Rotary Tiller Advise

[JDRON]

Hey guys, I have been browsing this site for a few weeks now, kinda just take'n all in. This is my first post here. Any way I just purchased a new 3320 ( won't be here till March 28 ) with a 300x FEL and a 60" MMM. I have been looking at tillers for it, what are your suggestions, I am considering three diffrent brands Howard, Land Pride, and Befco. I am looking at their heavy duty models due to soil conditions in my neck of the woods. Any help will be greatl appreciated.

 

[klingen]

I use a Ferguson Tilrovator 80-60 on my NH TN60. This is a 60" wide tiller and I have a 48" bedshaper mounted on the back of it. My soil conditions can best be described as clay with rocks so that probably classifies as requiring a heavy duty unit. I am not familiar with the HP rating of your 3320 but from my experience especially with heavy soils you should have 3/4 HP for every inch of tiller width. I use every bit of the 49HP that my TN60 has. With heavy rocky soils I would also recommend the ground speed of a creeper gear. My older rig was a 12 speed and I traded it in for a 16 because of this and it is much better now. I till and bed four or more acres every year and the Ferguson has had no mechanical failures. With rocks, expect to replace tines a fair amount, the shear bolts on this unit often break first meaning you just have to have extra shear bolts on hand instead of tines. It would be fair to say that I beat the crap out of this thing every year. At 540rpm PTO speed the tines rotate at about 200rpm. thats all I can think of for right now. I don't have any experience with the other brands you are considering, sorry

 

[robison]

I have a Woods tiller myself, and I'm pleased with how it's held up. I'm in New England, and there is a lot of rock in the soil. Sometimes the rocks will almost bounce the tractor into the air.

Anyway, it's held up through several seasons up here and I've never really heard much bad about Woods attachements

 

[Cidertom]

I did something I rarely do, I bought cheap with the intent of frequent replacement. The 60" King Cutter I bought for $1100 has now held up for 7 years of stones and clay and roots. It has gear drive and a slip clutch, built fairly well with big bearings. It does have king kutters trademark welds which don't look so hot.

I priced it against a jd and a couple of others which were much more $$. I decided that since I could buy 3-4 of the K-K for every JD I could treat them as disposable. Only problem with that plan is it is still holding up well.

 

[AKfish]

Shoot... that KK rock chewer has got most everything (except the welding, maybe) a guy should be looking for in a good rototiller. Slip clutch - gear drive - big bearings on the tine shaft.

Consideration for a heavy duty gearbox - but that's harder to judge except by hp duty rating.

And Heavy tines are always a big plus, too!

AKfish

 

[JDRON]

Thanks for the suggestions, still trying to deside just how bad I really need one.

 

[dfeck]

I purchased a CCM Tiller from Mark Carter. It was the heavy duty model that is gear driven with slip clutch. I have a 4310 and I purchased a 66" wide tiller. It worked very well in clay as long as it wasn't dry like it would be in mid-summer. I very pleased with the quality of the tiller. Powder coat finish with great welding. I think it cost right around $1400 plus an additional $150 for shipping. I could have purchased a KK locally but the cost including tax wasn't much cheaper than the CCM.

 

[micdelbo]

Don't post much, just like to read...

After holding off for 3 years with my 4115, and borrowing a friends 48" Befco to install my lawn, some spot reseeding, and tilling my 2 truck patches once or twice, I decided to buy one for my own use.

I checked out this site for prices and advice, looked at Befco, JD, Frontier by JD, Land Pride and KK at TSC as well as CCM's web site.

I experienced sticker shock with all but the CCM's and KK's. The Befco, Frontier, JD and Land Pride were all in the $1,700-$2,100 range. Most had chain drive, and were 48"-50". I figured any one would suffice for my 4115, and my 4115 would have enough hp to to run it. I just was not prepared to spend that much $ on a tiller.

I am not cheap or after the lowest cost unit out there, but when I looked at the KK 48" XB tiller, it didn't look much different than the frontier tiller, or much less capable either. On the other hand, the KK brand gear drive units looked to be very hd for the money, I had to think hard. I usually like buying from my local dealer if the price is comparable, but this was too large a difference.

My decison got easier with a flyer from TSC in the mail yesterday. They had a 60" tiller advertised for $1,199, and I had a 10% off coupon I have been waiting to use. Question was, would my 4115 have enough hp to utilize the 60"?

I had been measuring the actual tilling widths of the different tillers since my 4115 is around 50" at the rear turf's. Most 48 inchers were a max. of 46 inches tilling width, some were only 44 inches. So I bought the 60" tiller, got it unpacked and ran it today.

The 4115 is more than enough for the 60" tiller. I have mostly shaly loam in my patches, but with baseball size flat rocks and a few bigger stuff down under. I ran 2 tractor length passes on my larger patch, went over each 2x. Results are near perfect. 6"-8" of perfect seedbed, smooth and tilled to perfection.

The KK being heavier duty, makes a difference over the Befco I used before. The tines are bigger, heavier duty, and with the tractor pto at 540 rpm, the thing simply pulverizes the trash, digs deeper faster, and doesn't jump as high when it hits a rock, root or goober.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase. I tend to be very hard on equipment, and time will tell if saving $700+ was a smart move...ha!

BTW, the 60" is a perfect width for the 4115, about 3 inches wider than the rear tires on both sides and believe me, the 4115 spins it with very little effort.

Mike.

 

[jbrumberg]

JDRON:

I suggest you check out CCM. I am very pleased with my gear driven MR-160 (58") tiller. Jay