Tiller Help needed for selecting right size tiller

[Mofan]

I am planning to purchase a KK rotary tiller, but not sure which size to get. I have a Kubota L4400 which has 37.5 PTO h.p. and the manual recommends a 5' tiller with a max weight of 770 lbs.

The KK 60" is 690 lbs. and rated for 25-40 PTO HP and the 72" is 780 lbs. and rated for 35-50 PTO HP.

I use a Pat's easy change hitch which adds some length to the 3 pt. so I am concerned about the max weight, but with a 72" tire width, I really would like the 72" tiller.

Not being that experienced, what would you all recommend? Thanks.

 

[JC-jetro]

I am planning to purchase a KK rotary tiller, but not sure which size to get. I have a Kubota L4400 which has 37.5 PTO h.p. and the manual recommends a 5' tiller with a max weight of 770 lbs.

The KK 60" is 690 lbs. and rated for 25-40 PTO HP and the 72" is 780 lbs. and rated for 35-50 PTO HP.

I use a Pat's easy change hitch which adds some length to the 3 pt. so I am concerned about the max weight, but with a 72" tire width, I really would like the 72" tiller.

Not being that experienced, what would you all recommend? Thanks.

I use 5' wide KK tiller with my 2400 lbs 25 hp PTO wit no problems at all. My soil condition is good without much heavy clay, rocks or roots where I garden. It is really advantageous to cover your track with the width of the tiller. Kubota L400 at about say 3500 lbs and 37 rated PTO is very easily more than capable of handling a 6 foot considering your soil condition. I certainly go for the 6 footer to cover L4400 track. Should you ever need down the road to till less wider than 6' wide , then just simply take off one or two rows of the tines. You can till a 5 foot wide row and have some spare tines also.

JC,

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Not sure what the basis for the 770# limit is. Could be 3pt capacity or a handling issue, light front end due to weight transfer. I'd try and get an understanding what determine the rating. Yep, you should use a tiller that covers the full width or can be mounted offset so at least one tire footprint gets worked up as the tiller passes.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

I have been using a 6' Kuhn and have had no problems, are you sure about the #770 pounds? Your 3-point should be upwards of a few thousand pounds.

steve

 

[ToadHill]

I didn't worry much about weight just the read tire width, I got one that was wider than the tires by a couple inches.

 

[jbrumberg]

Mofan:

Welcome to TBN ! Your L4400 should be able to handle a KKII 72" tiller. Your 3PH lift capacity at 2' beyond lift point is approximately 2310 pounds according to Kubota literature, and you have the PTO HP to power that size tiller. You definitely want a tiller that is wider than your wheel width. Jay

 

[Wildcat Ranch]

We have a JD 3720 with a JD 72" tiller. The tractor is at 35 pto hp and we have never needed more power. The only time that the tractors RPM may dip a little is when we do a second pass through the garden at 8" deep.

Dan

 

[diyDave]

It doesn't need to cover your tire track, if it is an offset, slider. You can get the 5 foot model of one of these, and never have to worry about it needing more HP than you have. By having it offset, all you need to cover is one tire track.

 

[Foozle]

It doesn't need to cover your tire track, if it is an offset, slider. You can get the 5 foot model of one of these, and never have to worry about it needing more HP than you have. By having it offset, all you need to cover is one tire track.

I'm considering tillers at the moment as well and have a question about the offset type. Doesn't this limit flexibility in how you can till a smaller, rectangular shaped garden (like 1 acre or so)? It seems you'd have to till the same direction in order for the offset to work. Or, till the opposite direction but at opposite sides of the garden, working your way to the center -- which would be ok until you got to the center of the garden and would be left with a tread mark. Am I missing something here?

Thanks

 

[xlr82v2]

Nope, you're not missing a thing.

The small offset tillers are good for small gardens, where you can just till in successive passes in one direction... but if you're working a larger plot (like a 1 acre "garden" (that's quite a large garden!!) you would waste a lot of time deadheading back to the other end of the garden to start your next pass. Not un-doable, but not a very efficient use of time.

Covering BOTH tracks is always better than covering just one, unless you just don't have the horsepower to do it... which I think would be a really rare occasion.

I'm running a 72" KK tiller on my 27 PTO HP Mahindra 3525, and it handles it just fine... Mofan has 10 more hp than I do, so he should have absolutely no problem at all with the 6 footer.
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