Rotary Tiller - Opinions?

[Sharp_Ranch]

Congratulations on your new tiller. I have a 6' Howard Rotovator 300 behind my JD 4320 and it does a good job.

One comment: You said the rear trailing board might have a missing part and can come off. That could be a major problem for you if left uncorrected. I know, because I had that happen to me last fall when the trailing board fed itself halfway thru the tines of the tiller before the tractor's PTO shut down after sensing the overload (see picture attached). The cause of the problem was due to the dealer forgetting to install the rear side guards onto the implement which keep the trailing board in its proper lateral position and from coming off its mount. It was a major diassembly task for the dealer to remove the jammed board (but covered by warranty) and the Howard worked fine thereafter.

 

[Neophyte]

OUCH!

Could you post a picture of the rear side guards that you are talking about? I'm trying to figure out what is missing from mine.

It did come off a few times while tilling but it did not manage to feed itself through ... luckily.

 

[Sharp_Ranch]

The attached photo is not my tiller, but it shows the rear side guards installed on both sides of the trailing board. The side guards are both for safety from kicking out rocks and debris as well as containing the position of the trailing board. Mine came off when I did a turn around in the field causing the board to shift sideways off its bar mount and then get fed into the tines. After this happened I re-read the owner's manual because I couldn't figure out why Howard would have designed the board mounting system so poorly, but when I studied the pictures in the manual I eventually figured out that the side guards had not ever been installed.

 

[Egon]

I was also thinking I could slide an entire length of slightly smaller pipe through the tailgate pipe, drill holes on either end and use cotter pins to secure it.

At last I have seen the pictures. Your pipe solution would work well. Probably the best/fastest/easiest solution.

Do not worry abou running with the tailflap in the up position if you are in an area with lots of fist sized rocks. Flap up lets the rocks go out the back and not bounce back in and jam between the tines and tiller body.

 

[Captinjack]

Your blades actually look just like mine that I just replaced about 10 operating hours ago. No problema there.

I was sent an original manual for free by the distributor that I bought my tines from at a very reasonable price. That's after spending $20 for a manual on e-bay that was not the up to date manual for my actual machine. Live and learn, but I was in a hurry for a change.

My rotor bearing opposite the drive end failed catastrophically and the bearing is no longer made........unobtanium. Howard recommended installing a standard 4 bolt 1 1/2" pillow block bearing and making minor mounting mods. This worked well and the bearing cost less than $30 with the Howard OEM bearing at $85. The new bearing is also much stronger than the original.

I've used my tiller on several acres of mountain ground that has never been turned and it did an amazing job. The rock flew and the roots were just ripped up so you probably won't have much problems with yours.

After tilling, I towed a bedspring over everything and it really smoothed out the high and low spots.

 

[Neophyte]

So far I'm very happy with the tillers performance and, surprisingly, the 50" width seems to cover my tracks OK. With that said, I'm still thinking that I should have purchased something larger. If I can find a deal on a used 60", I may purchase it and sell this one.

I saw a 5' Kuhn for sale used. Does Kuhn make a quality tiller?

 

[GaryE]

Neophyte,

I purchased a 60” Kuhn last spring. So far it has worked just fine. It seems to be very well built and except for a bolt the dealer cross threaded, it has been trouble free.

Gary

 

[Buster57]

Your Howard is nearly identical to my Agric.
There are two different types of tines because there is a right hand and a left hand version.
Call Mark at CCM and he can shoot you a copy of the manual.