Rotary Tiller Selection

[sweettractors]

Be careful with reverse rotation in rocks and roots. Ken Sweet

 

[TripleR]

Good morning,

Triple R is correct in saying the RTR is better as it has better suck than a forward drive tiller and as long as you are at a crawl speed it will suck even harder as the tiller knives will have more time to tear into the heavy sod and clay.


You may want to spread some gypsum on the clay after you break it up
to dissolve the clay and some hydrated lime to sweeten the soil and balance it to bring the soil into better condition as clay especially black clay make it a bit acidic.

After you spread the gypsum and hydrated lime you will want to till it in a third time after the first two passes to keep the rain from washing it away.

If mined gysum is available you should use that for the garden and lawn as it will spread better and has more bulk than chemically created gypsum as it is a natural gypsum.


I am not trying to spend your money; I just found the grass and ground looked so much better after adding the hydrated lime and gypsum and the gypsum really broke up the clay and everything grew better especially with raised beds.


I hope the new tractor is going well Triple R and the boys changed the cab filters for you.

I found a place that has the cab filters for the 8540 and I posted it for one of our other member. I will forward it to you when I have a minute to my self- I have to take the little woman to the new Witch Doctor in Syracuse, NY in a few minutes.

OilFilterOnline.com | Oil Filter Online | Volkswagen Parts | Mercedes Auto Parts | BMW Car and Air Now Supply - MANN FILTERS



I double checked and the search in oil filtersonline.com found the Fram air filters for the cabins and airnowsupply.com has these filters too.

I found out about the gypsum after I did my back yard this spring and am debating redoing it next spring. We have what is known locally as "Buckshot Clay" which is gray in color.

Thanks, the M8540 is working out well for us; didn't replace them, just blew them out. The outside unit is a bear to get to and my wife and I are trying to figure out a good way to get to it that doesn't involve climbing on the tire

 

[bilrus61]

I've always have been very please with my foward rotating tines. The main reason to till is to get a kill on the grass and weeds. Tillers are killers. A foward rotation uses the soil as a anvil to cut and slice the weed for a total kill. The tines are coming down on the plant and the plant has nowhere to go.

The counter-rotation I have read lifts up the plant, tosses it over to the back of the tiller and replants it. The lifting from under action works like digging it up instead of chopping it to tiny peices. In a week or two some of the weeds recover and start growing again. Counter rotation looks faster but I would have to see proof that is gets as good of kill on tough weeds. I was looking at a youtube vid comparing the two and the standard had tiny chopped up grass all over it. The counter rotating tines looked cleaner and better and then the guy digs into it and just happens to come out with what looks like a large part of a weed, albeit one that was under dirt. If I was doing it commercially I think a counter rotating tine would be fast and make my customers happy but not sure it does as good of job in the long run.

All that said I've no personal experiance with counter rotation tillers. Just passing on what I've read about them and my experiances with the foward rotation tillers I have. John Deere 660, Rotomec 42" and two Troy Builts.

 

[sweettractors]

I sell both variations and my experience is about what you describe when talking in regard to not total kill on the grass/weeds. I am getting feedback concerning getting hung under roots and or rocks. Really works the clutch. Ken Sweet