Setting up 3pt rotary tiller

[CMV]

Quick question about tiller setup. It's been working fine and doing a great job. But I get "skid marks" on both sides of the tiller path. Best I can describe (should have taken a picture) is a swath 72" wide of fine powdery dirt, nice and smooth, but a small "trench" along the left and right sides of that pass.

Appears the "skis" on each side are what does it but they appear to be adjusted as high as they will go. Using the lift arm position control (similar to getting a bush hog at proper cutting height) I still get them, but less, but then don't till any low spots or uproot grass as well. These trenches don't hurt anything and I really don't much care, just looks odd to have them there and doesn't look like other freshly tilled fields that I've noticed.

So....3 questions....(1) is that normal to have the small trenches on each side from those "skis"? (2) I should set the tiller level with toplink, then drop the 3pt arms as low as possible and let tiller dig as deep as it wants to or should I be using position control and holding it up a bit? (3) I leave the tailgate down and creep when tilling. This leaves the dirt like a fine soft powder. Should I be leaving that tailgate up a little and moving faster to leave the ground more coarse? Its nice and soft and pretty my way, but seems like a good rain will wash a lot of topsoil away or would be real easy for runoff to cut channels or something with the soil that fine.

 

[ruffdog]

I took the "skis" off from the very beginning and set the depth by the 3pt stop. My next pass with the tiller overlaps the previous pass so I don't have any "trenches". Tilling to the point of "powder" may be not what you want (been there). There are many articles about over tilling and the damage it does.

 

[bigtiller]

The skid marks left by the height adjustment skid shoe is just the way it is. The bottom of the shoes will wear down, mine are half way worn out, so removing them isn't a great idea. That would make the sheet metal housing to receive all the wear and it won't last very long.

On the plus side, the skid marks make great row markers for planting.....if you drive straight, it looks better.

 

[wngsprd]

I like the "skid marks" for planting, too.

Mine are minimized because I use the offset feature of my tiller, and it is just a tad narrower than my tractor, so on the next lap, my tire that sticks out 6 inches wider than my tiller flattens the skid mark, and some of the new tilled soil falls on top so not much tire track is left. Sometimes I drive in the opposite direction and get a different result.