Tiller Kuhn Tiller

voodoo · Apr 28, 2003

I have recently come across a Kuhn EL 35 tiller for sale.

I am told it was manufactured in 1997 and only used for preparing seed beds in a market garden.
The tiller is 1.2m wide (4ft) with an adjustable offset of 150mm (6").

From the attached photographs it appears genuine and in very good shape. (It is too far away for me to view personally).

My questions are;

1) is the width and offset sufficient to cover at least one tyre on a 5' wheelbase, or should I keep looking for a 5' tiller. My tractor is an Iseki TL2500F with 27hp PTO. Would a 5' be too much for it. I recently viewed a 60" Howard and the weight of it scared me. I had no confidence that the tractor would be stable with the weight (out of the ground), or capable of operating it satisfactorily.
2) From the pictures, can anyone highlight any possible areas of concern, or questions to ask the seller.
3) The selling price is £550 ($873). The current Kuhn model is listed at $2050 on Kuhn Is this a good price for a 5-6yr old machine?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Nigel

voodoo · Apr 28, 2003

Second picture showinf rotor shaft.
The original paint is still intact, and there appears to be no wear on the blades themselves.

JATO_RaT · Apr 28, 2003

Actually, I thought the blades looked quite worn. A good price and a budget for a new set of future blades and you may have a great deal. I think the Kuhns are the finest made from the research I've done. Rat...

Darren · Apr 28, 2003

You don't have enough offset to cover the tire track unless your lift arms on the three point can be slewed to the side enough to make up part of the other 6". You might also be able to install the lift pins so they point in the same direction. That might give you a couple of inches of offset.

See if you can get the other 6" and stay within the max angle for running the pto shaft. check the weight of the tiller against your lift capacity. If every thing looks good, go for it. That's a deal that won't last long. Kuhns are the Mack truck of tillers.

JATO_RaT · Apr 29, 2003

I've been looking at Kuhns and I think your right, they do seem to be the best designed tiller I've come across yet. Was wondering though, is their website way behind, every dealer I emailed here on the West coast mentions the EL 42 yet the website has no listing for such a model. They have the EL 32, EL 35 and EL 50 at the website for compacts. Also, it appears no one stocks them but will order them. Have you come across the same situation? Rat

Anonymous Poster · Apr 29, 2003

Voodoo, Kuhn has a good tiller but make sure it will do what you want. I'm not sure of you width of your tractor but you would want it to get to cover one of your tire tracks, if it does that with out binding the pto and your happy with the price then go for it. As far as the Howard till I just picked up a HR3 50" for my kubota bx2200. I know it behind me but once its on the ground wieght is a good thing. Your hp on the pto is in the middle of the range for the hr7 60" so that shouldn't be a problem. The howard tiller that I bought has a clutch instead of a sheer pin and the first outing I hit the end of an old piling and stopped the tiller without any breakage(they dredged a marina next door and now I have free fill dirt) so now i've come to like that feature /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Cheers
Tony

JATO_RaT · Apr 29, 2003

I am looking at a Kuhn EL42-155, apparently the EL 35 series is no longer available. The main difference is that the 42 series is driven by a #100 chain instead of a gear drive like the EL35. The 42 series uses gauge wheels instead of skids for depth control. Many folks seem to agree that gear drive is superior to chain drive even though the Kuhn dealer did say they sell the heck out of the EL42-155, the only model he stocks and has had zero problems with them. Of course, perhaps they just have not been out long enough for that to be an issue. The Howard HR12 in a comparable model uses gears but also seems to require more HP to run it. Rat...