Tiller Need roto tiller help, please

Robertesq1 · Apr 18, 2007

I am in the market for a Kubota L3600 I am thinking about a wood 5.5 or 6.0 rototiller for some rough fields. the fields have some rocks and are a little bumpy. Is the L3600 solid enough to pull a six foot roto tiller??? All the old timers are telling me I need a bigger tractor 50 - 75 hp and that is just out of my budjet.

Egon · Apr 18, 2007

The tillers should be stating what horsepower range they are suited to.

jbrumberg · Apr 18, 2007

Robertesq1:

Welcome to TBN

! I would check out Carter & Carter Machinery, Hay Equipment Headquarters. Jay

Mickey_Fx · Apr 19, 2007

IMO, way too many variable to consider to say if this it too much tiller for the tractor. Is soil more to the sandy loam or hard pan consistancy? How often has this ground been worked? What depth and speed is acceptable?

For my garden which has been worked annually for 35 yrs, my tiller (4.5') is adequate with my Yanmar. Many yrs ago, ~30 yrs ago, I used a 5-6' tiller on the same ground using my MF165 (55 HP) and found places in the garden where I was really taxing the tractor for the depth and speed I was going.

My rule of thumb is 5-10 HP per ft of tiller width. This permits adequate depth and speed for the job. Soft soil, worked reg = lower power requirements. Hardpan, not worked reg = higher power requirements.

Best advice I can offer is, seek and accept the advice from those around you with experience.

flusher · Apr 19, 2007

Robertesq1 said:
I am in the market for a Kubota L3600 I am thinking about a wood 5.5 or 6.0 rototiller for some rough fields. the fields have some rocks and are a little bumpy. Is the L3600 solid enough to pull a six foot roto tiller??? All the old timers are telling me I need a bigger tractor 50 - 75 hp and that is just out of my budjet.

If I were you, I'd plow the field first then rototill.

I have a Kubota B7510HST and a used Yanmar RS-1200 rototiller (48" wide). When I landscaped my new house, I used a middle buster plow ($140 from TSC) before hitting it with the rototiller. Makes it a lot easier on the tiller.

With your L3600 you might consider getting a double bottom plow to speed up the work. New these run around $500-600 or you might be able to find a used one a lot cheaper.

A 6 or 7 ft wide offset disc harrow is another option. I have one of those for my MF-135 (45 hp engine) to plow my fields (about 8 acres).

bx23barry · Apr 20, 2007

I am pretty amazed my 50" tiller doesn't pull my little 16.7 pto Hp BX23 down hardly at all. My hard clay ground works the heck out of the tiller but not the tractor. My box blade works the tractor harder than the tiller. Others may have different experiences.

AKfish · Apr 20, 2007

Well, I'm no expert at knowing Kubota tractors (or tilling lot's a different soil types, either!)

But, I'm gonna take a stab at the question this way --- is the L3600 a gear tractor with ~36pto Hp? Can you keep the rpms up and the speed way down?

I believe that if you can keep the motor humming and the tires movin' at just a crawl --- you should be able to pull that 6' tiller.

Even if the ground is hard-pan - keep the depth shallow - and a pass or three or four and if you're movin' slow the first couple of times, you should be able to pick up the rocks before they break too many tines and get the ground worked up soooo soft.

Akfish

rickmacheske · Apr 22, 2007

My tractor is a L3400. I have no problems using my 60" tiller. I just turned about 1/2 acre of very old field into a garden in less than an hour yesterday. I was amazed at how well it worked.

DaddyRabbit · Apr 22, 2007

You can pull the tines off of a 72'' tiller w/that Kubota you have. Don't let anyone tell you different. I have been doing some intensive research on tillers and have found the best deal to be a First Choice 1074 model. I can get this for $1650 as opposed to a woods, bevco, etc, etc. which are really expensive w/less tines to boot. So definitely, go w/the 6' model.