be considered when negotiating price. A very sloppy gearbox or bent rotor shaft would be what I would consider usually not worth fixing unless the price is VERY cheap. Also if the tines (or blades or whatever you want to call them) are all badly worn that could get expensive as well, though they usually last a long time.
I don't own nor have ever owned one so some others will probably add more, but I have been looking for one as well and this is what I look for. I have repaired my share of machinery so I usually know what I am getting myself into.
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One of my favorite attachments for Johnny, our subcompact tractor is our rear roto-tiller. When I first got it, I didn&#;t expect to use it much. I viewed it as a &#;uni-tasker&#;, only useful for tilling gardens. This view has proven to be short-sighted. As you&#;ve likely seen in our videos, we use the tiller for MANY different jobs. It almost always comes through for us.
If you are considering a tractor mounted tiller you may be seeing many different models, wondering which size, style, or brand is the right tiller for you. Hopefully we can help explain and answer some of those questions for you in this article.
I&#;ve been reading online tractor forums and talking with tractor owners for several years now. As of yet, I have not heard a single person say that they don&#;t like their tiller. Not even one! Given this anecdotal information, you might be wasting your time reading this article. Just go get any tiller you see. I am almost certain that you will be happy with it. I&#;ll refer to this as &#;Tiller Rule #1&#;.
Having said that, you wouldn&#;t have started reading this article if you were an impulse buyer. So, let&#;s dig into some of the decisions you&#;ll have to make, and some of the features you might want to consider.
Optimally, you will choose a tiller which is just a bit wider than the max width of your tractor. This allows you to till out your tire tracks with each pass.
Some older tractors, (think of tractors like the ford 8N, etc) were built very wide, yet they didn&#;t have much horsepower. For those tractors, you can purchase an &#;offset&#; tiller which will allow you to fully cover one of the two tire tracks. The other tire track will not be covered at all. This allows you to till without leaving tire tracks, but only in one direction.
Many of our viewers own subcompact tractors, so let&#;s consider these specifically. Most of these new sub-compact tractors are very similar in size and horsepower. Just under 25 hp, and just under 4&#; in width. For these tractors, Kubota BX, Deere 1-series, Massey GC17xx, etc, get a 4 ft tiller. This will be the perfect width. It will handle the toughest tilling conditions, allow you to get through small gates (54&#; or so), and fully cover the tire tracks.
Some folks run 54&#; or even 60&#; tillers. For example, one of our most loyal subscribers (Levi/mi2tn) has a 60&#; tiller for his R. You can get away with a 60&#; tiller in an existing garden. However, for sod, or harder or muddy soils, I find the 48&#; to sometimes be more than Johnny (our R) wants.
If you have a Deere 2-Series, Kubota B series, use a similar rule, get a tiller just wider than your tractor. Of course, if you have one of the 25hp larger frame tractors (E, L, etc), you may not have sufficient horsepower to handle a &#;full-tractor-width&#; tiller. Again, choose an offset 4 ft. model in this case.
While all rear tillers are driven by the tractor&#;s PTO, the power is transferred to the main tiller axle shaft in two different approaches. You will not be able to tell which type of drive is used by looking at the tiller, as this drive is fully encased and enclosed to keep the oil in and dirt out. You will be able to see the enclosure on one end of the tiller.
One of the drive choices inside the enclosure is a roller chain with sprockets on each shaft. This is the simpler and presumably least expensive of the two options. In theory, the chain drive will be slightly less reliable than the gear drive. However, I&#;ve never heard of anyone having an issue with their chain drive, and the LandPride rep I spoke with at the Louisville National Farm Machinery show pointed out that if such damage DOES occur, this drive chain is a standard #80 chain, so the mechanism would be straightforward to repair.
The other drive choice consists of a series of gears which transfer the power from the upper shaft to the tiller axle shaft. While this option seems like it would be more reliable, manufacturers of chain drive tillers are quick to claim that the gear drive version pulls much harder, losing power as it transfers through the gears.
I&#;m not sure which mechanism I prefer. On the surface, the gear drive would seem more durable, but the simplicity of the chain drive has its advantages too.
This is one statistic that you should be sure to check. You WILL notice the difference between a heavier tiller and a lighter tiller.
For hard soil, the tiller must have sufficient weight to keep it from bouncing. I would recommend buying the heaviest tiller you can find in almost every instance. The only exceptions would be if the tiller is heavier than the tractor&#;s 3 point hitch can lift. The LandPride rep says the tiller will only bounce if the tines are worn out. While I&#;m sure this is largely true, I think it would be hard to prevent a bounce in Patrick&#;s newly delivered and packed clay. The only thing that MIGHT prevent this would be a reverse-rotation tiller discussed below.
Most tillers rotate in the same direction as the tires turn. The top of the tines go forward. However, some tillers have &#;reverse rotation&#;. Reverse Rotation forces the tiller to dig-in deeper by pulling backwards against the natural direction of travel. Another advantage is that reverse rotating tines do not push the tractor forward. Occasionally, forward rotating tillers can cause the tractor to lunge forward.
My experience with a reverse rotation tiller is limited to the walk-behind variety, as neighbor Bob had one. In perfect conditions, like my garden, the reverse rotation leaves a wonderful seedbed. However, when operating in sod, it would push a large pile of sod up in front of the tiller while operating.
