PTO tiller advice.

[Reg]

My guess is pre '85, before that I'm even less sure
If you are old enough and your memory is good enough you may remember that it was all about "Made in Mexico" in the 70s and early 80s.

I gave up on this a while ago, I have been running Chinese truck and trailer bearings for over 15 years to my knowledge and probably more than 5 years before that without my knowledge.
In reality Timken and Barden are no better, just more expensive.
I don't think Chinese bearings are any more likely to explode on the highway than anything made in {pick a country}.

"Made in USA" typically means "ASSEMBLED in USA"
The parts that are "Assembled" and you may think worth worrying about will come from wherever the "American" manufacturing company's purchasing agent can get the best deal.

BTW - - "New Holland" tractors - some of them are/were Iseki under the hood, I'm not current on where TN65 are made (where the major components are assembled) but I would guess South Korea with a fair amount of Ch*n*s* components.

 

[Smok]

I am 53 and i remember that. But i did not realize until just a couple years ago that so many name brand products were being made in China. I have always been a big fan of Wolverine & Red Wing work boots. Actually i liked Red Wings the most until they started coming apart at the seams and the sole's were not holding up like they had in the years past. I got frustrated with them and thought well Woolverine makes a good boot so i am going to try thoes out. I just assumed they were still made here in the U.S. which some Red Wing boots still are but apparently where i was buying them at found it more profitable to buy thoes cheap China made boots and pass them off for the same price they had been saling the U. S. quality made Red Wings that they use to sale. I guess they figured nobody would know the difference. And they were right because it was a few years before i caught on. I would have never guessed something like that happening.

It wasn't until after i switched over to the Wolverine boots and when the boot strings would fray and break in just a few weeks and them falling appart at the seems and leaking water that i noticed the made in china tags on them then a light bulb came on. Then i got to noticing just about everything else had turned into junk too. That is when i realized name brands for the most part does not mean squat anymore in most case's. I have always been high on having a good quality work boot, so fortunately after searching sort of like i am doing on this tiller that i came across Danner boots that are still made here in the U.S. I think the only reason they are still making them here is due to them being a union company. I never thought the U. S. would fall to peaces the way it has. All i can say is that these big companys that sold their integerity out must really be making the bucks because most all of them that once stood for quality products have went just the opposite of what they once stood for. But i think before it is all said and done people will catch on to the fact that they are just fleecing America and Americans will stop buying this junk that they are peddling. I am tring to do my best to stop buying it. As hard as that maybe to do.

 

[Smok]

My guess is pre '85, before that I'm even less sure
If you are old enough and your memory is good enough you may remember that it was all about "Made in Mexico" in the 70s and early 80s.

I gave up on this a while ago, I have been running Chinese truck and trailer bearings for over 15 years to my knowledge and probably more than 5 years before that without my knowledge.
In reality Timken and Barden are no better, just more expensive.
I don't think Chinese bearings are any more likely to explode on the highway than anything made in {pick a country}.

"Made in USA" typically means "ASSEMBLED in USA"
The parts that are "Assembled" and you may think worth worrying about will come from wherever the "American" manufacturing company's purchasing agent can get the best deal.

BTW - - "New Holland" tractors - some of them are/were Iseki under the hood, I'm not current on where TN65 are made (where the major components are assembled) but I would guess South Korea with a fair amount of Ch*n*s* components.

Well let me ask you this. Are there any descent made heavy duty tillers made at all ? That is something else i just assumed when i bought my TN65, that is it was manfacuted in and built with Italian made parts. I was kind of leaning toward a Khun tiller, but then again i am assuming it and all the parts are made in France ? Is Khun also a hybrid (mixture of poor quality materials ) On alot of Khun emplements they have a logo that says "Khun 175 years of excelance " I guess that logo is another form of sales deception to sale their product also ? If that is the case it looks to me like that should be againts the law and should be something that could be used in a cort of law if someone was to ever get hurt over using a product that was manufactured with sub par quality materials and craftmanship.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

There's no doubt in my mind that Kuhn tillers are still well built tillers... I looked them over good at the NFMS last month, and they look just as well made as they always have been. The folks there from Kuhn, assured me they are still as tough as they have always been.

