Tiller Landpride RTR1550 or RTR1558 Reverse Tiller?

[mopac01]

I just ordered an L3200. I have a small 40'x40' garden area and a small riding arena for my daughter's horse. (Maybe 100'x200' or thereabouts). I'm considering a reverse tiller for the garden and to keep the arena in shape. The L3200/3800 manual shows a tiller limit of 54". Is there any reason to press it and try the 58" for my needs or would the 50" be sufficient?

 

[oosik]

I have a stand alone rototiller - Troy Built - and its reverse(counter) rotation. All the literature I've read says a reverse rotation does a better job of breaking new ground and forward rotation is better for breaking up already broken ground. My Troy Built is the biggest one they make and it can be a real handful when breaking new ground. As far as the width - you want a tiller wide enough to cover your tire tracks on one side or other of the tractor. That being said, it probably means a tiller wider than the op manual recommends. By all means, if the 50 inch can be offset to cover one side tire tracks - don't push it - go with the 50". The difference between 50" and 58" behind your tractor will be insignificant time wise. However, the difference in torque being transmitted back to your tractor thru the driveshaft might be quite significant. My land has lots & lots of rock and I know the shock load on the entire tiller is significant when I break new ground. There have been several times when the tiller will hit a large rock, jump up/look around, pull out of my grip and take off on its own path. It ain't fun chasin a rear tine tiller down.

 

[xring100]

Never used a reverse tiller on a tractor but we did rent a 72" for my buddies worked pretty good. the videos I've seen of the reverse tillers look pretty slick less passes. I know it will send a bunch of garbage back towards the tractor. The one we rented would propel rocks 20 - 30 feet out the back on occasion

 

[jenkinsph]

Since you rear tires appear to have a minimum setting of 55 inches I think I would go with the larger tiller. It would help if this was a hydro, not sure what you ordered though. My experience is with forward rotation tillers so I am not sure what difference that would make.

 

[bigtiller]

You have enough tractor for the 58" reverse tiller from land pride but you would probably be happier with a forward rotation tiller. They do a much better job at incorporating loose mulch than a reverse tiller and use less horse power.

 

[Katahdin]

I rented a RTR550 for my 6 foot wide Yanmar LX this spring as it was the only tiller rental I could find in my area. The tiller is adjustable and I was able to offset it to cover one wheel and do an appreciable job covering my tracks. Obviously since my tractor is almost 2 feet wider than the RTR550 I would prefer a wider tiller, but if nothing else is available I'd rent it again.

Here's a pic. Note, this was my first tilling job ever.

 

[mopac01]

Since you rear tires appear to have a minimum setting of 55 inches I think I would go with the larger tiller. It would help if this was a hydro, not sure what you ordered though. My experience is with forward rotation tillers so I am not sure what difference that would make.

Yes, the L3200 I ordered was an HST version. The Kubota dealer I bought from is also a landpride dealer. He said they regularly put RTR1566 tillers behind these small L's. I brought up the manual listed 54" limitation on width. But it appeared that he'd prefer to sell me at least a 58" not because there's a big price difference (there isn't and I'd wager his profit difference between 50, 58 and 66 is negligible) but because he thinks it would work better for me. One small horse arena and a 25'x25' garden wouldn't seem to need 66" tiller.

I also had 1,200lbs of wheel weight added with Rim Guard/beet juice.

 

[jenkinsph]

I rented a RTR550 for my 6 foot wide Yanmar LX this spring as it was the only tiller rental I could find in my area. The tiller is adjustable and I was able to offset it to cover one wheel and do an appreciable job covering my tracks. Obviously since my tractor is almost 2 feet wider than the RTR550 I would prefer a wider tiller, but if nothing else is available I'd rent it again.

Here's a pic. Note, this was my first tilling job ever.
View attachment 334059

If you ever plow up that field a landplane grader scraper would really help smooth it out. You would be amazed what two passes with an 8ft wide LPGS would do. How deep did this tiller run for you? Looks pretty good.

 

[jenkinsph]

mopac1,
I have used my older Howard HR4 60" tiller behind my x749 mower, it tilled well enough but was slow going with 18 pto hp. I use the 673 Deere tiller with my 4520 50 pto hp and it can handle travel speeds of up to 2.0 mph. I use tillers frequently and have found that small differences in width can easily be made up for by adjusting your travel speed. So for a given tractor such as yours it takes the same amount of time to get the job done whether you are using a smaller 50" or the 66". It is better to be able to cover your tire tracks on both sides though. That is why I would choose the 58" model tiller.

About the ballast, while it is good for fel and high tractive loads on level ground it does slow down the tractor quite a lot if you have to deal with steep grades. In your locale you should have plenty. I'm in the mountains with steep grades and have 1100 lbs of iron weights on my 4520 cab with out a fel.

 

[jenkinsph]

You have enough tractor for the 58" reverse tiller from land pride but you would probably be happier with a forward rotation tiller. They do a much better job at incorporating loose mulch than a reverse tiller and use less horse power.

The only reverse tiller I have used was an old Troybilt and it did a good job but that was many years ago so I don't remember enough to speak about the incorporating. I will say that on my most recent lawn install job I mixed in 70 yards of mulch which was about 3 inches and the Deere 673 did a great job with it blending the soil.