Other viewers have stated that reverse rotating tillers can tend to throw rocks forward (and maybe upward toward the operator). Throwing rocks forward is frustrating because that just keeps them in the path of the tiller so that they will be encountered again.
Overall, I would choose the forward rotating tiller again if I were to buy another one. However, I would not fault others for choosing the reverse rotation, as they certainly have their advantages.
This spec may be hard to find on some tillers. The King Kutter brand shows this spec for each model. Surprisingly, there is sometimes a fairly big difference. For example, the King Kutter TG series spins at 210 RPM, while the TG-XB series spins at 250 RPM. All else being equal, I would prefer the faster spinning tiller.
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Some tillers have 4 tines per flange, and others have 6 tines per flange. The 6 tine version will have at least a couple of advantages over the 4 tine version. First, it will be heavier. Second, each rotation of the tiller shaft will perform 50% more cutting action.
I would recommend the 6-tine version.
Any PTO powered equipment needs to have some sort of protection in case the implement gets stuck and cannot rotate. Without such protection, something has to give. With a small tractor like mine, often the engine will stall/die. With a larger tractor, something will break. Shaft, gearbox, chain, etc.
Most equipment uses either a shear-bolt or a slip-clutch to provide this protection. A shear-bolt is a bolt holding the PTO shaft to the gearbox shaft. The bolt is sized appropriately so that it will break (shear) before any damage occurs to the equipment. To return to work, one must replace the broken bolt with a new one of the same hardness to continue providing the same level of protection.
A slip-clutch is a set of plates with abrasive material between them. A series of bolts clamp these plates together. Adjusting these bolts allows the plates to &#;slip&#; when too strong of a force is applied to the PTO shaft.
Now for a special TTWT thought which likely almost every reader will disagree with. If you are using a 25hp (or smaller) tractor, this protection is not really necessary in my opinion. If our &#;irresistable force&#; (tiller tines) encounters and &#;immovable object&#; (root or rock stuck between tines and frame), the most likely result is an engine stall from a full-throttle (at least PTO speed) RPM. While this is obviously not optimal for the tractor, it will not tear up the tractor. In my opinion, there is no way a 25 hp tractor can tear up a 40hp (or higher) rated gearbox. This opinion ONLY applies to these
Ok, with that unpopular opinion stated, I would prefer the slip-clutch approach over the shear-bolt approach. The slip-clutch allows the operator to adjust it as necessary. With a shear-bolt approach, if you encounter a higher stress situation where you shear multiple bolts in normal operation like I did when using the post hole digger, you have only two options. Lots of bolts, or step up to the next hardness of bolt which likely defeats the effectiveness of the shear-bolt protection.
One very nice enhancement to the 3 Point Hitch system is the &#;Quick Hitch&#;. Refer to Quick Hitch Options for more information about quick hitches.
When buying a tiller, I would recommend that you select one which is (or can easily be made to be) quick hitch compatible. The King Kutter XB Tiller which I have is not quick-hitch compatible, but It was not difficult to modify it. Please check out my video on this conversion for more details.
Some tillers have a more advanced feature relating to the hitch. They allow the hitch to be moved to the left or right for an adjustable &#;offset&#; feature. For some users this might be a valuable feature.
There are three major brands that I know of (and several smaller/lesser known brands) which are made in the USA. Land Pride, King Kutter, and Tartar both make reasonable quality tillers.
I believe Tartar makes most of the &#;County Line&#; brand tillers sold by Tractor Supply, but this can change (and has changed) over the years.
Again, let&#;s talk specifically about the sub-compact tractor scenario. For the King Kutter brand, the King Kutter II models are offset when in the 4&#; width.
The offset may make it show just a bit of tire track on one side of the 47&#; wide tractor. So, I don&#;t think it is the best choice for a sub-compact tractor.
The King Kutter XB (like mine) is not quick hitch compatible, and is not quite as heavy as the King Kutter II, but it spins faster, and it is centered.
Take a look at Tractor Basics for a cost effective yet high quality American made tiller. They have two models in their lineup. An entry level 4 tine per flange chain drive model which comes only in a 4&#; width, and a full featured 6 tine per flange, gear drive model which comes in 4&#; and 5&#; widths. Of course, I&#;m a bit of a tiller snob, as you&#;ve noticed already, so I prefer the full featured model, but either way, you will find this tiller cost effective, and tough enough for anything you can throw at it. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the TTWT discount! Apply code TTWT at checkout for a nice 10% discount!
On the topic of reverse rotation, Land Pride appears to be the leader in this approach.
Several viewers end up buying their tiller with their tractor &#;so they can get it financed together&#;. Before you make that choice, please review the list of differentiators above. Then, ask yourself if it is worth 50% to 100% more to get the financing. In general, we don&#;t recommend this approach.
There are lots of choices in the tiller world. Hopefully this article has helped to identify some of the differences between different models. If you are still struggling to determine which tiller is right for you, just remember &#;Tiller Rule #1&#;. EVERYONE seems to be thrilled with their tiller. No matter WHAT brand.
Just get one&#;and start enjoying it!