Tiller Tillers - Befco & Sovema

[boustany]

I can get either through local distributors. I am thinking of a 50 ish inch unit for my Kubota 3010 (30 hp). The Sovema seems like a good unit and is about $500 (CDN) cheaper when comparing the RB-2140S with the Befco T40-250, both with a slip clutch.
Any comments on which I should chose? Both units are for 40Hp tractors, should I get a heavier unit (i.e. for a 50Hp) tractor?
Thanks for the comments

 

[MrP]

Don't know where you are located, but if you have a TSC near you, they sell a 60" KK for $999. The Befco that I have looked at is more than twice as much.

 

[Knight9]

Boustany,

I have a Sovema Laser 2-140. It is a well built tiller and the one you are looking at is even heavier. I'd think as long as your tractor hp is in the range Sovema specifies you should be fine. I don't think I'd be inclined to get a higher hp rated tiller. It really shouldn't be necessary.

Kevin

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have a sovema mower and tiller only ever replaced blades on them they are about 15 years old and have served me well.

 

[boustany]

Thanks alot for your feedback. Sounds like there are lots of good products out there. Anything I should avoid, or otherwise consider such as size, etc.?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I just bought a tiller. I got a Landpride RTR2072 which is a 72" reverse rotation tiller (for a L3600- 36hp tractor). It works incredibly well on our rock hard clay soil. My considerations in picking it were that it was as wide as my tractor (6') and that it had reverse rotation. I wanted this because of experience using walk behind tillers. With hard soil the normal rotation tillers would just hop across the top and not dig in. The reverse rotation tillers basically dig themselves in rather than relying on the weight of the implement to push the tines in. I have never used a tractor mounted tiller with normal rotation on our soil so I couldn't say how it would work but the reverse rotation one works great. It was about $3k

Dave

 

[frank_f15]

don't know much about sovema, but do have a befco finish mower, and that thing is very well built. why do u feel u need to put a tiller rated for a 50 hp. tractor on a 30 hp. machine? might be too much tiller for your tractor.

 

[boustany]

The reasoning is simply that attachements made to tollerate greater horsepower are likely to be more robust and more likely to be of good quality. I suspect the primary load factors for a tiller are its width and the soil type, not the horsepower it would support. A 50" tiller is going to have pretty much the same loads irrespective of the horsepower driving it.

Therefore, if I can afford it I try and get attachements which support a greater load than my little 3010 can throw at them, and I worry less about bending and breaking things. The problem here is that most tillers are not 'off the shelf' items, and I can't tell how sturdy a given model will be before I buy it.

Brian

 

[boustany]

re: I boght a Sovema

Update: I bought a Sovema RBS 2120, which is a 48" side shift tiller, from Eastern Farm Machinery, a dealer which is right handy to my farm, and who I discovered through TBN.
The attachment looks great (noice and sturdy). I tried it out on a small area (its a bit early to till here) and it seems to work great as well!
Only one problem: I got this so I could till my wife's garden. Once she saw the result of my test, she decided to expand the garden from about 1/8 of an acre to about 1 acre (!). I suggested she and the kids could pick rocks to prepare the area (I am busy building a house, besides my day job). So I showed her how to use the John Deere 345 + trailor to carry the rocks off.
Anyway, here is the problem: last night she asked me if I could show here how use the tiller!

The dilema is that she comes from a part of the world where an understanding of macnhinery is not exactly genetic (she burnt through 4 clutches before I convinced her to drive a car with an automatic transmission). Fortunately, my Kubota has Hydrostatic, but I am sure she'll find something to break. What am I going to do? Is this something TBN can help me with, or should I write Dear Abby?