Tiller 3pt Tillers - Standard or reverse rotation

[LoganWildman]

Need advise. I am in the market for a 72" tiller and would like input.

Is 4 or 6 tines per flange better and what about reverse rotation? Also, I don't want to buy a tiller I can't get parts for. I use this tiller to till gardens, and prepare flower beds and to rip up yards to replant. Our soil can vary from sandy to hard clay. Also, is the friction clutch better then shear pin setups (I'm tired of replacing pins)? What about gear vs chain drive?

I currently have a 60 inch Agri-tec tiller with a shear pin setup and chain drive. The tiller does a fine job in fresh earth, but struggles in hard pack and sod. Also, it is a lighter tiller, so it bounces a good bit in harder ground.

I need a tiller that can handle the conditions I put it in, any thoughts?

 

[MadReferee]

There are several threads that discuss reverse rotation tillers. Doa search for "reverse rotation" and you will get several pages of hits. Here is a good one.

Reverse rotation tillers

Gear vs chain drive tillers have been discussed here previously. Simply do a search for "gear drive tillers" or "chain drive tillers" and you will get plenty of hits. Here is a good one.

Gear or chain drive tillers

 

[LoganWildman]

Thanks madreferee, I will.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

When I looked for a tiller I checked out some reverse rotation tillers. I simply didn't have enough PTO hp on either of my tractors to run one.

Those things need about 25+% more PTO hp to run than a standard tiller, and they seemed to run about double the price too. From what I could tell, they are designed for "market farmers" who really work their tillers hard and depend on them to make their living. So every one I found was heavy, well built, and expensive. Probably well worth the money for someone who actually needs that. I opted for a conventional tiller basically because I use mine pretty lightly so I was not shopping for the BEST, just for something good enough. If you want/need the added ground munching capabilities of the reverse rotation tillers, make sure you have plenty of PTO hp because it will take a bunch to turn a reverse tine 72" unit. But from what I could tell when I was researching tillers, the reverse tine units are the ones favored by the serious, depend on it for a living, sort of folks that really know their tools & equipment.

I ended up buying a small 50" tiller (LandPride RTA 1550 side shift for $1050) this summer. I got the clutch and am very happy with that, it makes life pretty easy. As for chain versus gear . . . depends on who you talk to. I personally don't think it makes much difference to people who use them lightly or even moderately. But that is just me.

 

[Vern2]

Got a land pride this summer reverse tiller( rtr2562 weight is 789 lbs) glad I have a front loader. tractor's a tc133da. the first time I used it I could smell paint burning. dont have a special task just very large garden ( zero up keep??? The more teeth on spindel the less pto hp it takes.

Vern

 

[PineRidge]

I have a gear drive KK 60" tiller that came equipped with a slip clutch. I have been very happy with the tiller and I know KK parts are easy to come by. I haven't needed any yet for the tiller though.

 

[SPIKER]

hi all:

Not sure about the helpfullness here but I thought I would ask one quick question, which way is REVERS tilling? mine is a china made gear drive unit, VERY HEAVY as in the FEl struggles to lift it, and it lifts a lot! It's rotation is what I THINK is normal, tiller tines rotate in the forward going dirrection as in if you raise it and go ahead the tines ride on top of dirt as if it was being PULLED with out power. it diggs great, but is small unit for my tractor. a 5' would have been much more sized for the tractor as far as HP goes.

I have not broke any tines, BUT the center harrow was bent once when I nearly rolled the tractor as a creek bank gave away. tiller and FEL were both dropped fast to the ground the rear end was slideing sideways following the front end, (rolled over a telliphone pole burried in the gorund! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif ) the tiller center spike/harrow tooth dug into the bank and stopped the rear end from sliding any more down. it was then STUCK there for a bit. had to dig out some green vegitation of crushed wild rose and thorn bushes by hand & shovel to get enough traction to continue driving over the LARGE pile I had made... had to raise 3pt to raise tiller out of bank and fell too, made me one highly puckered person!!! I think I was setting a full 6" higher in the seat and I'm sure that didn't help the CG much! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

anyhow mine does not have a slip clutch OR shear pin, but the tractor does have a PTO clutch (2 stage clutch LIVE pto) and I was not sure about this myself and have been thinking about adding a slip clutch. any thoughts?

mark M

 

[fractal]

Standard rotation - the tines digging into the earth push the tractor forward.

Reverse rotation - the tines digging into the earth try to pull the tractor backwards.

Theory has it that a reverse rotation tiller will do a better job. In practice, any 3tp tiller does a better job than I would do with a shovel /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif