Hey, what's the best walk behind tiller?

[art]

Not for nothing if it was a small area and I could still drive the tractor thru the area I'd probably have some teeth removed down to the size I need it before I'd drive any where!

 

[Dargo]

Thanks guys, now I'm just as confused as when I started.

One thing that may play a part in suggestions that I may not have mentioned in enough detail is that about 2000' (1000' twice) of what I intend to till smooth will be anywhere between a modest slope to really, really steep. At one area I got sort of lazy and got tired of hauling dirt for backfill. So the result is about a 5' wide area on a 45 degree slope. Yeah, I push mow that part but the lumps and bumps are brutal. By the time I finished with that backfill part I was so tired of the job that I just covered the area with grass seed, fertilizer and then straw. The grass has come up beautifully. Unfortunately, the darn fertilizer is doing it's thing as well.

What got me thinking was the post about being able to manhandle the tiller. Right now I can still flip a loaded 1000 pound rear tractor tire by myself, but I'm not getting any younger. As a matter of fact, my wife was the one who suggested I buy a fork lift a few years ago and stop acting like a human forklift. If I buy a really heavy tiller, will I regret it on the side of the steep places? The plus side is that I don't intend to till on a steep slope but this one time. Now that we've been in a draught I have had more time to fret over what tiller. I see no reason to till up soil that will turn to dust and require watering each day after I plant. Remember, the area I will be planting is really long and narrow.

Yeah, I know, give more details now. Sorry. Oh, BTW, don't waste your money on one of those little "claw" things if you have hard clay soil that is dry. I have some chunks that are bigger than a softball, but smaller than a bowling ball that I wanted to break up. I folded up the tip of a drop point spade trying to chop them up so I bought one of those claw things to try to work those out. I took back the two fingered claw thing that was once a 4 fingered claw later in the day I bought it.

I attached some pics of the driveway work for reference. In one shot you can see that I poured about 16" to 18" thick on a run up to the bridge. That is the area that is backfilled at a really steep angle. In another picture you can see just an average 8" thick area before backfill. And, in the last picture I just wanted to show one of the 3 pumper trucks they used for the 4 days of pouring 375 yards of concrete.

 

[milkman]

I'm not clear on how long or how much you will use a tiller, or how much your wife will use a tiller. Big and heavy, and hard to handle are not necessarily in the same package. Take a TB horse and try to till fresh plowed ground, the tires are close together and in that situation it is top heavy, take a BCS 7xx or 8xx in the same situation, the engine sets lower (crankshaft is in line with trans and tine driveshaft) tires are wider apart, the difference is night and day. They have a differential, when tilling down a row, the tiller can be shifted in and out between the plants with one hand, and at the end of the row, lift the handlebar and swing around, have to do it to see how easy they are to handle, "so easy a woman can do it". They are a lot of money so if you don't plan to use it a long time, you can probably get by with less money, and if you never use one you won't know the difference anyway.

 

[clarksvilleal]

Having used the BCS 853 with the 30" tiller for a whole weekend, I would add the following: the 853 is a great machine, but possibly too heavy for the average woman. It's not so much while you are tilling, esp. in a straight line. But for transporting to/from the work site, supporting the tiller off the ground takes a bit of strength, though by no means strong-man level. And when making very sharp turns, esp. when in an enclosed area (e.g., approaching a fence or wall), some muscle power seems necessary as you are trying to very quickly do a 90 or 180. So I would opt for the BCS 732 if a woman were going to use it in those circumstances. The 732 probably plenty powerful for what most people want to do - certainly more powerful and versatile than the biggest troy-bilt - with a lot less weight to muscle around on those sharp turns than the 853 (160 lbs. for the BCS 732, vs. 230 for the BCS 853, as I recall).

The differential is in my opinion absolutely one of the biggest advantages of the BCS 732 and up. (It's not available on the smaller BCS machines.) I would never get a walk-behind tractor or tiller of any kind without a differential, now that I have used one and seen the huge advantages first hand.

