Tiller Reverse Till Tiller...What do you think?

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I'm thinking about a tiller. I've never owned one before. I stopped by a dealer today. They carry Land Pride. The guy I talked to suggested a reverse till tiller. I didn't even price the difference between the forward till and the reverse till. Still in the early evaluation phase of this decision. Anyway, I got the Land Pride brochure, and the reverse till sounds quite interesting. I would be interested in any feedback you tiller owners could give me. Anyone have a reverse tiller? Give me your thoughts/suggestions.

 

[dougg]

I buy tillers by their weight. The lighter they are the more they vibrate themselves to pieces over time. The heavier ones cost more but last longer.
Forward tine tillers work just fine. I've used Muritori, Kubota and Howard. They were all good. The Kubotas with the sickle shaped S-tines seemed to use less power for the job, but they are hard to find now.

 

[Small farm guy]

I have used a Land Pride RTR 1558 tiller for 2 years now and I love it. I live on a creek bottom and have silty topsoil with clay underneath. The reverse tiller digs down and really does a great job of incorporating manure into the soil and it is really smooth and well mixed when done. I have no complaints about my tiller. It was a bit more expensive than some of the alternative brands, but my local dealer carries them. I asked about the King Kutters when I bought the Landpride. I don't want to start a war on here, but the dealer said they stopped carrying the King Kutters becasue they were getting a lot of them coming back broken. Not my experience, just passing on what I was told.

Joel

 

[wowbw7]

reverse tillers do the best job, imho, of breaking up the soil. twice over and your soil is smooth as glass.

 

[JCB]

TN,

When I was looking the landpride reverse tillers were about the best I saw. I ended up with a standard kubota tiller. It is fairly stout. It's not quite landpride quality but still nice. The conventional tiller does a really good job. A couple passes over virgin ground and you've got pulverized soil with no clumps. I'm sure reverse would be nicer, but I'm satisfied. I'd recommend a slip clutch for certain.

The kubota didn't have one and several shear pins later, I put one in and it does now. For my money, a tiller is one piece of equipment that will always have a slip clutch.

Joe

 

[rdln]

I bought my rtr 2562 in 1994 for $2400, I have put a new chain and sprocket and probly replaced all of the tines twice 4 to 8 at time. The sprocket was because I let the chain become too loose too long. I probly could not afford this tiller now but would really try to.

I have used this tiller alot.

 

[brain55]

Landpride must have improved their quality. They were always near the bottom of my choices. I have always prefered a reverse rotation tiller. The Kubota's are well built and I agree with the statement about weight too. The heavier the better, probably why haven't been a fan of Landpride they always seemed light to me. Howard's and Kuhn's would be at the top of my list especially with heavy weight being desirable. Definately get a driveshaft with a clutch, shear bolts on a tiller are useless unless all you are doing is mixing topsoil.

Brian

 

[TripleR]

I have been very happy with my Land Pride RTR, slip clutch 50" purchased last year. Since it is the only one I have ever owned, I can't make a comparison, but I have owned several brands of other implements and prefer Woods and Land Pride for a variety of reasons.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I was in the same decision mode last year at this time....Read alot on here about this topic and did my own research & shopping....heres what happened..

I'd LOVE & PREFER a Landpride or Woods Reverse Rotation unit but the cost kinda killed it (This purchase was driven by SWMBO if you can believe that. She is the gardener, I'm the equipment operator ) what killed the price was the fact I could get a KKII unit from TSC for 1/2 the cost and the overall consensus here on TBN is you cant beat them when it comes to bang for the buck. This is especially important when you consider I'll only use it a couple times a year. Just when I thought I had my mind made up on the KKII I went to another dealership and found a Sovema tiller in great mechanical shape for 1/2 the cost of the KKII... needless to say that Sovema tiller was loaded up within minutes.

The Sovema I bought was a normal rotation unit, but it works fine...I got no complaints. Do I still wish I had a reverse rotation...kinda...but then I think I coulda bought 4 of the tillers I got for the price of one of those.

If KKII ever releases a reverse rotation tiller for the same price as the one they currently offer, I'll be upgrading. Until then, I'll live with what I got.

 

[Small farm guy]

TN,

I'd recommend a slip clutch for certain.


Joe

I second that. I have been reclaiming old farmland that had 30+ years of overgrowth on it and I have found roots and stumps and odd vehicle parts! Slip clutch has been used a few times. If you can afford one it is worth many times its weight in shear bolts! If you just have fluffy topsoil with nothing hidden you could go either way.

Joel