Tiller KK Tiller Questions

[N1ST]

I bought a tiller last summer. This year before using it, I checked the gear oil in the side gear box and out comes something that looked like creamed corn. Yellow lumps along with the oil. Any ideas?

My garden is quite over grown at this point and I'd like to till it and plant a green manure crop for the winter. Problem is I have thick 3-4' weeds. What is the best tool to deal with these before tilling?

 

[JC-jetro]

I bought a tiller last summer. This year before using it, I checked the gear oil in the side gear box and out comes something that looked like creamed corn. Yellow lumps along with the oil. Any ideas?

My garden is quite over grown at this point and I'd like to till it and plant a green manure crop for the winter. Problem is I have thick 3-4' weeds. What is the best tool to deal with these before tilling?

I think you have either some condensation or moisture inside the side gear box. water and oil when pushed to emulsify has a creamy more whitish color, a bit of rust and it may turn orengish/yellow. I'll just change the oil. The drain plug is not all the way in the botom to get all the bad oil out, you may need to loosen the cover a bit to drain all the oil.

I'd just brush hog as low as I can even scalp it and then use the tiller. I till no more than 3" to bust the roots and then go deep on the second round.

JC<

 

[daBear]

All the gear box plugs I have seen have a small vent hole which will allow rain to get in over time. A buddy let me use his Bush Hog finish mower which had been sitting up for two years and I found this out the hard way. It was full of water and blew the seals out on the first cutting. Like JC said above, change the oil cause it has water in it.

 

[Nasty135]

N1st, If you don't have a bushog another train of thought is to first plow hard virgin ground then till later after it dries up. I pretty much do this method on my garden yearly, My garden is smaller than most. Gives a little more seat time ...

 

[N1ST]

Water in the oil makes sense because when I opened the drain plug, more liquid came out than I expected (just a few drops should have come out). I'm at a loss on where the water came from, but it was added some how. I'll change it.

Thanks.

 

[Rockin' G Ranch]

On a field with tall grass/weeds I mow it then use a single row cultivator before tilling. The single row cultivator does a great job of cutting the roots and breaking the top 2"-3" of ground. This allows the tiller to do a better job and is much easier on the tiller.

 

[wushaw]

Mow and till.
I just mowed mine, I will till when I get the chance, probably next week sometime.

 

[mpocrats]

Just purchased a KKII 6' tiller two days ago from TSC ($1599 price tag, so it's been sittin' a while). Both top and side gear boxes were filled with a very thick grease (a little bit thicker than consistency of honey). Would not even drain out of top gearbox drain plug - had to blow it out. Replacing all with 85W-140. Just wished it would have come dry like it's supposed to.

 

[mrutkaus]

Could the yellow gunk coming out be pieces of paint?

Mike

 

[mpocrats]

Nope. Very heavy pourable (barely) grease. The grease also had lots of small bubbles in it too. However, when I opened the side cover to drain it out, the grease was "riding up" on all of the gears very well, so it probably would have been OK. Still glad I replaced it with 85W-140 like the manual calls for.