Tiller 48" or 60" tiller for JD4100

coloradotrout · Apr 11, 2010

Looking hard at the King Kutter TG 48 or 60 for my 2000 JD4100 CUT.

The 48 has offset hitch -- which -- in my case is a bad thing. If it was centered it might just cover the tracks. So I'd prefer to get the 60 to cover tracks on both sides, but is that going to be just way too big for the JD4100 specs here:

Horsepower 14.9 kW (20 hp)
PTO Horsepower 11.9 kW (16 hp)

KK "recommends" 20-35 for the 48, and 25-40 for the 60.

If I take smaller "bites" to start, and work my way deeper, could the 60 work? The 60 would probably have slghtly better resale - though that's only a slight benefit. And if anything, in the future, I'd likely get a larger tractor - though, in reality, that may never happen.

james948 · Apr 11, 2010

I would have to recommend the 48" of those two. For a few reasons:

1) The recommended HP requirements are PTO HP, which as you have stated your 4100 has 16.

2) An offset hitch isn't necessarily a bad thing. As long as you are able to offset to cover the tracks on one side of the tractor it will work out fine. If you are unsure on this Everything Attachments has a video on tillers that might help 10 Series Tiller Video - Everything Attachments.com I would recommend watching it, it has quite a bit of good info.

3) Also depending on what type of soil you have, i.e. heavy clay, it can be rough even when you are in the high end of the recommended HP range.

Hope this helps, sorry if it isn't what you were hoping to hear.

James

ModMech · Apr 11, 2010

We have a 24HP (18ish PTO HP) B2410 with a 5ft RTR tiller that would be essentially the same as the one you are looking at. The HP was not the problem, the weight was! We do not have a FEL and removed the MMM for the "winter" to perform maintenance, when we installed the tiller and lifted it, the front tires would come off the ground on any bump. 100# of suitcase weights solved that problem. A lighter tiller would not have been as bad, the 48" we had was actually heavier considering it's size (over all, lighter however) and you could pop the front wheels up if the RPMs were high and you pulled the 3pt lever fast.

The short answer is, HP will not be a problem from my experience, but I'd count on weights or an FEL for counter balance with the tiller lifted.

Edit: our RTR1058 weighs in at about 500#.

coloradotrout · Apr 11, 2010

I have the std JD FEL on the 4100.

The 48 weighs about 600 (shipped weight) vs 690# for the 60 inch.

Anyone know if the 48" really covers 48" -- or is it more like 44"? Likewise for the 60".

ModMech · Apr 11, 2010

Our 48" was just short of that (Kubota model) but the LP RTR1058 actually clears about 60" edge to edge and covers both rear tires even when the track is set to it's widest.

With a loader the weight will not be an issue, shipping weights are way more than the actual weight because it includes the crating and PTO equipment that is not actually impliment weight.

LandPride lists 25 (engine) HP as the "maximum suggested" even for the RTR1058, so you don't have any HP limitation.

deputy11 · Apr 11, 2010

I had a JD4100 with Land Pride 50" tiller for 9 years up till this spring. It more than covered the tracks. Also had FEL but usually took it off to till, easier to get around. Had no issues with front being too light, even driving it up a trailer ramp. Most of the time had no HP issues either. On a rare occasion if the soil was heavy and the tiller was getting a really good bite it would bog down a little. That can be solved by lowering the shoes on the tiller so that you don't take such a deep bite but never had to do that. Specs on my tiller are 17-25 HP and it's listed as 385lbs. Hope this helps. IMO 60" would have been a bit too much but the conditions it will be used in is one of the main factors to be considered also.

sweettractors · Apr 11, 2010

coloradotrout said:
Looking hard at the King Kutter TG 48 or 60 for my 2000 JD4100 CUT.

The 48 has offset hitch -- which -- in my case is a bad thing. If it was centered it might just cover the tracks. So I'd prefer to get the 60 to cover tracks on both sides, but is that going to be just way too big for the JD4100 specs here:

Horsepower 14.9 kW (20 hp)
PTO Horsepower 11.9 kW (16 hp)

KK "recommends" 20-35 for the 48, and 25-40 for the 60.

If I take smaller "bites" to start, and work my way deeper, could the 60 work? The 60 would probably have slghtly better resale - though that's only a slight benefit. And if anything, in the future, I'd likely get a larger tractor - though, in reality, that may never happen.

We have the 48 inch Tarter brand roto tiller for $1495 and it is USA made with Gear Drive and slip clutch driveline and 6 tines per rotor mounted on a scroll pattern. 60 inch is $100 more. Let us know your zip and we will be glad to figure shipping. Ken Sweet, Sweet Farm Equipment LLC

sweet@scrtc.com

coloradotrout · Apr 12, 2010

I picked up the 60 at TSC for 1350+tax this eve.

Elsewhere I read that the gear boxes need to be filled, so I picked up 3 qts of Rotella 85w140 at Walmart. I had gotten 2 qts of the TSC brand, but recalled in a forum here that the amount might be closer to 3 and I did not want to mix.

When I peeked into the boxes it seemed like there was some oil in there. I put about 16oz (pint = 1/2qt) in the pto gearbox, and the other 16oz into the side gearbox. According to the online manual, the gear boxes come with oil -- whereas in one of the forums it said they came dry, so I was expecting to have to put in close to 3 qts for both boxes. According to the manual, the pto box should be about 1/2 full. 16oz did that. According to the manual the side box should just spill over the check plug. 16oz again did that. In fact I could probably let some spill out. I expected it to need all of the 16oz and then some, so I filled it up quickly only to be surprised that it overflowed.

How much grease in the side bearing? I used Mobil 1 synthetic and gave it 20-30 pumps from my grease gun before I ran out. Any idea how much should go in? How do I tell when it's full?

Onto the PTO attachment. I don't quite undertand the tiller side attachment. It's the slip clutch side. There's a bolt/pin that would seem to lock the pto onto the shaft. The manual mentions a snap-ring, but I don't have one, and I think that was for the shear-pin assembly and not the slip clutch assembly. That bolt/pin seems to fit in various ways. Maybe when I slip it on it will only slide though to a certain point. But off the shaft it seems it could fit such that the side opposite the nut could be recessed about 1/4" or fit flush. I guess it's meant to go on once and then be tightened into place. Please reply if you have some advice.

RTII · Apr 12, 2010

Congrats on the purchase. Keep us posted on how it works with your tractor. I'm in the market for a tiller as well with a similar horspower tractor and it would be great to hear your real world experience. To compare accurately, what type of ground/soil will you be tilling?

Thanks in advance.............

coloradotrout · Apr 12, 2010

Re: soil -- right now we have it torn up. I used my box blade teeth to rip it up some. But it's hard, chunks. It's nice black material but must have a fair amount of clay or something binding it together. It took me an hour to turn over with a shovel a shovel-width row about 20' long. And most of that was 2" and larger chunks after the shoveling. In the recently torn-up area, we're talking about chunks 4" to 8".

My expectations are high given the praise on this tiller.

As soon as I verify my oil, grease, and pto attachments, I'm hoping to get some results.