Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm?

   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #1  

California

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Jan 22, 2004
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Location
An hour north of San Francisco
Tractor
Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
I just got this RS1400 tiller (57 inches) and wonder how fast to run it.

It's intended for YM2000, says so on the decal!

I think YM2000 has 3 speeds in the pto. My YM240 (US version of YM2000) just has 540 and 1,000 pto per American specs. Set for a 2.5 - 3"" cut on the first pass, the tiller hardly works the tractor using the 540 gear and 1600 engine rpm. In the 1,000 rpm gear, it wants a little more engine rpm to not sound like I'm loading it. (1600/2200 x 1000 = about 600 rpm input to the tiller using the higher pto gear).

Any advice on which pto gear to use?

Also, for anyone who has one of these, how deep should it be set? Do you take a first cut then a second cut deeper? (I've never owned a tiller - that's probably obvious.) This ground tills easily. I would like to find the ideal combination of tiller speed/ground speed/depth/number of passes.

I found the input gearbox filled precisely to the dipstick level, and the side gears filled to half-cover the next to top gear. Is there a level plug that I haven't discovered yet? And finally, how does the lower bearing on the opposite side get lubricated?

Thanks for any comments! :)
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #2  
California,

What works for me is using the first PTO gear at the appropriate RPM for all new or hard pan surfaces. You just never know what the tiller will pull up. I've had bottles, cans, coax cable, various sizes of PVC and metal pipe etc. and tree roots...where trees used to be.

Once all of that is raked up and separated from your initial passes, and you've got a size able area broken up with the first PTO gear...then second gear is great for fluffing up and powdering the new, clean soil.

IMHO, In the instance of power down and not having it on the Yanmar, It is a tiller-saver when an obstruction hits the tines, as the lift arms, 3PH and tiller will pop up and save the implement from breaking.
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #3  
Well, I have a larger tractor and smaller tiller. I set my pto speed based on the load the ground condition is placing on the setup. Also my tractor has a 4sp pto. For the garden which is worked up annually, I typ use either 1st or second sp on the pto. Engine speed is not normally full sp but about 2k rpm when I'm first breaking ground and have pto in 1st. After ground is worked up some then I usually got 2nd sp and slow the engine downed some. Basically try and keep the pto sp some where in the 500-600 rpm. Again depending upon ground conditions, I'll make multiple passes going a little deeper each pass. I'll work up the soil 7-8", to the top of the tine shaft.

You don't want to overload either your tractor or tiller.

This fall I worked up my pasture for replanting. That task worked the tractor pretty hard due to existing grass and dry hard packed soil. Was in 1st pto speed and the tractor was also in a fairly low speed. After planting I decided to cover the seed a little but with the clumps of old grass a drag wasn't going to do the job. What I did was put on the "training wheels" on the back of the tiller, set the depth at about 1" and ran the tiller in 4th pto. Tiller was running close to 1k rpm. Did a nice job covering the seed and not a hint of problems from the tiller but it was very lightly loaded.

Practice is your best teacher. Your little tractor isn't going to hurt the tiller. Don't overload the tractor and if there is vegetation you are trying to turn under, multi-passes are needed. What I do in these cases is work the soil a couple inches deep and let things set for a couple days so the old vegetation has some time to dry out. Then I'll make a couple more passes to get down to the depth I'm shooting for.
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Mark, Mickey, thanks for the comments.

Does anyone else have one of these? What does it need for maintenance? In particular how is the lower bearing on the off side lubricated?

This is probably a long shot but is there a manual available for these?
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #5  
Bearing is packed by taking the cover off. Take it out and throw it as far as you can. Replace with a double metal shielded bearing. If the old bearing fails it typically ruins the main tiller shaft and then without some machining the whole tiller is junk.

At 1600 RPM in the 540 setting you are putting out about 390 rpm at the PTO and running your tractor at about 45% off full output power.

Buck
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
EFC said:
Replace with a double metal shielded bearing. If the old bearing fails it typically ruins the main tiller shaft

At 1600 RPM in the 540 setting you are putting out about 390 rpm at the PTO and running your tractor at about 45% off full output power.
Thanks Buck! Maintaining that bearing was a puzzle, and this is the answer.

Like Mark suggested, I think I need to start with a shallow pass to see what's there. In this orchard it's berry bush runners over tree roots. And there can be pruning debris in the grass.

It feels like it's hardly working with a 2.5" cut using the '540' gear. Next I'll try the '540' pto gear and 2200 engine rpm (that's the rated pto engine speed) and see how deep it will cut on a second pass. Also I'm curious to see if I can run any faster ground speed than low/1st gear.

I'm not sure I want to use the '1000' pto setting. That must pulverize the worms to raw protein.

Here's a small tryout. I cleared a berry bush with the loader. Then I started downhill in '540' gear, stopped after a few feet, and did a few more feet in '1000' pto gear. That made the soil like fine flour. This is visible in the photo. (Engine speed 1600 for both).

I need to carry a linoleum knife (curved) for when I shut down to cut the berrybush canes and roots out of the tines. Even with this nuisance, this is the best way I've seen to rip out the remnants of berry bushes.

Another question - can you run these without the rear flap? That would make it simple to cut berry canes out of the tines. Obviously it would throw stuff but I'm not sure that's a problem - there are no parked cars, people, etc where I want to work. Maybe I need the flap to level the soil behind me, but could replace it with a drag.

P-1-1060296rTillerHiLoExamp.jpg
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #7  
I have this same tiller what do you mean by lower bearing on the off side. which bearing is this and what is the approximate cost of a replacement. I till a lot with mine and do as others have recommended high gear for final pass. does a nicer job than any new tiller I've seen used nice fluffy soil.
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
tractordriver said:
... lower bearing on the off side. which bearing is this
The tines are all attached to a long axle. I assume (hope) the bearing on the side with gears is lubricated by the gear oil you put in that side. I don't see any way this oil could lube the bearing on the other end of that axle.
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #9  
California said:
The tines are all attached to a long axle. I assume (hope) the bearing on the side with gears is lubricated by the gear oil you put in that side. I don't see any way this oil could lube the bearing on the other end of that axle.
I figured it out after looking at mine thanks. Just concerned me that the bearing going bad could destroy the tiller.
 
   / Yanmar RS1400 tiller - Working rpm? #10  
Don't see a problem with removing the rear drag.

Here are a couple pics from late this summer. First pass on the garden and soil after second pass. These tillers do a great job if you're not dealing with gumbo and thre is a little moisture in the ground.
 

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