Will my tractor damage neighbor’s rototiller?

[Code54]

I ran a 42" on my 50hp before. I normally used it on BX but had to till a garden a fair distance away and the BX is too slow on the road.
It worked fine. I did have a slip clutch on mine and set it on the light side just in case I caught something and jammed it up.

 

[RickB]

Clearly the neighbor hasn't learned to not loan out his PTO powered implements, especially to someone with 2-3 times the hp he has. That's not a lesson you want to help him learn.

 

[oosik]

There is an excellent chance that the tiller will be damaged.

If not - why would implements be power rated.

Keep your neighbor as a friend - turn down his kind offer. The reason - you are concerned about damage to his tiller.

You want to till two areas that big - purchase your own tiller that matches your tractor.

 

[Unclewillie]

Hi everyone. I have a fairly large JD utility tractor - 65hp with 55hp at the PTO. I need to rototill two areas that are each 1/2 to 3/4 ac. My neighbor offered me use of his new 4’ rototiller that he bought with a new JD 1025R, so pretty small. I’m just wondering if it would damage his rototiller to run it on my tractor. If the worst case scenario would possibly be a shear pin that probably wouldn’t be a big deal but I’m just afraid to take him on his offer and ruin his tiller. Any thoughts?

Long as the land has been used for a garden before and the pto speed is lowest 540 I can't see there being any issues, but if it's new garden I would be concerned of roots,rocks,pipes, etc., That could do some real damage. And your tire tracks will likely over lap and pack down what the row.

 

[devodad]

why not just let the neighbor do it with the 1025r, he's prolly excited to use it

I guess because he didn’t offer to do it for me. Just that I could borrow his tiller. I told him it might be too small but I guess he doesn’t think so. I’ve done many favors for the family in the past and I think he just feels like he owes me but I don’t help friends or neighbors expecting anything more than a thanks in return. I may figure out a way to ask him if he’d rather do it with his new tractor. It’s just kind of awkward asking him to do my work and put hours on his new machine.

 

[devodad]

Long as the land has been used for a garden before and the pto speed is lowest 540 I can't see there being any issues, but if it's new garden I would be concerned of roots,rocks,pipes, etc., That could do some real damage. And your tire tracks will likely over lap and pack down what the row.

Thanks. It’s been tilled before but with a hand tiller and it was a lot to do in my late 60’s

 

[devodad]

Ok thanks a lot. I kinda figured I could hurt his new tiller but I thought maybe it wasn’t that big a deal since at least one of the areas has been tilled before but not in several years. Better safe than sorry though. I had been saving up for a 6ft tiller but when he offered his I guess I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him his probably wouldn’t be enough machine. But I guess it’s not that it isn’t good enough, rather it is not a match for my tractor. I’ll just have to get a larger unit for myself. I appreciate all the various points of view. I was saving for a 6-ft EA unit but as you probably know they’re not cheap. I just didn’t want to wait ‘til I can afford to pay for the new one. I’ll just disc it this year. Thanks again

 

[Jim Shooz]

Swap tractors for a couple of days.

 

[CobyRupert]

Swap tractors for a couple of days.

What?! You want to borrow my tractor. No ******* way! You’d have better luck asking to swap….…something else for a couple days.

(IMO) If the tiller has a shear bolt or PTO slip clutch it will be fine.
The slip clutch or shear bolt limit the amount of torque the tiller gets and will be be sized to protect the tiller’s gear box. Make sure they are correctly sized and operational. (Note: At a reduced rpm, the bigger tractor may be putting less horsepower (and heat) into the tiller’s gearbox than the little tractor at 540 rpm).

(IMO) I think the real danger is having a small tractor on a big tiller where the shear bolt protects the tiller but not the tractor.

 

[the old grind]

The tiller will only use what hp is required to operate, not all the hp/torque you have. That might take a stall situation w/o a shear pin or slip clutch on the PTO shaft. A chance to show the owner how to use the tiller on his own tractor?