Opinions on roto-tiller

Rat Rod Mac · Mar 28, 2008

I am interested in purchasing a roto-tiller for my tractor. It's a Massey- Ferguson 35 Diesel Deluxe. I believe the tractor is rated at something like 32 horsepower. The tiller I was looking at is sold by Tractor Supply Company. The name of the tiller is King Kutter 2. I was looking at the 5" model and was wondering if you guys think my tractor is big enough to handle it. The flier says it weighs 690 lbs. I'm going to use it mainly for wildlfe food plots and maybe grind up my yard and reseed it. Are these King Kutter tillers reliable and are parts available? Any and all suggestions are welcomed. I don't want to buy more than one, so I'll try and ask you guys and get it right the first time. Thanks.

DirtHauler · Mar 28, 2008

I believe you should be fine, I run a CCM 66" ( 5 1/2 ' ) behind my 30 horse with no problem.

Farmwithjunk · Mar 28, 2008

Rat Rod Mac said:
I am interested in purchasing a roto-tiller for my tractor. It's a Massey- Ferguson 35 Diesel Deluxe. I believe the tractor is rated at something like 32 horsepower. The tiller I was looking at is sold by Tractor Supply Company. The name of the tiller is King Kutter 2. I was looking at the 5" model and was wondering if you guys think my tractor is big enough to handle it. The flier says it weighs 690 lbs. I'm going to use it mainly for wildlfe food plots and maybe grind up my yard and reseed it. Are these King Kutter tillers reliable and are parts available? Any and all suggestions are welcomed. I don't want to buy more than one, so I'll try and ask you guys and get it right the first time. Thanks.

The King Kutter tiller is a gem. I've hammered the life out of mine (6') for near 7 years now and it's still going strong. For the bucks, I'd say it's as good as most, better than many. Before the tractor was "retired" I had used my tiller on a couple occasions on an old MF50 I have. Same engine as your 35. It was a workout, but the 32hp Continental 4 cylinder took it in stride. A 5'er should be a breeze for your 35. The only issue is those older tractors are geared just a little faster than ideal speed for tilling. Get used to working shallow on the first pass then going deeper with a second pass to lessen the load. There's a bunch of MF35 owners out there with tillers though. Good old tractors!

dixie306 · Mar 28, 2008

Rat Rod Mac said:
I am interested in purchasing a roto-tiller for my tractor. It's a Massey- Ferguson 35 Diesel Deluxe. I believe the tractor is rated at something like 32 horsepower. The tiller I was looking at is sold by Tractor Supply Company. The name of the tiller is King Kutter 2. I was looking at the 5" model and was wondering if you guys think my tractor is big enough to handle it. The flier says it weighs 690 lbs. I'm going to use it mainly for wildlfe food plots and maybe grind up my yard and reseed it. Are these King Kutter tillers reliable and are parts available? Any and all suggestions are welcomed. I don't want to buy more than one, so I'll try and ask you guys and get it right the first time. Thanks.

I have a JD 4500 and bought a 5 ft KK, used it 3-4 times sold it and bought a 6 ft KK tiller, my JD is rated appox the same as your MF I'm much happier with the six fter and the tractor can't seem to tell the difference, oh one thing, if you do buy the KK make sure NOT to get the black PTO shaft, they have the push-pull attactment for the tractor shaft, the one that came with mine, the ball bearings were rusted to the ring, TSC robbed a 5 ft tiller shaft for me, great customer service!!

hotchkiss · Mar 28, 2008

I have had two six foot king kutter tillers. The first one was junk. They build them about 50 minutes from my house and I hear employees get paid according to the number they assemble in a day. The must have had a bad day when they assembled my first one. The braces were not welded properly, several bolts fell out the first time I used it, and that was just the beginning. I took it back raised a little **** and got a replacement. The second one has been great. You should be fine with a six footer, and if you think it is a little too much you can remove one or two sets of blades.

xlr82v2 · Mar 30, 2008

hotchkiss said:
I have had two six foot king kutter tillers. The first one was junk. They build them about 50 minutes from my house and I hear employees get paid according to the number they assemble in a day. The must have had a bad day when they assembled my first one. The braces were not welded properly, several bolts fell out the first time I used it, and that was just the beginning. I took it back raised a little **** and got a replacement. The second one has been great. You should be fine with a six footer, and if you think it is a little too much you can remove one or two sets of blades.

Hotchkiss,

You probably got the first one built by a new-hire weldor... straight out of High School shop class.... "Yep, I can weld!"

I just bought a 6' KK a couple of days ago, I went over it pretty well before I decided to take it home... everything looks pretty good on mine, all the welds look good, much better than anything I've seen that comes out of the Winfield, Alabama factory (like my KK finish mower), and even the paint isn't too bad for being put on with a mop. One thing's for sure, it's a heavy SOB, not quite as heavy as the Maschio-built Frontier's that I looked at, but close, and it's 1/2 the price as well.

I can't wait until it warms up and drys out enough here to work some dirt with it. If it holds up even half as well as my Dad's 4' JD that he bought along with his 650 back in 1984, it will have been a good purchase. Dad's on his 4th set of tines on that tiller... it's worked a LOT of dirt, and is still going strong, with only minor maintenance ever having been required. This KK is built much more stoutly than Dad's JD, so I'm quite confident that it's a very very good unit.

dixie306 · Mar 30, 2008

xlr82v2 said:
Hotchkiss,

You probably got the first one built by a new-hire weldor... straight out of High School shop class.... "Yep, I can weld!"

I just bought a 6' KK a couple of days ago, I went over it pretty well before I decided to take it home... everything looks pretty good on mine, all the welds look good, much better than anything I've seen that comes out of the Winfield, Alabama factory (like my KK finish mower), and even the paint isn't too bad for being put on with a mop. One thing's for sure, it's a heavy SOB, not quite as heavy as the Maschio-built Frontier's that I looked at, but close, and it's 1/2 the price as well.

I can't wait until it warms up and drys out enough here to work some dirt with it. If it holds up even half as well as my Dad's 4' JD that he bought along with his 650 back in 1984, it will have been a good purchase. Dad's on his 4th set of tines on that tiller... it's worked a LOT of dirt, and is still going strong, with only minor maintenance ever having been required. This KK is built much more stoutly than Dad's JD, so I'm quite confident that it's a very very good unit.

Xlr, if yours came with the black PTO shaft, go ahead and spray the ends down with a good penetrating oil, the one I just bought, the bearings had rusted to the inside of the yoke, TSC swapped it out for me

xlr82v2 · Mar 30, 2008

Dixie,

Mine came with the Eurocardan pto shaft (the yellow one), which I think everyone says is the desirable one.

Anyway, I think I've only seen 2 or 3 tillers at my "local" (60 miles away) TSC that had the black shaft on them, and that was a few years ago. KK must have had a lot of problems with those... since it seems that they only used them for a short time, and all the reports of problems with them here on TBN...

dixie306 · Mar 30, 2008

xlr82v2 said:
Dixie,

Mine came with the Eurocardan pto shaft (the yellow one), which I think everyone says is the desirable one.

Anyway, I think I've only seen 2 or 3 tillers at my "local" (60 miles away) TSC that had the black shaft on them, and that was a few years ago. KK must have had a lot of problems with those... since it seems that they only used them for a short time, and all the reports of problems with them here on TBN...

Xle, I read the labels on them while I was at TSC, the black ones were from Italy and the springs on the slip clutch "eyeballed" to be a little thicker than the slip clutch on the 5 fter but the folks at KK assured me the specs are the same on them, the yellow ones I cked came from Spain.