Just size buy one with a decent sized gear box and you will be fine...

SR

 

[blackdog2086]

"I have always been high on having a good quality work boot, so fortunately after searching sort of like i am doing on this tiller that i came across Danner boots that are still made here in the U.S."

You might want to double check on that. I've been a Danner user for over 30 years and considered them some of the best available. Danner now only makes a few styles in the U.S., and the majority in China. I'm personally willing to pay a bit extra for good quality, but lately even high end products are just overpriced Chinese garbage.

 

[Reg]

Well let me ask you this. Are there any descent made heavy duty tillers made at all ? That is something else i just assumed when i bought my TN65, that is it was manfacuted in and built with Italian made parts. I was kind of leaning toward a Khun tiller, but then again i am assuming it and all the parts are made in France ? Is Khun also a hybrid (mixture of poor quality materials ) On alot of Khun emplements they have a logo that says "Khun 175 years of excelance " I guess that logo is another form of sales deception to sale their product also ? If that is the case it looks to me like that should be againts the law and should be something that could be used in a cort of law if someone was to ever get hurt over using a product that was manufactured with sub par quality materials and craftmanship.

I can only answer that with my anecdotal evidence, from a sample size of ONE.
The 6 ft King Kutter that I have has dug some pretty tough fresh ground.
Nothing has bent or broken.
This says NOTHING about the "quality" of the brand, the business practices of tractor supply or the country that it was made in.
It DOES say that the unit I have is good (good enough for what I have done with it).

It is very unlikely that ALL or even MOST of the parts in your TN65 were made in Italy, or even that the major sub assemblies were produced (assembled) there. Much of it could have come from wherever parts and labor are cheapest (another guess) eastern Europe or Spain.

Point is it doesn't matter, manufacturing is no longer skills based.
Any worker in any country is as capable of menial assembly tasks as any worker in any other country.
Did you think that American factory workers are somehow intellectually superior, or have a greater pride in the product ?
There is substantial evidence that they are less well educated than workers in a lot of the western world, look it up.

Those things may vary between individuals, but labor is also bought at the lowest price the buyer can find it at.

Anyway, we can't solve all that here and I am too far away from you to loan out my KK tiller for a couple of weeks this Spring.
I suggest you "price shop" first, then see if you think the probability of failure and repair has an appropriate relationship to price, i.e. how much more you are willing to pay for what (perceived) percentage reduction in probability that it will break.
I don't think gathering anecdotes here will give you the reliability side of the equation and neither will identifying country of origin of the parts, not in solid terms.
So that is likely to reduce it to PRICE.

Which model Kuhn costs how much ?, which model brand X costs how much less ?
Will the Kuhn cost more to repair ? will the brand X fail in the first week ?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Which model Kuhn costs how much ?, which model brand X costs how much less ?
Will the Kuhn cost more to repair ? will the brand X fail in the first week ?

First of all, I do custom rototilling and have been since the 80's...I have three Howards. So, I base all of my post here on what I've learned from tilling everything you can think of, since I started.

If it's in the ground, I've probably hit it! Just a few examples are, motor blocks, starters, pipe, foundations, car hoods, boulders, rocks and thousands and thousands of BIG to HUGE rocks!! AND about everything else!!

Hitting trash in the ground is what separates tillers from light/med duty to HEAVY DUTY!! In a nice area, with NO trash or just a few stones, just about every brand tiller will look VERY good! Many home owners just do their gardens, and again, almost any tiller will stand up to that, year after year... Tilling new sod really isn't a test of how tough a tiller is at all, UNLESS it's full of big rocks!

