Tiller Another Question on Tillers

[pilonidal]

It's all most impossible to go full depth on the first past on virgin soil, unless you go slower than a snail. Try it once and you will see the light. If you drop it into the soil at full pto speed, 540 rpm, you may be walking towards the light.
I purchased a 55" Kioti tiller this summer and have learned a few things while trying to till this Pennsylvanian rock soil.
1. If you have lots of rocks and your tiller doesn't counter-rotate; use the tiller backing up so the rocks are lifted up and thrown out. Remove or raise the rear guard all the way so the rocks can be thrown clear.
2. Lossen up the slip clutch, a must for rocky soil, it's to tight from the factory. It will save the tractor from any large rocks you hit or other debris.
3. I have CK20 HST and 540 rpm pto speed is achieved at 2700 tractor rpm. I run it at 1500-1700 rpm for the tiller. This is plenty fast for those tines to spin around and stiil maintain power on the tractor.
These three steps keep the tractor from bucking like a mule.
I back up with the tiller first at about 4 inches depth to break the surface of sod/weeds/ and throw out the rocks. Then go forward with it all the way down. It still bucks a little, but no where near as bad on a first pass going forward.
A few pointers. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[chliansh]

I rented a Land a JD tractor with a 72" Landpride reverse tine tiller a few months back.....amazing piece of equipment. One pass and I was done deep it seemed fluffed up almost like snow. Only downside was rocks , the rt just kept grinding on them until you lifted the 3pt instead of launching them out the back like a FT

 

[tkcomer]

I talked to a friend last night. He runs a 64” Corona behind his 21 horsepower Kabota. Claims he has no problem, just has to go slow. Now I’m starting to think that I can run that 66” CCM. I don’t have any rock to speak of. Might have a few the size of your fist. But it seems like every 6 or 7 years a big odd shaped flat one comes to the surface. Mine are all limestone rock. I was also concerned about getting the tiller stuck. He said don’t worry about that. Put the tractor in neutral and the tiller will drive you out.

 

[Egon]

Stuck Tiller???

Just lift the thing up. Instant unstuck!!??

Kinda confused here; but what's new!

Egon

 

[rswyan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 1. If you have lots of rocks and your tiller doesn't counter-rotate; use the tiller backing up so the rocks are lifted up and thrown out. )</font>

Don't know how it is with other brands but KingKutter specifically warns against doing this with their tiller .... the manual says you can destroy the tiller by doing so.

FWIW, my KK 60" tiller (running behind a Kubota B2910) has no trouble bringing football-sized rock to the surface going forward ..... don't think I'd really want to attempt anything larger ......

 

[BubbaJr]

I also have a 60" KK behind my B2910 (30 HP), and it works fine. I have hard clay soil and I tilled 6 acres for grass after we finished building the house. That was the summer of the drought here (2002). Even with the ground hard like concrete I was able to till it in 2 passes. Now when I finished I was completely covered in dust and the wife made me undress in the garage before I could come in to take a shower (I hate to admit it, but she was right, I was a mess). /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

The only minor problem I had was that the slip clutch was adjusted too tight, but it's not too hard to adjust it right. Make sure you check and see if it has gear oil in the gear drive chamber. They are shipped dry.

 

[RichNJKubota]

With my 35 yr old tiller I used to go backwards. It really worked good but the chain drive was about to break and the tines were so worn I had to do anything to make it work at all.
With the new KK tiller I have no need to go backwords - It works going forwards.

Rich

 

[tkcomer]

I went to work today and talked to some people that have tillers. They told me my tractor will run a 66” tiller with no trouble. CCM got back with me (Quickly I might add) and said $150 shipping on the tiller. So I might as well step up to the MR 175. Thanks for all the replies. You’ve been a big help.

 

[lynxpilot]

Tell me where I erred please. I have a 72" gear drive KK tiller I run behind my Mahindra 5500. Originally, I used it to till a pre-tilled garden plot that is sandy soil and generally very soft and rock-free. I took it up to the house and started on the front yard where I'm putting in a riding arena for my daughter. The soil is fairly good topsoil that is also fairly free of rocks and such. It was previously lawn. After a while, the tiller stopped with the PTO and slip clutch still spinning. I rolled it on the tines and it started spinning for a half turn or so and stopped again. Indicated stripped gear to me. Taking it apart, sure enough the bevel gear going to the PTO is about 1/3 gone with lots of metal in the case (top gearbox).

Tried to get seller's manager on the phone and got a runaround trying to find out warranty info. It's less than a year old.

KK website will only sell complete replacement gearbox with shaft (as opposed to individual gears, bearings, etc.) and that's about $450.

If that weren't enough, tried to hit their website today to download the manual to put it back together for return and their website is down. Are they still in business?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

KK is still in business! Absolutely! In fact, they're thriving. One thought instantly crossed my mind about that gearbox. Is it/was it full of oil? They ship without lube in the gerabox. (Not trying to acuse you of doing something "not so bright", but people forget to add oil sometimes)

I've owned a 72" KK tiller for 6 years, and use it quite a bit. (Just unhooked it from a tractor not 10 minutes ago. Planting garlic!) I've used and abused mine with no ill effects.