Speaking of tire width and center of gravity, another big advantage of the BCS is the variable tire width. BCS sells wheel extenders that can bring the wheel width out wider - up to at least 12" wider than the standard width. I got 5" extenders which puts my wheel width at 27", although with different mounting of the wheels I can go up to 30", as I recall. They even have a variable-width wheel extender set that varies the additional width from +4" to +8". Bottom line is that the BCS can be made as stable as you want for dealing with sloping ground when you need to, and then brough back to normal when you're on level ground.

Regards,
Al

P.S. If you join Yahoo Group "BCS_Users" you can see photos of my new BCS 853 along with others' BCS machines, and read some of the comments and questions as well as interact with the BCS users who are in the group. Here is the LinK

BCS_Users : BCS_Users

I'm not clear on how long or how much you will use a tiller, or how much your wife will use a tiller. Big and heavy, and hard to handle are not necessarily in the same package. Take a TB horse and try to till fresh plowed ground, the tires are close together and in that situation it is top heavy, take a BCS 7xx or 8xx in the same situation, the engine sets lower (crankshaft is in line with trans and tine driveshaft) tires are wider apart, the difference is night and day. They have a differential, when tilling down a row, the tiller can be shifted in and out between the plants with one hand, and at the end of the row, lift the handlebar and swing around, have to do it to see how easy they are to handle, "so easy a woman can do it". They are a lot of money so if you don't plan to use it a long time, you can probably get by with less money, and if you never use one you won't know the difference anyway.

 

[pshonore]

I'd second the person who suggested a Gravely. They're relatively cheap and lots of them around. They take all kinds of attachments as well (snow blowers, rotary mowers, sickle bars etc.)For new ground I'd use their Rotary Plow and the cultivator for existing gardens. Be aware they are very heavy and the older ones lack safety devices (that's good sometimes, but bad at other times).

pshonore

 

[dmccarty]

Dargo,

DR has a tiller for $1,100. Its got a Briggs engine on it. I don't have one but I'm looking to get a tiller next year.

Later,
Dan

 

[Dargo]

Thanks guys. I've looked at and looked up several tillers now, but I've never had a chance to actually use any tiller. My ground is rock hard right now and I plan on doing my major tilling work later this summer. Has anyone tilled really hard clay soil with a walk behind tiller? I've done a lot of things and have operated so many pieces of large equipment, but I've never used a little walk behind tiller. I feel almost foolish pondering so much about just buying a darn little tiller. Sometimes I think I ought to just go buy one, but I don't want to buy a "junk" one that might not do what I need. If so, I will have wasted $800 to $1000 or so since it seems that the used cheapo tillers can be had for a hundred bucks or two at pawn shops. I've always been in control and known exactly what to look for, what I need, and what prices to expect on buying equipment. Now on a silly little garden tiller I feel lost.

The job I'm going to do first with one later this summer may end up being big enough to kill a really light weight tiller, so I've pretty well crossed off the $400 cheapo tillers at the big box stores. Other than that....???

 

[aesanders]

I have a BCS 830 ( similar to an 853 size wise but with a smaller motor 9hp) It's a great machine. I bought mine used for well under half what they go for new. Still about as much as a new Troy Horse but better in many ways. The only tiller I would say definatley tops the BCS is the Barreto. Now that is a beast. All hydraulicaly operated and weighs double what the BCS weighs. The BCS s way more versatile though as you can put all kinds of attachments on it. I sure don't need anymore than the BC offers.

Have you considered rentng oe to get the bulk of the material done. I also have a mini tiller that goes on the end of my ECHO PAs 260. It's not for breaking new ground but does a good job of already loose soil I use it plant beds and between rows in my garden. It works great for those light duty jobs that I don't want to bust out the ole BCS.

I have a couple pictures of my BCS listed below under my pictures 'page 2' of interested.

 

[milkman]

Dargo, here's a ride behind tiller, the BCS has a tiller transport wheel that is a caster wheel that goes under the flap behind the tines and also a transport sulky when you have the tiller and the transport wheel attached. I have the transport wheel and the mower sulky and after about an hour in the garage with some scraps and a lot of noise, I now have a transport sulky/tillerrider sulky. Still have some tweaking to do before I paint it.

