Bought A Used King Kutter 60" Tiller And It Broke.

wirlybird · Sep 17, 2023

Just got this tiller yesterday and started tilling with it today and it broke. Rotor stopped turning. Tiller had about 5-6 hours on it so very little use.
After pulling it apart I find that the splined shaft that is inserted and welded to the rotor shaft broke at the weld.
Inspecting it shows the weld had almost no penetration on the splined shaft and was doomed to fail. I have a feeling this has been an issue for them.

Hoping my welder friend can fix this up and I can get back to tilling.

ruffdog · Sep 17, 2023

Poor weld for sure... My tiller has been fine so far though.

Citydude · Sep 17, 2023

Thats a weld?

wirlybird · Sep 17, 2023

Yea, I'm just an amateur welder and I can see it is poor.
No penetration into the splined shaft.
We'll see how she does after a repair tomorrow!

CH4Ohio · Sep 17, 2023

Do you think the previous owner broke it and then stuck it back together with that poor repair? Seems coincidental.

5030 · Sep 17, 2023

From the looks of it, I'd say it was 5 or 6 VERY HARD HOURS....

CH4Ohio · Sep 17, 2023

Citydude said:
Thats a weld?

Looks more like a bead of something squeezed out of a tube. JB Weld maybe? I don't really see how a welder could produce that.

4570Man · Sep 17, 2023

CH4Ohio said:
Looks more like a bead of something squeezed out of a tube. JB Weld maybe? I don't really see how a welder could produce that.

You wouldn’t typically weld the end on a shaft like that. Even when expertly done it will still cause problems with metal fatigue and tolerance problems.

jyoutz · Sep 17, 2023

5030 said:
From the looks of it, I'd say it was 5 or 6 VERY HARD HOURS....

Yeah, looking at the paint, it looks not much better than my 22 year old tiller that I’ve used annually.

5030 · Sep 18, 2023

CH4Ohio said:
Looks more like a bead of something squeezed out of a tube. JB Weld maybe? I don't really see how a welder could produce that.

EXACTLY. No heat discoloration on the parent metal and to obtain a huge weld bead like that, there would be. There is none. Not welded at all.

CH4Ohio · Sep 18, 2023

If it didn’t come out if a tube, then maybe it was some kind of thick flexible rod that was bent around the shaft and then heated with a torch. I just don’t see any sign of the puddling and flow that a welder would produce.

Very strange.

wirlybird · Sep 18, 2023

I can get a better picture. It is likely a machine weld or not welded by a human!

Saw a couple videos also about changing the grease seal there and those tillers were welded also so seems to be how KK does it.

ruffdog · Sep 18, 2023

Can you pull the stub shaft out of the tiller tube? Grinding down much of the old weld before welding would allow a nice small and strong bead. I'm thinking that the stub shaft may be a dissimilar metal which may have been some of the issue. Or, maybe the stub was ice cold and that could also be part of it. I would use a rod that is for dissimilar metals.

dstig1 · Sep 19, 2023

That's not a weld - it's a Decorative Edge Bead!

I'm with others - No sign of any heat in the shaft. Something ain't right. Unless the place it was welded on is now hidden inside the yellow part so we can't see it??

Sawyer Rob · Sep 19, 2023

Don't feel bad, you aren't the first person to break a KK tiller. I do custom tilling and I had a guy call me and hire me to come till his field. He added that it was full of stones and I said no problem.

When I got there, he had two king kutters behind his barn, both with the side gears blown and he said his rocks did it, and YES he had rocks.

Anyway, I got it done for him and he was a happy camper!

SR

wirlybird · Sep 20, 2023

Sawyer Rob said:
Don't feel bad, you aren't the first person to break a KK tiller. I do custom tilling and I had a guy call me and hire me to come till his field. He added that it was full of stones and I said no problem.

When I got there, he had two king kutters behind his barn, both with the side gears blown and he said his rocks did it, and YES he had rocks.

Anyway, I got it done for him and he was a happy camper!

SR

Yea, KK got back to me and said they see this and it is usually related to an improperly adjusted slip clutch.
Can't deny that logic but I think this would have broke over time anyway.

What tiller to you like for a 5 footer?

Sawyer Rob · Sep 20, 2023

wirlybird said:
Yea, KK got back to me and said they see this and it is usually related to an improperly adjusted slip clutch.
Can't deny that logic but I think this would have broke over time anyway.

What tiller to you like for a 5 footer?

Howard or Kuhn, get one rated for a little higher than the pto hp of your tractor and have it for life.

One of my Howards has over 2,000 acres on it, and it still has all the original bearings, sprockets, gears and even the side drive chain.

SR

Little Red Tractor · Sep 25, 2023

CH4Ohio said:
Looks more like a bead of something squeezed out of a tube. JB Weld maybe? I don't really see how a welder could produce that.

A friend had a little 110 volt flux-core mig machine that would produce nice looking welds, but had virutally no penetration. That would be my guess on that weld.

CH4Ohio · Sep 25, 2023

Little Red Tractor said:
A friend had a little 110 volt flux-core mig machine that would produce nice looking welds, but had virutally no penetration. That would be my guess on that weld.

OK. But that's not a "nice looking weld." Doesn't even show signs of the material being melted.