Really confused about a tiller for my BX 2660

[Bamacummins]

I have searched and read threads for days on tillers, but still can't put my mind around what is the better choice for me. So if you will endulge me, help me figure this out.

Tiller would only be used a few times a year, unless family and neighbors find out I have it and want some free tilling. Otherwise, I expect it's use to till a garden 2 times a year and help with shaping my yard as needed since I am about to build a new house. The soil is mountain land, mostly sandy with I suspect some rocks. It is pretty clear at the moment, but I'm not sure what's below that layer of top soil.

Most posts I have read suggest 48 " width to cover tracks. So assuming that I buy a 48 " , do I need front turning or reverse turning tines, gear or chain driven?

With my limited use, should I just go cheap which I assume is front turning, chain driven? I know about cheap tools, so I am not trying to cheap out, just match my use for quality of product. I expect to use a box scrape more, so I will buy a better one of those.

Thanks for the input, sat on my tractor at the dealer today and ready for some work, will be delivered Friday.

 

[TripleR]

I went through the same process as you and decided on a Land Pride RTR05 50" for my BX2660. There is really no correlation between cost and durability of chain v gear. I really don't think you would go wrong with a Land Pride, Woods, King Cutter or something along those lines. A Land Pride or Woods will cost more than a King Kutter or other, but I don't know they are "better. I am really not familiar with other makes.

I prefer the RTR myself, but I am sure others will disagree.

 

[radioman]

Currently I have a bush hog tiller and it been great for me.I think its reasonabably priced. It's a 40" incher and it seems to cover tracks when tiller is perfectly centered with checkchains. a 48 inch tiller should be fine. going with a name name like mine or others has mentioned , you really can't go wrong.

 

[Steve C]

I have searched and read threads for days on tillers, but still can't put my mind around what is the better choice for me. So if you will endulge me, help me figure this out.

Tiller would only be used a few times a year, unless family and neighbors find out I have it and want some free tilling. Otherwise, I expect it's use to till a garden 2 times a year and help with shaping my yard as needed since I am about to build a new house. The soil is mountain land, mostly sandy with I suspect some rocks. It is pretty clear at the moment, but I'm not sure what's below that layer of top soil.

Most posts I have read suggest 48 " width to cover tracks. So assuming that I buy a 48 " , do I need front turning or reverse turning tines, gear or chain driven?

With my limited use, should I just go cheap which I assume is front turning, chain driven? I know about cheap tools, so I am not trying to cheap out, just match my use for quality of product. I expect to use a box scrape more, so I will buy a better one of those.

Thanks for the input, sat on my tractor at the dealer today and ready for some work, will be delivered Friday.

This is what works for me.

I have a farm pro 2524. I got a great buy on a returned 72" dark horse tiller (66" actual measurement from the tip of the outside tines) 72" overall width. From our local tractor supply store. It was $300. It is a very close copy of a KK tiller. As near as I can tell the color of the paint is the only difference. It was bigger than what I thought I needed but I couldn't resist the price. My first thought was that I would need to remove a couple sets of tines to reduce the tilling width, with only 24 hp to play with. Then I thought that perhaps if I reduce my speed and only ask it to do 24 hp worth of work it might just work. I used low/low/second gear. My first test run was amazing.

I have an area where someone drove a heavy truck and made huge ruts in one of my fields next to the fence. It is overgrown with 3 foot high pasture grass and has a heavy clay base and we have been having some very dry weather. The clay is rock hard. When you drive a vehicle through this area the ruts knock you right out of your seat. I made 2 passes about 150 foot long each way with my tiller. It completely pulverised the soil about 5 inches deep. The vegitation is gone and the area is now as flat as a pool table. My tractor never even grunted even when it ejected the large potato sized rocks. I can't wait to use this thing in the garden in the fall. Even going relatively slow breaking new ground in hard clay it is still 10 times faster than using my 8 hp rear tine walk behind tiller and a lot less work.

I don't have a FEL but I have a couple hundred pounds of weights on my front end. Once the tiller is down in the dirt a lot of its weight is transfered to the depth shoes and your tractor is just dragging it along, this will help your front wheels maintain traction if you need to use your 4wd. (I didn't but I have the very agressive AG tires on my tractor). I think a larger unit will work just fine as long as you don't get in a hurry.

I bought my box blade brand new for $199 at Tractor Supply, it is a Dark Horse brand marked down from $300 Some TSC stores have these but most don't they were test marketed in the mid west. TSC might be able to ship one to your local store at no cost to you. The TSC store in Ionia Michigan is where I bought mine. They had both the 5 foot and the 6 foot in stock. The 6 foot was only $249 but it is to large for my tractor.

They have been sitting there all summer. I can't imagine why, mine works great. It looks identical the the $550 blade that it was sitting next to except for the color.

Get in touch with your local TSC store and see if they have any of this old stock available. I think it will fit your need well. I have $500 invested ith the tiller and box blade together.

When they are gone, they are gone....good luck..

