Pto Tiller choices

[ehcrain]

Looking to purchase a 5' or 6' pto tiller to go with my l3901. Use would start with breaking ground for food plots and maintaining a garden in the future. Soil type is loam with few rocks of any size larger than a golf ball.
Would you go 6' or 5'? Any brands that you can recommend to avoid or have great experience with?

 

[jeff9366]

Rototillers with forward rotating tines require little power to operate.

Buy six foot width.

Land Pride makes high quality tillers.

Why are "C" tiller tines different from "L" shaped tines?

There is a difference but I have no idea. Are they easier on the machine or leave a better seedbed or less aggressive? It must be something. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks in advance.

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[John Atkisson]

I run a 5ft King Kutter behind my Kubota bx 25d - plenty of power even in my rocky New England soil. The thing is a tank- thick steel throughout, hard to imagine damaging it.

 

[wirlybird]

I use a 4 foot Tar River behind a John Deere X585 and it performs well. Very solid gear drive tiller.

 

[Zebrafive]

A friend has a 6' Tartar (sold by TSC). Only failure has been gear box seals. He replaced and put in "corn head" grease.
When putting in the new input shaft seal, he found a snap ring broken (poor design in my opinion). He said it must have been his fault for operating with the PTO shaft too long, putting pressure on the snap ring.

 

[jeff9366]

I have owned King Cutter implements.

I have shopped Tractor Supply's CountyLine/Tarter implements many times. In the last eight years have only purchased a Tarter Boom Pole and a mat Chain Harrow from TSC.

I my opinion King Kutter implements are several increments higher quality than Tarter implements.

 

[ruffdog]

I use a standard 5' KK tiller in nice rockless soil. I have taken off the shoes so it can go deep. No problems and I would buy again.

 

[CoyPatton]

Looking to purchase a 5' or 6' pto tiller to go with my l3901. Use would start with breaking ground for food plots and maintaining a garden in the future. Soil type is loam with few rocks of any size larger than a golf ball.
Would you go 6' or 5'? Any brands that you can recommend to avoid or have great experience with?

If your food plots are in wooded areas, let the width of your access points, turns especially determine your width. For every 6” wider on each side, your space to turn especially tight turns increases quite a bit.
If this is a non issue, I would go with wider (6’) as you will enjoy the time difference to get the job complete quicker with an additional foot tilled with each pass.
I would never suggest narrower that the tread width of your rear tires.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I got a Terra force ER062 from a local dealer a few months ago, haven't had a chance to really use it, just a short test patch in the yard once I cut the PTO to length (I plan to excavate there for a slab soon). From my research, they seem to be well regarded and it's also a brand sold by EA, so I figure they must be pretty good for EA to sell them.

 

[ehcrain]

Currently thinking about this unit from agrisupply, they are local to me and i know that parts should be available through them.

Rotary Tiller, Rototiller, Tillovator | Agri Supply 77711

Start tilling with this gear driven rotary tiller. The tiller is 6 foot wide and comes equipped with a PTO shaft and Cat. 1 quick hitch.

www.agrisupply.com

 

[nybirdman]

1,000+ hours on my Bush-Hog branded tiller;broke the chain last year;easy fix and back running as normal.We have "lots" of rocks and it has held up very well.Make sure the slip clutch is serviced every spring.
Purchased new in 2004 and has been used on three tractors.

 

[ehcrain]

Picked up the one from agrisupply and ran it today, very happy to have the 6 foot behind my 3901.

 

[Williy]

I have a woods 72 inch tiller I don't think you could wear one
out in your life time as they are so well made

willy

 

[Forky]

I have a Land Pride RTA1258 that I run with my L2501. It's a beast and does a wonderful job. In new areas I scrape with the box blade first to eliminate all the tall grass and small brush. Three passes on heavy ground and it's good to go for planting.

 

[fried1765]

I have owned King Cutter implements.

I have shopped Tractor Supply's CountyLine/Tarter implements many times. In the last eight years have only purchased a Tarter Boom Pole and a mat Chain Harrow from TSC.

I my opinion King Kutter implements are several increments higher quality than Tarter implements.

Agreed!
King Kutter tillers are indeed several quality level increments above the Tarter Gate stuff that TSC sells.
Usually the best prices on KK tillers are from Blain's Farm and Fleet, even with their shipping added.
The 60" KK tiller is currently $1799.99 at Blain's.
I live 1,000 miles from Blaine's, but as an example...... shipping to me would be $260.

All that said.....Agri Supply is a great company to do business with, and they stand solidly behind their products.
I have bought from Agri Supply in the past, and would not hesitate to do so again.
Their 67" "Tillovator" is $240 more than the 60" KK (Blain's) though, and in my opinion, the KK is definitely better built!

 

[TractorGuy]

Picked up the one from agrisupply and ran it today, very happy to have the 6 foot behind my 3901.

Make sure and check it over good. I'm pretty sure it's the same china made tiller I bought from Rural King but RK was about $300 cheaper last year when I got it.

Everything was loose on the one I got. It's a pretty substantial piece of equipment but there was zero service after the sale from RK or their supplier they sent me to.

Mine is either missing the output shaft seal or it's leaking. The manual says to fill the PTO gearbox halfway full which would be about 3" deep in oil. If I put that much oil in it it keeps draining into the side gearbox and over filling it. It seems like it will maintain just under 2" of oil so I'm leaving it at that and hoping for the best.

The slip clutch on my driveshaft was tightened all the way down and rusted together. Make sure you at least loosen the bolts on yours and spin it then reset it. I tightened the nuts on mine just one turn past flush with the ends of the bolts. Scribe a line across the two halves and check later to see if they are still lined up. They should get misaligned if you hit something. This is VERY IMPORTANT!

I'm sure this part was a fluke but the flap rod on mine had been put under the center guide hole. It bent down and got hung in one of the tines. I was able to straighten it and get it back in like it should have been.

Grease the right side bearing.

Keep check on the shaft if you operate in any vines. Mine would tangle up wads of vines and weeds around the shaft seals. I cut some short pieces of mower blades and welded onto my hubs to keep that from happening. So far it has worked well.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I got a Terra force ER062 from a local dealer a few months ago, haven't had a chance to really use it, just a short test patch in the yard once I cut the PTO to length (I plan to excavate there for a slab soon). From my research, they seem to be well regarded and it's also a brand sold by EA, so I figure they must be pretty good for EA to sell them.

I used the tiller to loosen the soil for digging out the slab and to till up a low, rough poor draining area of the back yard. I then spread some seasoned horse manure and some sand over the area and tilled that in. That should help it drain better and help the grass grow back better. I just need to smooth it out better with a drag when weather and time permits. 3/4" of rain dumped on us in 30 minutes around 6pm last night.

It did a great job tilling right through the sod and the black clay we have. I figured out you can actually go too slow and it causes it to jump and shake when it bites new sod but there isn't enough material in the rest of the tines to work. I just sped up a little and it keeps it churning away smoothly.