Tiller Help! Clay packed into tiller tines

[Beeenvenue]

I am in North Texas with heavy black land clay. My 5 tiller did fine last summer with dry soil. I wanted to be able to plant this spring so I tried an acre that was very wet back in February. Now my tiller is absolutely packed with clay.

While it was still wet and gooey I tried to dig it out with a hand garden shovel, a small crowbar, you name it. Very little luck. I let it dry and got about 1-2 times clear with hours of manual labor. My last thought was to try again where I have some clay that has dried out and see if the act of tilling might dislodge the mess. That worked for more tines but I still have the center 4 tines in bad shape.

Anybody face this before? Remedies?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I do custom tilling, but I would NEVER try to till soil that was that wet, basically mud!

So NO, I never have had that problem before, that's called operator error...

SR

 

[Beeenvenue]

Yeah well a) I’m new at this and b) has no choice. Rainy winter and early spring and I had a field I had to try to get in (clover for bees)

 

[MossRoad]

I am in North Texas with heavy black land clay. My 5 tiller did fine last summer with dry soil. I wanted to be able to plant this spring so I tried an acre that was very wet back in February. Now my tiller is absolutely packed with clay.

While it was still wet and gooey I tried to dig it out with a hand garden shovel, a small crowbar, you name it. Very little luck. I let it dry and got about 1-2 times clear with hours of manual labor. My last thought was to try again where I have some clay that has dried out and see if the act of tilling might dislodge the mess. That worked for more tines but I still have the center 4 tines in bad shape.

Anybody face this before? Remedies?

Since you're asking for help to clear the tiller and not criticism.... have you tried a power washer?

 

[DIYOrangeDave]

Pressure washer would be what I would use.

 

[ptsg]

Try play with different settings, like different ground speeds and with the tail gate open so it throws the soil back instead of keep packing up the rotor. Also with the height settings.

We were all new to this and needed to start somewhere but very few people are willing to admit that as you can see in one of the posts. Don't get discouraged by that.

I'm guessing the rice farms all over the world are doing it wrong since the till their soils completely under mud.

 

[oosik]

My problems was limbs and ancient barbed wire. I'd uses a pressure washer on packed-in clay.

 

[fried1765]

Try play with different settings, like different ground speeds and with the tail gate open so it throws the soil back instead of keep packing up the rotor. Also with the height settings.

We were all new to this and needed to start somewhere but very few people are willing to admit that as you can see in one of the posts. Don't get discouraged by that.

I'm guessing the rice farms all over the world are doing it wrong since the till their soils completely under mud.

YUP!...... MILLIONS of small farmers throughout Asia, use walk behind tillers, or small tractors w/tillers, in their muddy rice fields!
Knee high rubber boots, and the coolie style bamboo/straw hats are the fashion.

 

[bullbreaker]

While it was still wet and gooey I tried to dig it out with a hand garden shovel, a small crowbar, you name it.

I"am sure or at least hope so in your attempts to free mud etc from tiller when you have had it propped up on your three point hitch you have or are useing jack stands etc as "safety" support in case rear hydraulics come slaming down on you .
As a TBN secret safety officer just thought I would mention it .

 

[Beeenvenue]

Thanks for all the encouragement (from most of you). Op error? Perhaps but not unsafe and really no choice given timing and circumstances. Even now I’d try it again if I was in the same situation esp if power washing works and I could do some, wash, and resume.

New land without power or water so I have to haul the tiller home to powerwash - that was my thought but thought I’d ask first in case that doesn’t work or if there was another way.

Safety - all manual efforts were while the tiller was On the ground, off the machine, Resting on its tines and front leg. No issue there.