Convert walk behind tiller to ride behind?

[docrocky]

At 77yrs. I am have some difficulty cultivating the weeds with one of my several different tillers. I have been putting in a massive garden each year approximately 45 ft. wide and over 400 feet long. I take all the produce to church kitchens and to a number of food banks. I have black sandy loam and the garden prep is easily handled with the plow, disk and then I fine tone with a 5 ft. pto roto tiller. Example , I put in 150 tomato plants, 100 watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew plus anything I think people want. I usually space the rows at 28 inches and the individual rows are 25 feet long. I also plant sweet corn in sections of 4 rows, 25 feet long and have separate sections for the white, bi-color and the yellow. I repeat the 3 section plantings of the corn every 7 to 10 days, so the corn ripening is staggered.

I have in the past cultivated for the emerging weeds by using either a 20" rear tine tiller or I have front tillers of 16 and 24 inches. The lower back can't handle the long walks anymore. I tried a variety of 2 row cultivators that are pull behind but I chew up too many plants because I can't turn the head and neck easily to see what I am doing behind me.
I have smaller garden tractors such as a Bolens QT 16, Cub Cadet and Sears SubUrban 10 all with rear tillers but the widths are 36" and won't go thru my narrower rows.

Question: Has any one run across a front tine tiller where someone has put a riding device behind it? At first i though of a simple motorized unit such as as a rear end of a Moped, then I thought of a simple bicycle with pedaling to assist the tiller forward. I tried a simple scully seat attached to the rear of my Husky rear time tiller but at 7 HP it seemed to give the transmission difficulty. Is there a riding lawn mower that has no greater than a 20 width? I have the impression that a front tiner tiller almost pulls itself, especially if you are only surface scimming the weeds. I want to keep the tines in front of me where I can see them. will be greatly

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
DocRocky...95th. Evac Hosp. DaNang RVN...1969

 

[Soundguy]

you might look at some gravely stuff...

 

[herringchoker]

When I was a teenager (50 years ago ) we always had a huge garden. My father bought a brand new 5 HP front tine tiller. The first thing he did was get a spare set of tine flanges and make a set of wooden wheels that he bolted to the flanges. He nailed the tread from a blown snow tire to the wheels for traction. We could then swap the wheels with the outer tines to make a small slow puller. We used this to tow a utility trailer (about 6' long, with the axle from a small car) all around the property. The trailer was hooked to the top of the depth gauge at the rear of the tiller. I used it a lot. It worked well IF I centered the load over or just behind the trailer axle so as to not put weight on the trailer tongue (and the rear of the tiller) and thus transfer weight away from the drive wheels on the front of the tiller. I walked alongside the tongue and would lift on the tiller handle bars to transfer weight ahead if the wheels spun.

I don't know how much traction you would get with the tines in loose soil. It just might work for you, but it would probably take a lot of trial and error to get the weight balanced right. I think you would need flotation tires on the trailer. As Soundguy says, you might be further ahead to look at some Gravely products.

Different situation, but I hope this helps.