 

[Dargo]

Okay, y'all can pick on me now. The boss told me that I was to till the garden now! All the used ones I saw in my local paper and at the pawn shops were cheap ones when new. So, since I had to get one now, I went ahead and picked up a Cub Cadet tiller at Home Depot.

Yeah, I know; I went cheap. It wasn't just too cheap hopefully. It is powered by a Honda 5.5 hp engine, has tines that turn either way and has reverse. It also had taller tires than most all of the others I saw in person. Oh, duh, before I forget, it came with a 3 year mfg warranty as well and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.

It did a relatively decent job tilling her a garden. I can see where having a regular differential would be nice as well as a little more power and weight. I came close to just tilling her a garden with my 7' PTO tiller and not worrying about buying a stand alone tiller until later. It just got too late in the day and my 7' tiller is up on a pallet rack. I would have had to get it down and hook it up before I could use it. That would have involved moving 3 or 4 cars around to get as well. Anyway, that's what I got. Hopefully it will be okay for what I need. After my main job next to the driveway, I will only use it a few times a year.

 

[clarksvilleal]

Dargo - I have just used my BCS 853 with 30" tiller to begin tilling about 1500 sq. ft. of ground which is rock hard clay covered with dry weedy sod, with many rocks, some softball size, a couple more like small cantaloupes. I have made 3 passes so far, and am down to 4" - 6" average, deeper in some places, shallower in others. I probably should have waited for a good rain . We have had virtually no significant rain since late May, and in addition to the ground being rock hard, I was kicking up a a veritable dust storm of fine clay, and may have major erosion if we get one of our classic summer thunderstorms now.

On the other hand, it was a good experiment to see what the BCS 853 was capable of. I don't think I would have gotten as far as I have with a lighter machine. I was amazed at the way it kicked up those big rocks with little trouble. And it cut right through the tough weedy sod without much problem either. I did have to set the tiller to the shallowest setting on the first two passes, then one notch deeper on the third. Any deeper setting caused severe "tine-walking" - i.e., the d*** thing tried to git up and run like h*** away from me. Of course the BCS has the safety dead-man handle that shuts the engine down if you let go, so that wouldn't have been a big problem exceptin' yours truly thought he was strong enough to hold 'er back and stupidly tried to hang on the first time it happened. Lucky I wasn't dragged 10 yards through the dust before I had the good sense to let the clutch up and stop the PTO. (Just couldn't bring myself to let go completely. Idiot

Bottom line: the 853 is up to the task, and I am certain that had I waited for some rain to moisten the rock-hard clay a bit I would have been able to finish in 3 or 4 passes easily. Of course on my already-tilled garden - also clay, but much softer and with more organic material - one or two passes was all it took to till up a beautiful seedbed, and in that case I could literally walk alongside and guide it with one hand with no problem, like all them Troy-Bilt ads claim. But keep in mind that I was guiding a 350+ lb (tractor plus tiller) macho machine and tilling a 30" swath, unlike the puny little Troy-Bilts.

Yeah, Troy-Bilt bigots out there, my BCS will kick sand in your Troy-Bilt's air intake any day .

Thanks guys. I've looked at and looked up several tillers now, but I've never had a chance to actually use any tiller. My ground is rock hard right now and I plan on doing my major tilling work later this summer. Has anyone tilled really hard clay soil with a walk behind tiller? I've done a lot of things and have operated so many pieces of large equipment, but I've never used a little walk behind tiller. I feel almost foolish pondering so much about just buying a darn little tiller. Sometimes I think I ought to just go buy one, but I don't want to buy a "junk" one that might not do what I need. If so, I will have wasted $800 to $1000 or so since it seems that the used cheapo tillers can be had for a hundred bucks or two at pawn shops. I've always been in control and known exactly what to look for, what I need, and what prices to expect on buying equipment. Now on a silly little garden tiller I feel lost.

The job I'm going to do first with one later this summer may end up being big enough to kill a really light weight tiller, so I've pretty well crossed off the $400 cheapo tillers at the big box stores. Other than that....???

