Tiller Picking a King Kutter tiller

[ruffdog]

I can't imagine why a person would have to replace the tines on the KK unless you are tilling a rock pile.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a KK II in the 72" model. The top looks tight but it drains water easily when clean. I don't know if a lot of dirt and mud would stop up the water drain but when I hosed mine off, all the water drained thru easily. The top shield plate might be a little thinner on the KKII compared to the Professional but I haven't even seen the professional model at any dealer around me.

I have lots of rocks and I have noticed that the paint is flaking off in spots where I am assuming rocks dinged it. NO DENTS that I can see but the paint is suffering a bit. If that is the only difference, I don't know if that difference is worth the extra $250. I have tilled across some pretty big rocks and so far no damage to the tiller tines.

Does anyone know if the professional is a reverse turning tiller. They seem to cost more than front rotating. THIS could also be the only difference.

 

[Baby Grand]

I can't imagine why a person would have to replace the tines on the KK unless you are tilling a rock pile.

We don't have many rocks here, ruffdog - just sandy loam & clay. After 6 years of using a 60" KK II (maybe 100 hrs total running time) the tines are starting to get worn down. The tine corners now have an almost full radius rather than the square corners they had when new - at least that's my recollection from last fall when I pressure washed it before putting it to sleep for the winter. Sand is tough on steel. At this rate I'll need another set of tines in another 6 years or so. I'd consider it money well spent if the tiller's still performing like it is today.

KK is their own worst enemy. Their website was pretty bad, then they changed it and now it's painfully bad. But they sell lots of tillers in spite of themselves, based on their reputation for building a nearly bullet proof machine. We need more companies that can do that.

 

[SteelonSteel]

Well I'd rather have them have a good product and craptastic website than the other way around. Seems a lot of companies in this world focus on the website and sales and skimp on the product/QC. Old school wins on this one.

 

[ruffdog]

Why wouldn't you just grind a new edge on the tines? That is what I have done on my cheap walk behind tiller. Sharpen them like my mower blades and it tills like butter.

 

[Daver1963]

I have a King Kutter Pro in the 4ft model. The difference I see between the Pro and the II in this size is where the three point hitch frame meets the tiller body. On the II it's welded a few inches here and a few inches there where on the Pro it's a solid weld from front to back. Also the back plate on the Pro is about 1/4 inch solid and on the II it looks like thick sheet metal.

 

[Baby Grand]

Why wouldn't you just grind a new edge on the tines? That is what I have done on my cheap walk behind tiller. Sharpen them like my mower blades and it tills like butter.

The tines sharpen themselves, more or less, so I don't have to. The wear occurs between the cutting edge and the outside edge - hard to explain in words. I have a couple spare tines in the garage & I'll take a photo of fresh and worn tines and post them this weekend so you can see what I mean. It hasn't affected performance, but I'm aware that they're wearing and know that I'll probably have to replace them before the tiller itself wears out - which is what I would expect from a well engineered product - the wear component wears out sooner that the rest of the machine and is easily (aside from cost) replaced. In ground engaging equipment I consider what ever part actually does the work on the soil to be a consumable. The tines work the soil and are getting consumed, as it should be.

 

[Ford850]

I talked to KK about the differences in the 2 tillers a few years ago before I bought my 7' tiller. They said they are identical except for the 3ph. Obviously the shape of the tiller is rounded on the pro model, but KK claimed it is the same gauge as the KKII. My soil has an occasional odd shaped baseball sized rock, and my KKII now has a few bulged creases on the flat top where the tines tried to pull a rock through the narrowing gap. I think the pro model would be less likely to do that with the rounded design. The top of mine collects dirt too, but it's not an issue since it's stored inside. If doing it over, I would probably opt for the KK Pro model.

 

[Dillier23]

Looking at the two models, I noticed that the gear box is held onto the frame with three bolts on the standard model. On the PRO model, there is a thick plate on the gear box side that helps support the gear box. I'm not sure if the PRO weighs more, websites use shipping weight over actual weight typically.

There has been posts that the standard model is not QH compatible, but mine fit just fine onto the SpeedCo QH I have.

 

[Baby Grand]

The tines sharpen themselves, more or less, so I don't have to. The wear occurs between the cutting edge and the outside edge - hard to explain in words. I have a couple spare tines in the garage & I'll take a photo of fresh and worn tines and post them this weekend so you can see what I mean. It hasn't affected performance, but I'm aware that they're wearing and know that I'll probably have to replace them before the tiller itself wears out - which is what I would expect from a well engineered product - the wear component wears out sooner that the rest of the machine and is easily (aside from cost) replaced. In ground engaging equipment I consider what ever part actually does the work on the soil to be a consumable. The tines work the soil and are getting consumed, as it should be.

Here' 2 pictures ... first is fairly new tines on our Sicma and second is the worn tines on our KKII: