Tiller What breaks/fails most on tillers?

   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #1  

ColorMeGreen

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2002
Messages
27
Location
Orem UT
Tractor
JD4400
Other than tines.... what breaks most? Is it worth any extra money to pay for a gear v. chain drive? And can you judge the quality of a tiller by its weight?
Thanks
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #2  
I have a medium duty 4 ft. Farm King Rotatiller chain drive Run by a B7100HST tractor with slip clutch. The tractor does not have sufficient PTO horespower to be able to set the clutch up properly for varying tilling conditions.
Under normal operations it worked well with no breakage. Here in Nova Scotia where I am tilling on a slate based drumlin that has many rocks it becomes a different story. The tines have all been broken and the chain breaks on a regular basis. Now please note it has discovered many 50 # plus rocks while working. Smaller rocks will also jamb between the tines and shell. I have removed half the tines which has greatly reduced chain breakage but tine breakage continues. As an indication of the amount of rocks several hours of tilling will usually produce several yards of rock. I gather them in the bucket as I'm working.
The chain is easy to fix/replace. How a gear drive would preform I do not know.

Egon
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #3  
<font color=blue>...The tractor does not have sufficient PTO horespower to be able to set the clutch up properly for varying tilling conditions...</font color=blue>

Hi Egon...

It appears the tractor has sufficient power to keep going and break things without the "clutch slipping" on the tiller...

Are you sure the "clutch" isn't seized up and not working/slipping to prevent all this breakage...? /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

18-35197-JD5205JFMsignaturelogo.JPG
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #4  
Hey, Egon. How 'bout bringing some of those rocks to my place in Iowa? I'm getting ready to build and they may look nice on the chimney or other applications. While you're here, we can go a get my toolchest set up before the tractor arrives. Bring plenty; it will be about a 2400 sq. ft. house. I know you've been wanting to buy my tools for me, so this may workout.

Bill
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #5  
John:
Its been adjusted many times. If tilling on pretilled land it can be set to work. Move over into sod that hasn't seen any cultivation for 50 years and it will start to slip. Tighten it up and the tractor will stall out when objects are struck. Please note I am using this rotatiller in very difficult terrain that has many rocks and it even splits some of the slate rocks it hits. Its the type of usage not the lack of equipment quality that is causing the breakage. Farm King makes the Kubota Rotatiller in Canada.

I have removed half the tines and run the tractor at half throttle to help minimize breakage.

Egon
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #6  
I have the same issue with rocky ground and stalling my tractor. Mine is a BX2200 and the tiller is a LandPride 1542 (42"). If I set the slip clutch loose then I cant break sod. If I set it tight then the tractor will occasionally stall out (it bogs for a couple of seconds then stalls). The slip clutch seems to be doing its job even when the tractor stalls out, its just a nuisance to have to check everything out and start it all up again. This is on heavy sod with plenty of cantaloupe sized rocks though. It goes through previously tilled soil like butter.
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #7  
Hi,
I am looking at getting a 66-72" tiller with a 35HP tractor. I have a few softball and bigger rocks and want to till up a yard on some field that hasn't been broke in over 50 years. I have tried a 13hp rear tine walk behind tiller and it practicly just bounces off the sod- it takes 3 passes to get down about 3 inces. My question is do I want a slip clutch or a sheer pin, chain or shaft drive and is this enough hp for this type of tiller?
Thanks
Jason
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #8  
Well thats a lot of questions for a quick reply and unfortunately I dont have experience with tillers of 72 inches in size. Here goes though.

My BX has 17 HP at the PTO even if it is rated as a 22 HP tractor. If your tractor is 35 HP at the PTO then youd be able to handle roughly twice what my BX can. My tiller is 42 inches so as a rough estimate Id say your OK.

I always prefer the slip clutch over the shear pin. Its so much less hassle when youve go the rocks. Both do the job and the shear pin is a bit cheaper (in materials not in time) though.

As for chain vs gear I know that many on the board prefer gears. My preference after many years is chain drives. Chain is cheaper and easier for me to work with than gears and Ive rarely had any problems anyway. Thats personal preference mind.

To help you out on sod theres two good idea to prepare it. First the best is to spray the sod to kill it and leave it to break down for a month. That will help. (If you cant spray then at least mow it down as low as you can.) The other idea is to plow or rip the sod first. Both will break it up some although plowing is better as it will turn the sod and again get it to break down. Plowing or ripping will also pop the big rocks out before you break a tine on them. Finally ripping does wonders on compacted soil and is good for drainage later on.

I hope this will give you some more to think about and wish you all the best with it.
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers? #9  
That's exactly the way mine works. When using it I've always got one foot on the clutch ready for shut down. Again my tiller is okay, It's just the extreme work I've been using it for.

Egon
 
   / What breaks/fails most on tillers?
  • Thread Starter
#10  
I have read that you should go 5hp/ft of tiller. I've got a JD 4400 hydro. That hydro sucks enough hp to get my 35 hp rated engine down to 29 hp at the pto. I'm not planning on getting anymore than a 60 tiller which would give me about 6 ponies/ft tiller.
JS
 
 
 
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