 

[Knight9]

I don't think I could make myself buy anything Cub Cadet makes. My dad had an old (very early 70's) model Cub that was a true working machine. Now everything I've seen from them seems to be just pathetic. Again, no insult intended to anyone, and I probably shouldn't be this way, but since I'm the guy in the family with trucks and trailers I've toted these junk Cub mowing machines back to be repaired so many times I'm sick of seeing them!

But when work has to be done....you got to do what you got to do.

 

[Dargo]

Exactly! Like I said, go ahead and pick on me now. I need to be man enough to admit when I have to eat my hat when required. That's why I made a point of posting what I ended up getting. Since I said that earlier, it just wouldn't be right to not mention what I bought and receive the appropriate flap. In all fairness, it's not in the same league as a BCS machine but seems to be better than the Husky or Poulan. Time will tell if it will do what I need.

 

[clarksvilleal]

Dargo - I neglected to tell you that for 35 years I did just fine with an original Merry mid-tine tiller with a 4-1/2 HP Briggs. I still have it, and still use it for tight spots that my BCS won't fit into. I've tilled a lot of dirt, including hard clay, with my Merry, and it has served me well and paid for itself many times over. I even rented it out on the side for several years way back when. I wore out a at least 3 or 4 sets of heavy-duty "slasher" tines. I did get a new short block once and changed out the transmission, but other than that have not had to do anything to it.

So don't pay any attention to my razzing about the BCS - I was just havin' some fun. It was a big splurge, but I'm about to retire and wanted something that I could use to expand my garden in a big way and keep using till the time [pun intended ] - hopefully many years into the future - when I am ready to dig my own grave with it. And the little lady made the mistake of asking me what I wanted for Father's Day this year, so ...

Best of luck with your Cub Cadet. I'm sure it will serve you well just like my old Merry did for so many years.

Al

Exactly! Like I said, go ahead and pick on me now. I need to be man enough to admit when I have to eat my hat when required. That's why I made a point of posting what I ended up getting. Since I said that earlier, it just wouldn't be right to not mention what I bought and receive the appropriate flap. In all fairness, it's not in the same league as a BCS machine but seems to be better than the Husky or Poulan. Time will tell if it will do what I need.

 

[Knight9]

Dargo,

I was just teasin' Good on ya for reporting the final purchase. I'm sure you will get years of service out of the tiller. I hope anyway....cause I'm sure we have the same one

 

[Dargo]

Dargo,

I was just teasin' Good on ya for reporting the final purchase. I'm sure you will get years of service out of the tiller. I hope anyway....cause I'm sure we have the same one

Oh no, I have the razzing coming. I opened mouth (or fingers on keyboard) and commented without even following your link. To make things worse, it was my wife who suggested I look at what you posted because she asked me if I was sure that the same company that produced the poor quality lower priced lawn tractors is the same company that makes the tiller. Hmm, she had a point there, so I went back and followed your link. That is how I discovered that Home Depot carried them. (note: I never even considered looking at HD before following your link)

Based on my one relatively big project I need to use it for and then only use it in a small garden, I figured that it just may fit my needs. When I went to look at it, I liked the looks but still couldn't convince myself to buy it. So, I stalled a bit more. That is when my wife informed me that she'd already purchased plants for the garden and they would die if I didn't get a garden tilled and ready now. So, since the CC looked like my best option I picked it up. I call it a lower end of the medium priced tractors. It's not a true cheapo unit, but it's not a BCS tractor either.

I ran it for almost 4 hours yesterday. After making the first pass in the garden, I made the turn around and started to go back across that same area and the tiller wouldn't pull itself or even spin the tires. I thought "great, I screwed myself but at least I can take it back". However, after looking, I noticed that the cable adjuster between the handle bars didn't have the little jamb nut tightened on it and that was causing the problem. I adjusted the cable, tightened the jamb nut, and I was fine the rest of the time.

So, if it doesn't work, I'm blaming you! (just kidding) I see I neglected to thank you for the link in your earlier post; thanks. I think it will fit my limited needs. I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't. But, you are certainly correct and totally in line to offer up a nice big slice of humble pie to me. I can take that too. I just try to not make it a regular part of my dietary intake.

 

[DaddyRabbit]

This is the best walk behind tiller IMO. Yep, you certainly can walk behind it, that is, when you're done.