3320 with 1170 Frontier tiller

[tarious]

OK, I admit I've never used a tiller attachment on a tractor... I suspect my problems are somehow user error...

I am having troubles reaching an acceptable depth. I have adjusted the skids as tight to the tiller as possible with the 3 point lowered all the way down, yet I can only till to a depth of about 5 inches. Even with a second crawling pass, I only acheived a depth of about 6 inches.

In the past, I have been renting a small walk behind garden tiller, a 7 horse troybilt. I have been able to till 10 + inches into the ground without a problem. I assumed a tractor tiller would easily reach or surpass those depths.

Am I expecting too much, or am I making some fundamental mistake?

Thanks

 

[beenthere]

Hard to picture what is keeping you from going deeper. Does the manual address the adjustments?

Are the 3pt arms at the bottom of their limit?

Is the top link adjusted by the book?

Is the tiller riding on the shoes that you have lifted as high as they go?

Are the tiller pins, connected to the 3pt arms, possibly at a lower setting than they should be?

Just grabbing at straws that come to mind, in hopes something clicks.

You probably have tried a slower pace, as the tiller does have to re-process all that dirt from that depth and may be 'full', thus riding along on it.

Possible to get a picture posted?

 

[KennedyDiesel]

Remove the skids and see how it does.

I found that my 450 tiller was a whole lot more aggressive w/o the skids. Heavier, moist soils still keep a guy from going excessively deep as does lots of organic matter like grass/sod. My parents sandy soil goes deep the first pass and DEEP the second pass. So deep that the second pass you had better keep moving, and had best leave something solid for one tire (2wd) to grip and do a large overlap.

I also have had good luck in heavy soil with the 8" forward then 4" reverse method cycling constantly fwd then reverse.

May want to weight the tiller too...

 

[mhalla]

<font color="green">The maximum working depth for a Frontier RT1170 tiller is listed as 8.7 inches in the product specifications. The RT1370 will get you to 10.6 inches deep.

It does seem like you are not getting the maximum depth out of your RT1070 so some other factors must be involved.

Mike </font>

 

[tarious]

Thank you all for your advice. I have some pictures, but I can't seem to get them reduced enough to post. Any digital pic advisors out there?

I turned the 3 point arms out as far (long) as I could and I removed the shoes on the tiller. I was easily able to till to a 10 + inch depth. However, what a horsepower eating pig! At that depth, in our thick soil, I was forced to litteraly crawl with the 3320. Did I buy too much tiller? The dealer had it in stock and said it wouldn't be too much for the 3320.

Thanks