Eastinlet
Bronze Member
Hi, guys. I'm new here, but I have spent time here for months just lurking and learning.
I've been keeping about an acre of row crops, heavy to potatoes, and am looking to transition from flat to raised beds. Used to do it by rototiller and hand work, but now have a Kubota L2850 to ease the burden. It's a pretty small machine for what I'm asking about.
I'm looking for the best way to make beds in an affordable way since my budget is limited. I know where there is a Lilliston 4-row rolling cultivator that I could make an offer on, and it and it and the spider gangs are in excellent condition other than weathered paint. I have looked into the other possibilities such as small hiller disks, keuvalators, etc. All of these might work fine, but the Lilliston has the advantage of also being perfect for hilling taters in a manner unmatched by the other available tools.
My question regards the utility of the lilliston, and whether it will make 6" high beds. Beds can be no wider than 30" between my tires. My ground is light sandy loam but very stony. Too stony to drag a conventional bed shaper (I think) and therefor requiring either disks or something like the spiders on a Lilliston. I'm thing a few gangs might be set to run flat on top of the bed to level them, making a one pass job of a bed if my little tractor has the guts.
The cultivator CAT 2 and is very heavy. We ran this unit behind a JD 2040 some years ago in an acre of potatoes, and it was all it wanted to carry it without front weights. We had to remove gangs, it snorted to hill 2 rows. I can't recall how wide the unit is, but I would estimate 16' of I believe 7" square tube toolbar. Obviously I would have to cut this down to 6' or so.
This unit works best run at a good clip, and that's a problem in stony ground and with short rows such as I have. I haven't measured it, but it's likely it may not mount to my hitch without modification (not counting changing pins). I need a toolbar, but am I going to have problems finding clamps to mount sweeps and such to a 7" bar?
So am I nuts to make an offer on this for my intended purpose behind a small tractor? Go with buying a heavy set of 2-3 gang hiller disks instead or, or what would you suggest?
here's a link: http://www.bighambrothers.com/6400.htm
I've been keeping about an acre of row crops, heavy to potatoes, and am looking to transition from flat to raised beds. Used to do it by rototiller and hand work, but now have a Kubota L2850 to ease the burden. It's a pretty small machine for what I'm asking about.
I'm looking for the best way to make beds in an affordable way since my budget is limited. I know where there is a Lilliston 4-row rolling cultivator that I could make an offer on, and it and it and the spider gangs are in excellent condition other than weathered paint. I have looked into the other possibilities such as small hiller disks, keuvalators, etc. All of these might work fine, but the Lilliston has the advantage of also being perfect for hilling taters in a manner unmatched by the other available tools.
My question regards the utility of the lilliston, and whether it will make 6" high beds. Beds can be no wider than 30" between my tires. My ground is light sandy loam but very stony. Too stony to drag a conventional bed shaper (I think) and therefor requiring either disks or something like the spiders on a Lilliston. I'm thing a few gangs might be set to run flat on top of the bed to level them, making a one pass job of a bed if my little tractor has the guts.
The cultivator CAT 2 and is very heavy. We ran this unit behind a JD 2040 some years ago in an acre of potatoes, and it was all it wanted to carry it without front weights. We had to remove gangs, it snorted to hill 2 rows. I can't recall how wide the unit is, but I would estimate 16' of I believe 7" square tube toolbar. Obviously I would have to cut this down to 6' or so.
This unit works best run at a good clip, and that's a problem in stony ground and with short rows such as I have. I haven't measured it, but it's likely it may not mount to my hitch without modification (not counting changing pins). I need a toolbar, but am I going to have problems finding clamps to mount sweeps and such to a 7" bar?
So am I nuts to make an offer on this for my intended purpose behind a small tractor? Go with buying a heavy set of 2-3 gang hiller disks instead or, or what would you suggest?
here's a link: http://www.bighambrothers.com/6400.htm
