Tiller Tillers for CUTs

[soulasphil]

I'm looking at a new tiller for a JD3520 ( 30 PTO hp).
Deere recommends 655 (55'' commercial duty) or 665 (65" commercial duty).
I wouldn't use it too intensively since I only have about 3 acres to maintain, but I'm fed up with the walk behind tiller and the effort it implies.
65" would be nice to cover the tractor tracks, but wouldn't it be too hard on the small engine?
The tractor is a Deere, but the tiller needn't be. Any other suggestions?
Glad if you could share your experience, especially if you have pictures !

 

[keyser soze]

I would go with the King Kutter Gear Drive Tiller. You can go to their website to find a local dealer. You'll find that it's probably less expensive than most other tillers while being better or at the very least as good as tillers from bush hog, woods, land pride, john deere etc.

The King Kutter tiller also features 6 tines per flange standard. Many of the other ones only have 4 tines per flange which don't do as good of a job mixing and chopping up the soil.

Check out King Kutter Incorporated for more info... I think the one you should look at is the TG-72. A 6' wide tiller.

 

[soulasphil]

Thank you keyser soze, the KingKutter tillers seem to be real good :
gear driven, heavy duty, 6 tines per flange, slip clutch included, etc.
the 6 foot TG72 seems too much for the tractor though : 35-50 hp required
I would have to be content with the 5 foot TG60 still requiring 25-40 hp

 

[Reg]

Thank you keyser soze, the KingKutter tillers seem to be real good :
gear driven, heavy duty, 6 tines per flange, slip clutch included, etc.
the 6 foot TG72 seems too much for the tractor though : 35-50 hp required
I would have to be content with the 5 foot TG60 still requiring 25-40 hp

Not clear (to ME).
I'll second keyser soze's suggestion, go for the 6ft one.

Sure, it might take 35 PTO HP to get the MAX work out of it that it can do and the upper limit is to keep you from trashing it with 100 HP.
Are you ripping up hard clay ?, sand ?, what ?

I have a 6ft KKII behind a (supposedly) 42 HP tractor.
I forget what the PTO power is, but I run it on the 1,000 RPM PTO output gear at UNDER 54% of the 2600 or so suggested engine speed for 540 RPM from the 540 output shaft.
At 1200~1300 I suspect that it is putting out WAY under 20 HP at the PTO.
At the lower revs and higher gear you might expect it to "lug", but it doesn't.
What it DOES do in the higher gear at lower revs is to stall early when I "discover" stuff, i.e. way before damage happens.
Unless you have a "productivity" issue there is nothing wrong with tilling slow and shallow with low HP, then making another pass, or two.
You get a better seed bed anyway.

One more thing on the KKII, it is a "spiral" rotor, so the cutters come into the soil sort of one by one, not every 60 degrees of rotor.
It is also forward rotation, so the tendency is for it to aid the tractor in going forwards if/when it hits really hard stuff, i.e. it can "climb" and push the tractor on cement paths (-:
I think mine has 9 flanges; so every 360/54 degrees a blade touches down, quite smooth.

PS I have mostly "Sandy Loam", but have tilled up 35 year old heavily compacted lawns with no problem.

 

[hockeyhead]

A properly adjusted slip clutch is what will protect your PTO drivelive from locking up your tiller on some unknown feature under the earth. Stalling your tractor with a PTO driven implement is not good for the tractor. KKII tillers do come with a slip clutch, but you will need to adjust it to your conditions so it will stay engaged as you till to your desired conditions but slip when it makes contact with harder objects. Directions to adjust the slip clutch are in the manual, and were available on their or this site.

 

[Stimw]

Smaller tillers that I have seen can be offset to cover the tire track. I just bought a used 4' tiller and I cover my tire track very well.
This tiller is supposed to be run at 540 PTO RPM. My tractor, Branson 3510 has tractor RPM about 2600 RPM to get 540 PTO. I have been running the tractor at 2000 RPM and the tiller still does a great job.
In the tilled dirt pic I was tilling toward the camera. Looking to the left you can't see a tire track.

 

[DK35vince]

Thank you keyser soze, the KingKutter tillers seem to be real good :
gear driven, heavy duty, 6 tines per flange, slip clutch included, etc.
the 6 foot TG72 seems too much for the tractor though : 35-50 hp required
I would have to be content with the 5 foot TG60 still requiring 25-40 hp

I run a 6' King Kutter II tiller on my 35 HP tractor with No problem..

 

[IslandTractor]

I also have a 6ft King Kutter on my 40hp tractor. PTO is about 30. No trouble at all even in previously unplowed root infested fields. It is nice to completely cover the tracks even though offset does work.

 

[soulasphil]

Thank you every one. I had noticed the 4 footers could be offset, the pictures show you can do a real good job that way, but if the tractor can manage a 6 footer, I'd rather have that. The earth is sandy here on the seaside and I intended to make several passes anyway. The PTO is 540 rpm. As for stalling the tractor, I often do it with the rotary cutter going through high grass and so far it doesn't seem to cause dammage to the transmission.

 

[DieselAddiction]

Check out McCormick tillers also if you can.(built by taylor pittsburgh..same as KK brand). Gear driven 6 blades/flange. I know I can get one for same price/cheaper than KKII and it has a lot better finish then the KK. I am sure the Green paint will add a bit to the price, not sure haven't priced Jd tiller.