Tiller Tiller Shopping

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color="red"> I have a 48" farm king tiller with
chain drive That has had numerous chain failures and tine breakage </font>

Hi Egon--That is a might tempting offer /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif---On a serious note: Did you buy the tiller equipped with a properly adjusted slip clutch and then recalibrate slippage every spring before using? When properly adjusted, a driveline slip clutch will almost fully protect the PTO driveline as well as the drive (gear or chain)--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co.

 

[Egon]

Oh yes it has a slip clutch. Breaking sod it was impossible to adjust the clutch for a proper operation. Now that I'm mostly working in tilled soil I was able to adjust it. I'm using it on a field that is situated on a slate based drumlin. Lots of rock. I've had to take off half the tines for more consitent operation and also remove the the two outside outward facing tines as they continually jamb up with rocks and break.

Before this the tiller operated perfectly for seven years with nary a problem. But that was in some very different soil conditions.

Needless to say I'm using it in a very abussive manner But there is a job to be done it's the only tool I have. Tillers aren't complicated and repairs are not excessive. Tines are expensive though.

Egon

 

[HayDR]

Hello Ken,
<font color="red"> per unit sold </font>

The data was kept as failures per 100 tillers. So all the tillers were on a level playing field by numbers. The real problem is to offset the number of hours used by the gear drive tillers. Since most gear driver tillers on average are used 5 times more than chain drive tillers. This can be proved by the usage of replacement tines sold.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color="red"> Since most gear driver tillers on average are used 5 times more than chain drive
tillers. </font>

Hi Mark--That is exactly my point--I would venture to say that most TBN consumers are not doing commercial work and the ones that do probably have bigger tractors to handle the extra weight of the geardrive machines and are indeed racking up the big time hours, Likely, working long, hard hours every day the sun shines, to make thier business a profitable venture--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co.

 

[HayDR]

<font color="red"> Unlike other MFG's, CCM tillers have gear drive tillers designed specifically for compact tractors. The MR Series is a gear driven tiller that has a target market of the compact tractors.
</font>
The largest MR Series Tiller MR-175 69" has a weight of 572 LBS (including PTO). With a 60 HP drive train the MR Series has the ability to be used on both compact and smaller utility tractors. Where other MFG's use only a 35 HP chain drive transmission, what do the larger than 35 HP compacts customers use? Do they have to purchase 2 tillers if they have both a compact and a utility tractor? In no way am I saying that any MFG's chain drive tiller is a bad or a lesser quality tiller. The planned obsolescence of a chain drive tiller is just less that of a gear driven tiller.

 

[JimMc]

So, would you recommend that a manufacturer build tillers with gear drive and offer both light and heavy frames to keep component costs down through volume of common components, or offer a light chain drive and a heavy gear drive?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello Jim--From a common sense point of view--The most economical way to mfgr would be to make chain drive up to 66 inches and then geardrive for all the rest of the larger sizes--I think that is basically what you do with your dirtworking tools?--15 series for 4 ft to 6 ft and then all over 6 ft would be a 20 series or 30 series--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I am also in the market for a tiller. I have a JD 4710 tractor. I will be tilling about 10 acres of fairly rocky soil. Could someone compare the JD 680 tiller to the others? It seems that this tiller is selling at a premium to the others. What am I getting for the extra money besides green paint. WHat other tillers are similiar? Thanks.


Mike

 

[HayDR]

The tiller is made by Howard. You are paying for the Green Paint chain drive tiller. Actually the Frontier Tiller is made by Maschio and is better but still overpriced.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

So what tiller would you recommend? How wide a tiller can my JD 4710 tractor handle?

Mike