Tiller Best tillers and size

JC-jetro · Nov 30, 2007

North Dakota said:
I'm looking to buy a 3 pt tiller for my Ford 1710.(rated at 25 hp PTO and 20 drawbar) Dealers in this area have Landpride, Keen Kutter, & and used Woods GTO52 (1998 looks in good shape).

Wondering what size would be too large and what brands to avoid. There seems to be quite a range in price.

I'm also assuming a reverse rotation model would take more power to run then a forward rotation.

Was thinking of bidding up to $900 for the Woods GTO52 at the auction next friday.

Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks.

I have older brother to your 1710 with very close specs... yours is 3 cylinder vs 2 cylinder 1700. I bought gear driven king Kutter forward rotation tine tiller. I have no regret with the purchase.. considering price and performance it is hard to beat. My F-1700 has no issues with lugging it around and working the tiller. I have to admit where I have my garden got pretty good soil and almost no rocks or roots. Below pics show the tiller and about 30 minutes to get the tiller to do the job. I ran the tractor about 1500 rpm and that seemed pretty adequate to whip things up in my type of soil. I highly recommend it. I bought it from TSC for around $1200.

Jc,

North Dakota · Nov 30, 2007

Yeah, That looks pretty good. Did you start out with sod?

The 1700 and 1710 are virtually the same tractor. I feel better about a 60 inch tiller.

How long have you had it?

JC-jetro · Nov 30, 2007

North Dakota said:
Yeah, That looks pretty good. Did you start out with sod?

The 1700 and 1710 are virtually the same tractor. I feel better about a 60 inch tiller.

How long have you had it?

I had it for a year and basically have about 2 hrs worth of use for my need. I did not have prior experience with the PTO driven tiller so I first used a potato plow to break the ground and then I tilled it with the tiller. I was so easy and then I went and made 3 food plots for deer each about 1/3 to 1/4 acres... on the food plot I did not use the middle buster with the only difference being I went no deeper than two inches first time and then re-tilled the plot to 4 to 6" deep... it was a piece of cake "crumb cake" that is

. I still think it all has to do with the soil type. You need to let the tiller/tractor talk to you while you're working .. moaning and groaning means your asking too much and may need to slow down a bit (lower gear) , increase the rpm(at 2500 engine rpm the tiller runs at recommended 540rpm) and go not so deep. just the common sense stuff.

Potato plowed ground:

Middle Buster

I made 3 plots like that without breaking the ground first. I fenced these areas later so deer can jump in but keeps the cows out

North Dakota · Nov 30, 2007

I was going to mow the areas I want to break up then apply Round-up and let all the vegitation die back. I'll then break up the root system with my cultivator and then hit it with the tiller to break the clods up and make it nice and even. I'll be getting it ready to plant some more shelterbelt trees.

You're trying to attract deer and I'm trying to repel them rats until my trees get bigger. All the nice alf alfa and fresh grass and they have to try and eat my trees in the fall and rub em to death when they're in rut!!

JC-jetro · Dec 1, 2007

North Dakota said:
I was going to mow the areas I want to break up then apply Round-up and let all the vegitation die back. I'll then break up the root system with my cultivator and then hit it with the tiller to break the clods up and make it nice and even. I'll be getting it ready to plant some more shelterbelt trees.

You're trying to attract deer and I'm trying to repel them rats until my trees get bigger. All the nice alf alfa and fresh grass and they have to try and eat my trees in the fall and rub em to death when they're in rut!!

I have broam hay in my field, although mowing is not a bad idea but the root system is no match for the tiller. I wanted to grow as environmentally clean as I can so used no chemical at all. Now on the cultivator , I found some problem with the traction as I have turf tire and not ag. it appears to me the cultivator work better to kill fresh and young root system after the ground is tilled. I have the cheesy KK one row cultivator and it is not heavy enough . I'll be adding some weigh to it later on. I'll be in your shoes as I am planning to plant some fruit tree next year... I'll be fencing each tree individually, "them deer are a persistent bunch' and keep browsing all they can. It'll be costly but fencing each tree will avoid deer rubbing on them. I have seen people put up tall deer fence in one to two acre plots and planted the trees inside the fence. No fence will get all the critters out as 3/4 of my pumpkins last summer were attacked by "tree rats". They opened my pumpkins to eat the seeds and deer came later on to eat the sweet flesh... deer had a hard time opening the punkins first.

JC,

Ps. by the way, I had a bit of the problem with bottom plow (low traction) due to turf tire... I modified the implement as pic below and the chisel point did a pretty god job. I was just testing different methods.

jbrumberg · Dec 1, 2007

ND:

JC has given you some pretty solid advise. I do not think that you need to bother with Roundup either. I looked at TSC's KKII gear driven tillers after I purchased my CCM. The KKII is definitely an improvement over many of the attachments in the KK line when it comes to quality, paint, welds, and steel. The KKII is very similar to the CCM and a little cheaper. I believe that CCM's dealer support is much superior based on what I have read in numerous TBN threads, but you pay for it (~$200.00 including shipping). Jay

North Dakota · Dec 1, 2007

jbrumberg said:
ND:

JC has given you some pretty solid advise. I do not think that you need to bother with Roundup either. Jay

That he has. The pictures were great. Thanks JC

I'll still use the round up to kill the grass and alf alfa. It will make my weed control between the trees much easier. That dang alf alfa can regenerate from its roots below the tiller and cultivation level. If I can kill some of those dang roots I should be set. I'll be tilling up 3 rows 5ft by 900 ft long. Last spring I planted 7 rows on the north and west sides of the lot. I had borrowed a friends 8n and cultivator and worked those rows up pretty good then hit em with a large walk behind toro rear tine tiller (phew try tilling 5000 ft of tree rows with a walk behind tiller) Thought I had the alf alfa killed (didn't use chemical) Was good for about a month and a half and blamo here it came. Then out came the hand sprayer and the round up. Hopefully i'll do better this time.

chuckhole · Dec 3, 2007

I have the Kuhn 59" sliding deck tiller on my Kubota L2800 (29hp engine, 25hp PTO) and love it. The quality is excellent. In 2005, it cost us $1800. We use it for my wife's 1/4 acre garden and a couple of food plots for the deer.

karman 4564 · Dec 7, 2007

i use a johndeere 3520[35hp] to pull a 2064 landpride reverse till and if your budget and wife allow you have to go with the reverse till because after 2 passes the soil is seedbed quality,i mean it's like screened topsoil and as far as how much hp you need,my 3520 don't even know the tiller is back there i agree with everyone else you do need some balast up front. but do yourself a favor go with the landpride reverse till