Tiller used tillers?

WiJC · Dec 16, 2004

i have been looking for a used pto tiller in the 4-5' range for about 8 months now and havent been able to find any.

are there just none around? i figured i should be able to find one for 500 bucks or less...am i wrong?

ive called local dealers, and watched the paper. nothing...

ideas??

John

Mith · Dec 16, 2004

look for japan import stuff - most come in with tillers and you may be able to get one cheap
as long as you dont want parts /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
mith

hwp · Dec 16, 2004

Have you tried looking for web sites listing used equipment. www.agdealer.com has mostly Canadian equipment but some US. I looked and found no tillers in Wisconsin - some in Ohio and some in Manitoba. I found a 42" Kubota tiller last spring at a nearby dealer. I paid $CDN400 for it. I then converted it from a 3ph to a front mount. It works great. The atachment shows how it turned out. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Inspector507 · Dec 16, 2004

Almost every Yanmar importer has tons of 4' Yanmar tillers. I pull one behind my NH and I love it.

Mith · Dec 17, 2004

i like the front mount - nice job /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Villengineer · Dec 17, 2004

Like posted previously check for a local "grey-market" tractor dealer/seller for a Yanmar or similar tiller. I bought a 53" and have been very pleased with it. They do often need shorter pto shafts and top-links and make sure you get a 3-pnt version and not a 2-pnt model unless you can modify it. FYI, I found that $500 was about the minimum you could purchase a decent tiller that wouldn't need a bunch of parts right away. I paid $650 for mine and I think based on other units I priced, including auctions, I got a bargain.

chriswheeler · Dec 17, 2004

I guess I lucked out and found a Howard HR8 that needed some work for $100. Needed some welding repairs and bearings. Had to invest some time ( about 8 hrs ) and about $36 in a seal and a bearing, and a $11 parts manual. Tractor has 33 hp and hardly knows it's there breaking fresh ground at full depth. Cut measures 55" wide and after repairs runs great. The other bit of luck was the 55" track just covers the tire tracks of the tractor. Was looking at gray market tillers at a local dealer when I stumbled on to this one that was grown into some brush near a job site I was working on. The dealer wanted $400-$750 for the grey market iron he had and at the time it didn't look like a bad deal. The Howard dealer said the tiller I bought retails for around $2000. I guess the point here is that I had been looking for one for almost a year going to auctions etc. Gray market is a option, but another is keep looking, you may just find what you want at a great price.
Chris

chriswheeler · Dec 20, 2004

There is a used John Deere on ebay now. It is a JD model 655, and it looks identical to my Howard HR8. Ebay item #
3860608974. There is also a small Yanmar there as well, but it looks real small. Not mine, but it looks worth looking at,
Chris