tilling rocky ground

[mattellis2]

i've had about an acre cleared at my house with hopes of putting in a good sized garden. probably not going to happen this year, since it is late already, but i may try to put in some potatoes this fall.

anyway, in our area of georgia there are lots of fist-sized rocks in the upper few feet of soil. obviously, i am not going deeper than about 6-8", but was curious if the rocks would hurt the tiller tines. also, will the tiller cut all the smaller roots that are left?

final tillage question...i believe the king kutter is supposed to be run at PTO speed of 540 rpm, but my little tractor just screams (about 2400 engine rpm) to get to 540 rpm. my tractor has a two speed pto...540 and 1000. can i use the 1000 rpm range and slow the engine rpms down?

thanks,

-matt

 

[art]

First about the tines, make sure that the bolt spacing that holds them on is a good distance. You won't be shearing them and looking for your tines.
A slip clutch would be in order!

The slower or reduced speed could have some benifit but I don't know what you have in between those stones!

 

[allen in texas]

2400 rpm sounds fine to me.

I run about 2200 with a KKII 6 footer.
slowing your engine enough to get 540 form a 1000 RPM pto is going to lug it hard.

Othern' that, I got no 'pinion on the subject

 

[3RRL]

I do that a lot ... use my higher PTO speed and run the engine at lower rpms, but my higher PTO speed is 740, not 1000. Plus my tractor is 55hp, 50hp at the PTO, so I have plenty of power for most things. I would be concerned if your tractor is "little" as you say, that you are generating enough PTO hp to run the tiller or not without lugging it. If it can be done, that would be great.

 

[allen in texas]

Yeah,
what he said

 

[mattellis2]

my tractor is a 2910 branson....25 pto hp. i have run the bh @ the 1000 pto setting and about 1100 engine rpm. for cutting grass/weeds it worked like a champ. i realize i'll be putting more load on it when tilling.

-matt

 

[Egon]

You don't have to maintain 540 RPM but you will have to go slower.

I think?? my tractor will be at about 2800 RPM for 540 on the rear PTO.

The rocks can and will break tines. Keep the back flap up so the rocks don't get bounced back into the tines.

If you do get rocks jammed up they can sometimes be released by shutting of the PTO, lowering the tiller and backing up.

 

[wushaw]

Yea you don't "HAVE" to run at 540PTO. Just play with the RPMs and see if your getting what you like in tiller speed in the 540 detent.