Vines tangled up in tiller

TractorGuy · Oct 21, 2020

cqaigy2 said:
Maybe mow first?

This is probably the best idea. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.

That said, we always want to do the least work we can get by with and the tiller has no problems eating up the vines and stuff in the tines. It remains perfectly clean all the way across the tine area. It's just the end tabs that grab and wrap.

I think I will take a grinder to them and try sharpening the leading edges. These tabs are dang near 1/2" thick so they won't be easily modified.

oldballs · Oct 21, 2020

Although I've owned only one tiller (54 inch Land Pride), I don't have such tabs nor noticed such tabs on pics of other brands. The tabs sure look to be a purposeful design and quite stout. I wonder what the manufacturer's intent is??? What brand is your tiller?.... just curious.

Cheers,
Mike

TractorGuy · Oct 21, 2020

oldballs said:
Although I've owned only one tiller (54 inch Land Pride), I don't have such tabs nor noticed such tabs on pics of other brands. The tabs sure look to be a purposeful design and quite stout. I wonder what the manufacturer's intent is??? What brand is your tiller?.... just curious.

Cheers,
Mike

It's a Country Way from Rural King.

I have seen photos of these on other brands. They were obviously supposed to protect the outer seals but they seem to do the opposite.

cqaigy2 · Oct 21, 2020

Nice picture.

I've seen that tab on a few other tillers both big and small. I have that design on my small hand tiller with the same issues with grass and such wrapping up around and decreasing the life time of the seals. I put another piece of pipe, just a bit larger, then the spindle, that sits loose, and spans across where the tang is attached to span across the margin of seal. Time will tell how successful that is.

Industrial Toys · Oct 21, 2020

Used my Mantis a few weeks ago. Had to take the tines off three times to address the wrapped up vines.

KennyG · Oct 21, 2020

Industrial Toys said:
Used my Mantis a few weeks ago. Had to take the tines off three times to address the wrapped up vines.

The great thing about the Mantis is that you only have to pull a couple of pins and the tines come right off and clean in a minute or so. Unfortunately, I think most of the users of this forum are looking at something a lot bigger than a Mantis. :laughing:

Industrial Toys · Oct 21, 2020

The ground wasn't terribly dry and the thing was just one heavy clod!

TractorGuy · Nov 12, 2020

This is a follow up on the modification I made that seemed to help. I cut some pieces from the center of a mower blade and welded them onto the tabs. I initially made rectangles then I split them holding the plasma torch at and angle to make a serrated cutting edge. I made them stick out closer to the hub and welded them to the underside of the tabs.

I took it through my dried up zinnia garden to test it.

One side of the tiller stayed clean at the hub and the other side had some weeds wrapped. The side that had weeds on it was way less trouble to clear and none were wrapped around the seal area. I basically just rotated the tines and pulled them out. Most of what I cleaned off was just caught in the skid.

I am still learning to use it. After a couple of digging passes I made a quick pass with the tiller skids set right at the surface. That seems to clear up the ruts from the skids and left a smoother looking finish.