Could a tiller direction be reversed?

[Knight]

I was looking at the county line tiller at the TSC web site.
I noticed some tillers can be reversed, how is it done?

Tractor Supply Company - CountyLine Tiller, 60 in.

 

[J_J]

I was looking at the county line tiller at the TSC web site.
I noticed some tillers can be reversed, how is it done?

Tractor Supply Company - CountyLine Tiller, 60 in.

You can do reverse tilling by running the tractor in reverse.

I don't think there is a reverse lever on the tiller.. With a single reduction gear box, the output shaft turns opposite the input shaft. With a double gear reduction, the output shaft turns the same directions. Some of the gear boxes have one shaft in, and two shafts out. However on the Troy-built tiller, Pony model, there is a reverse gear on the engine. If your 3ph is hydraulic powered like mine, then you could reverse it with a valve, however, my blades are sharp on one side only. I do think I can unbolt them and turn them around, and it will then cut in reverse, with the machine going fwd. If I did this, the tines would be cutting up from the set depth. In the normal mode, the tiller cuts from the top down. If I till moving backward, with the blades turning fwd, I would be doing reverse tilling.

Someone mentioned that his tiller blades were sharp, both front and back. Will that person post the make of that tiller? I am curious if those blades will fit mine, or I could just sharpened mine. Would be a lot of work.

If this doesn't make sense, I will redo the post, or just ask a question.

 

[psj12]

If the tiller is hydraulicly driven you just reverse the flow. If shaft driven there would have to be a reverse gear box on the tiller.

 

[J_J]

If the tiller is hydraulicly driven you just reverse the flow. If shaft driven there would have to be a reverse gear box on the tiller.

First part, that would only be true if the blades are sharpened on both front and back. If I reversed the flow on my tiller now, the flat backside of the blade would try and till, and the angle is different. That is why I asked about the blades that were sharp, front and back.

 

[6sunset6]

They may mean it is reverse driven. My Landpride runs that way.
It means the tines turn away from the direction of travel. Supposed to grind things up better. Someone said it takes more hp. It is not changable.

 

[biggerten]

Turn around and drive in the other direction!

<big grin, leaves quickly>

 

[RickB]

You can do reverse tilling by running the tractor in reverse.

I don't think there is a reverse lever on the tiller.. With a single reduction gear box, the output shaft turns opposite the input shaft. With a double gear reduction, the output shaft turns the same directions.

Operating a forward-rotation tiller with the tractor moving in reverse does a nice job of piling the soil behind the tiller and excavating to whatever depth the tiller is working.

All shaft drive tillers I have seen have right angle gearboxes. Output rotation from a right angle box is determined by the positioning of the gears on the shafts and input rotation, not the number of shafts.

Some tillers are set up as reverse rotation by design; they uplift the soil rather than cut on a downstroke. I haven't seen any tillers capable of both forward and counter rotation. But that doesn't mean they aren't out there.

 

[J_J]

All shaft drive tillers I have seen have right angle gearboxes. Output rotation from a right angle box is determined by the positioning of the gears on the shafts and input rotation, not the number of shafts.


RickB,

I believe that the output direction from most PTO's is clockwise. So if the input is clockwise, then most right angle gearboxes will have a counter-clockwise rotation output, and most are reduced down . This is due to the fact that a single pinion gear driving a bull gear, will make the output shaft turn in the opposite direction. If you want the output shaft to turn in the same direction as the input shaft, you have to have a double gear reduction, a gear driving a gear, driving another gear, and the end rotation direction is the same as the input. It could be a 1 :1, 4:1, maybe 1:4 which would be a speed increase. The guy above stated his tiller turned in reverse, so that gear box would have to have a double gear driven box. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Will check further.

A three shaft gearbox, single gear reduction, will give you one shaft turning clockwise, and the other put shaft turning counter-clockwise.

 

[RickB]

A right angle gearbox with the input pinion located ahead of the centerline of the output shaft will have its output rotation opposite of a similar box with the same input rotation and the input pinion located behind the centerline of the output shaft.
Certain Bush Hog gearboxes can be reassembled during a rebuild providing the user with an output rotation opposite that which it was manufactured with; or intended to have for that application. Don't ask how I know that.

 

[J_J]

A right angle gearbox with the input pinion located ahead of the centerline of the output shaft will have its output rotation opposite of a similar box with the same input rotation and the input pinion located behind the centerline of the output shaft.
Certain Bush Hog gearboxes can be reassembled during a rebuild providing the user with an output rotation opposite that which it was manufactured with; or intended to have for that application. Don't ask how I know that.

Thanks, Can you give me a model number. For those that don't know, reverse time tilling, is done by having the gearbox drive the tiller from the right side while sitting on the tractor. If you could turn that gear box over and drive the tiller, it will turn in the opposite direction. Look at the different tillers and notice whether the driven side is on the left or right.