This is a link showing pictures of my box blade and one of my projects. It is one of my favorite tools. It can move a lot of material in very little time.

That big pile of recycled asphalt was ripped loose and stacked with my box blade!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/152596-will-box-blade-help-2.html#post1758754

 

[jnjpream]

Hi Bamacummins,

I have a KingKutter II 48" tiller behind my BX22 (17 PTO HP). It is a forward rotation tiller with a gear drive. I chew through HARD clay with it at a very slow pace. Ideally I would have gotten one a bit smaller for my soil if I had known the load it put on the tractor, but in a sandy soil I think a 48" will be fine.. I tilled my brother-in-law's garden on an old farm (no clay) and it worked very well.

When deciding if you want forward or reverse rotation, you need to think about a couple things.. First off is the soil. If your just chewing through some relatively loose sandy soil a reverse till should be fine. The second is the power you have available.. A reverse till takes more power to use, so don't go too big if you go that route (I would think 48" max for a BX in sandy soil).

As for the tiller brand, personally I feel a KingKutter is very good for the money. And like TripleR said there isn't strong evidence to say the other more expensive ones are really any better.

The one thing I would be concerned about is the rocks you mentioned. How big is the typical rock, and how concentrated are they? Do you have a box blade with rippers, or a sub-soiler? I ask because if the rocks are too big or too many, you may just do more damage to the tiller than it is worth. If you have a box blade you can use it's rippers to go fishing for the rocks in the garden before you till it. Of course once the garden is cleared of rocks, tilling is no problem. And as for the landscaping, if there are big or lots of rocks, you would be better off using the box blade rippers or a sub-soiler to bust the ground up then haul it off with the FEL.

I'm in the same boat right now with a new house and 3 acres of landscaping to do. And besides the bentonite clay I get to deal with large chunks of shale (I think). I found one about the size of the tractor when trenching for lawn sprinklers.. If I need to till, like for the sod areas, I will drag my box blade's rippers to find the big rocks. And if I just need to remove some earth, I bust it up with the rippers and won't use the tiller at all.

 

[Ron D.]

Went through the same process. Looked at all the threads on tillers, what people liked, didn't like about what they had, and generally, most were very statisfied with what they purchased, regardless of the brand. The King Kutter seemed to get very good reviews for its price, stoutness, and durability, but is notorious for leaks around the tiller gear housing, often needing a gasket fix. And nobody seemed to be dissappointed with good brands like Woods and Landpride, but at higher costs.

From reading, I think the general conscences is that CRT took more power to run, and that if you were to hit something like a big rock, and your slip clutch wasn't set loose enough, thus stalling your tractor, that it would be more likely to damage your tractor in that a FRT would be more likely to assist in the tiller going over the object.

I looked on Craig's List for a couple of months to get a good idea of the used market, and generally people were asking a lot for very used tillers that looked pretty worn. My useage is just like yours, doing a small garden and doing flower beds/yard improvement, and just didn't want to spend the $1,599that TSC wants for a 48" KK in my area.

Anyway, I hung in there and got a new 48" KK from someone who bought it new six months ago and had never hooked it to his tractor for $1,100. If you're not in a hurry, you can save a lot over the price of a new one.

If you decide on a KK, I read where some TSC stores sometimes have specials and you might get several hundred dollars off if you keep up with the specials and sales. And, Tractor Supply is not the only place that sells them. You can deal with a local farm supply store and probably get a better price than at TSC. Also, remember the 48" KK is offset so it will cover the tire tract if you're wider than 4'.

I would be leary of returned tillers, in that they are shipped dry, no lube in the PTO and tine gear boxes, so you never know why they are returned, maybe because they were run dry for a while. Good luck, let us know what you decide.

 

[AceDeuce]

There is nothing "cheap" about any 3PH PTO driven tiller. They all seem to be quite well constructed. The use you described is nearly identical to mine and a 48" w/o offset capability works great. +/- a couple inches shouldn't make any decernable difference.

 

[Bamacummins]

Thanks for the input. I think I will keep my eyes open for a good used one since I don't need it for a little while and go ahead and get a good box scrape.

 

[AMR]

I can add another endorsement for the KK 48" tiller. I used it on my BX23 and it did a fine job. I too spit out a number of rocks in the potato size and split a few bowling ball sized rocks but the tiller and tractored faired just fine. I am still in search of a new shaft to get it on my B3030 but full expect it to continue to do a great job in it as well. On my BX23 I couldn't lift it off the ground too high and it sure felt heavy back there but it was no problem at all.

 

[Bamacummins]

I can add another endorsement for the KK 48" tiller. I used it on my BX23 and it did a fine job. I too spit out a number of rocks in the potato size and split a few bowling ball sized rocks but the tiller and tractored faired just fine. I am still in search of a new shaft to get it on my B3030 but full expect it to continue to do a great job in it as well. On my BX23 I couldn't lift it off the ground too high and it sure felt heavy back there but it was no problem at all.

So these 48" KK are forward tilling, chain or gear drive?