Put all of those tillers on my trailer and do the fields/homesteads/pastures/old roads or what ever job comes along and they will all be junk in a season, two for sure!!

Please don't think I'm picking on any particular brand, but I've seen those King Kutters with the gear drive on the side shelled out, and there I am, hired to till the same ground!! I've seen bent Woods tillers too and I've seen my brother bending his Bush Hog tiller back into shape. I've seen more Chinese tillers busted up than any others...

American made has nothing to do with it! It's either HD or it isn't!! As long as they are sized right, Howard, Kuhn are the toughest tillers I've seen... Maschio get's an honorable mention because my tractor dealer friend sells them (also a Howard dealer) and he says they are well built tillers. Paying more for a HD tiller means it won't need to be fixed, so if parts do cost more, it's a non issue!

For light or med. duty, like clean fields and gardens, buying one of the lighter duty tillers would work out just fine, I just wouldn't buy ANY made in china tiller.

When some ones says HD tiller to me, I'm thinking of what tiller will hold up on MY trailer!

SR

 

[Reg]

You bring up a very good point.

The O/P didn't disclose any details about WHAT he hopes to til.
If he wants to go into business tilling unknown lots that have been private backyard land fills - that is ONE thing, though using a tiller for the FIRST pass may be less than wise.
If he wants to do fields and food plots that have already been worked - quite another.

I have done a bit of both, as favors, not commercially.
I think the WORST things I have "discovered" just below the surface has been bicycles, they bend and wrap up into the tines - a B*tch to get out, sharp bits of rusty metal too.
Second is probably rocks that are JUST small enough to "swallow" but too big to "digest".

As I said, I don't til commercially, if I did I would probably run a plow through first, maybe a ripper.

So, lets have it Smok, wadda Ya gonna til ?
IOW will you NEED a light, medium or HD unit ?

 

[Reg]

Try here for Kuhn, supposedly a "Demo" unit;
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=8149479

 

[beesnstuff]

I have a New Holland TN65 that i think has 55 hp PTO with 65 hp on the tractor engine. I am wanting to buy a heavy duty 6 ft. tiller for it. I have just started reading old threads about this subject here on TBN and have already got alot of good information but i would like to hear advice anyone might have about tillers so that i hopefully can purchase a good quailty built tiller. For me it is hard to find what i am looking for because in todays market the way some manufactures advertise their products they seem to be misleading as to where their products and the parts that are used in the manufacture of them are made at. That is just my point of veiw or the way i see it.

Myself i have not had very good luck with china made products and do not wish to purchaces a tiller that has any parts used in the construction of the tiller that i end up purchasing. So i guess what i am looking for is to see if there are any brands of tillers made strictly here in the U.S. with all U.S. made componets ? And does anyone know if Khun tillers are built in Italy with all Italin made componets. My tractor and all of its componets as far as i know was made in Italy with all Italin made componets and i am happy with the quailty of it. So if Khun products are made with all Italin made componets and in Italy then i think i would be happy with their products.

For me in todays market there are so many products that were once manufactured here in the U. S. under names that once meant quailty. That you knew just by the name brand was quailty built that is now being sold under thoes same name brands that are no longer the quality that they once were because they are being put together with poor quailty materials and craftmenship. But again this is just my opinion and i can not do nothing about that. But i still can and will decide where i spend my hard earned dollars at.

Stay away from Chinese products. Steel is the mildest I've ever worked with. Implements are poorly designed, and if you have to assemble it yourself you better have a metal shop to re-manufacture parts. For me it was a total disaster. The implements I had did not work ever in sand.

I only buy American and European made.

re: tillers

I have Farm-King 77" tiller behind JD 5083e. Never skipped a beat. I've had it for few years, had lots of rocks when I started working the land, worked fine with 4"-5" rocks, skipped over anything larger, crushed anything smaller.

The drives are enclosed, made in Italy.