Looking for best quality/price for 48" rotary tiller with adjustable tilling depth

[eisaachsen]

26hp compact tractor (Mahindra MAX26 XLT HST). Use will be to rip grass from a track around a pasture field and keep track grass free; 5 acre farm so I would consider it to be used for low to moderate duty. Won't have to go deep--maybe 2 or 3 inches max. Soil is clay; not a lot of rocks. Prefer gear driven. Looking at Land Pride RGA1250, Frontier RT3049...wonder about the Ignite 48" rotary tiller.

 

[leonz]

Have you ever broken sod or brush covered ground in clay?

It won't happen in one pass.

You need to spread a lot of Gypsum to dissolve the clay before
you even think about tilling as the roots will be deep.

Hire a spreader and buy a ton of gypsum either deep mined or
chemically rendered and wait for a week of dry weather before you
till it as you are going to have to make many passes at right angles
and opposite direction runs one inch at a time.

 

[California]

I have an ancient 4.5 ft Japanese rice paddy rototiller and I learned it doesn't work at all for digging out high grasses or brush. It just rips them out intact and wraps them around the main shaft. Illustrated in this thread I posted recently. Mostly Blackberry vines in that photo. My experience with tall grass was the same.

Maybe an American tiller where the tines end at a right angle would work better. But I expect it's essential to mow and then let everything decay for a week or two before the first pass with the tiller.

 

[bigtiller]

I have an ancient 4.5 ft Japanese rice paddy rototiller and I learned it doesn't work at all for digging out high grasses or brush. It just rips them out intact and wraps them around the main shaft. Illustrated in this thread I posted recently. Mostly Blackberry vines in that photo. My experience with tall grass was the same.

Maybe an American tiller where the tines end at a right angle would work better. But I expect it's essential to mow and then let everything decay for a week or two before the first pass with the tiller.

To the OP.
With these light duty tillers, I don't think brand matters much. They're all about the same weight and price.

That is exactly what all my "American" tillers have done, rip & wrap.
Then it is time to pull weeds....out of the tiller.
It's best to mow first, preferably under 8 inches.

Also, they don't cut sisal baler twine, it wraps like tall grass.

 

[5030]

Whatever you get, if price is the driving factor, it will assuredly be Chinese and the usual Chinese quality.

Quality and price aren't good partners today, in fact, just the opposite.

 

[RayIN]

I agree with 5030, low price and quality should not be used in the same sentence
Were this my project the first thing I'd do is mow the grass as low as possible, then spray with a total kill vegetation spray. When the green stuff is gone the roots will not be far behind. Wait a month before tilling if you wish to obtain the desired results, otherwise your result will be clumps of roots and clay, which when dry are practically impossible to pulverize without a heavy cultipacker or like equipment.
This how to make your own cultipacker if you don't have access to one. I recommend plastic culvert material, if the plastic breaks you still have a concrete cultipacker.

 

[5030]

Exactly what I do Ray but I have and use a Cub Cadet rear tine tiller and I spray the intended plot with Roundup Ultra Max a week a head of time to kill everything. Ultra Max has a 5 day half life. Never had any need to buy a rear tine tiller. If I did a larger are, would still be ultramax followed with a Swedish tine ciltivator, not a tiller.

Tilling large area's is not only labor and fuel intensive, it's very time consuming.

Far as I'm concrened, rotary tilling is best left to smaller plots.

 

[eisaachsen]

To the OP.
With these light duty tillers, I don't think brand matters much. They're all about the same weight and price.

That is exactly what all my "American" tillers have done, rip & wrap.
Then it is time to pull weeds....out of the tiller.
It's best to mow first, preferably under 8 inches.

Also, they don't cut sisal baler twine, it wraps like tall grass.

The grass I would be removing has been cut very short by a regular lawn grass mower, so no worries about having to pull weeds out of the tiller.

 

[eisaachsen]

Quality and price aren't good partners today, in fact, just the opposite.

I understand. But one can spend a lot of money for just a name. As I said in the title looking for best quality/price combo that others have found. Then I can pick what works for my particular application. (I do highly prefer American made, will consider foreign made, but will not buy Chinese made.)

 

[eisaachsen]

I agree with 5030, low price and quality should not be used in the same sentence

Agreed.