Tiller forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller

   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #11  
We broke our original garden - 80 x 120 - with the walk benind Troy Bilt Horse. Breaking the virgin ground wasn't real difficult. However - you had to keep a firm hand on the tiller. With forward rotating tines it liked to rare up and take off across the untilled land. I let the wife do it once - wish I would have had a movie camera. It rared up - took off - dragging a young, scared, mad woman behind. She finally got it under control - never asked to run it again.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #13  
There were other "weapons" much closer. Pitchfork - garden hoe. My saving grace - she didn't see me chuckling. I did come to her rescue. We both laughed when the "horse" was stopped.

That machine DOES have a propensity to rare up and take flight. It has a real liking for old buried barbed wire also. But I think most tillers have a liking for wire.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #14  
Kind of off thread but our garden is about 3/4 acre and I've always used a regular tiller. I own an older Troy Bilt too but since I bought a Cub Cadet with counter rotating tines, the TB just sits. It's sandy loam here so nothing is 'hard packed' and hard to work up. Glad of that.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #15  
I like the forward rotation the best, if there is a large something under the ground the tiller will pop up and climb it and not catch and break anything. So it will probably depend on what kind of soil you are tiling but I don't know of any advantage to reverse rotation.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #16  
Bottom line. With a forward rotating tiller - you could have two forces moving the tiller forward. The forward rotating tines and the wheels. With a counter rotating tiller - you will have one force holding the tiller in place - the counter rotating tines. Another force pulling the tiller forward - the wheels.

This assumes you have a tiller with powered wheels.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #17  
The tiller I use is a forward rotation and I don't have any issues with it. However, I use a moldboard plow to plow up the soil at the end of the year (usually to plow in a bunch of manure) and then use the tiller to level out the ground in the spring to make a seedbed. That works well. I do not have any issues with the tiller wanting to push the tractor ahead, but my tractor also weighs more than 10 times as much as the tiller and runs on loaded ag tires, so your mileage may vary depending on what you are using.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #18  
The king Kutter you had the link can be configured into a reverse tine tiller but it requires you to flip the gearbox on the tiller around so that run in reverse. Definitely doable but definitely not something that could be switched job to job.

Both tillers have their advantages. Reverse tine will give you an incredibly smooth and well worked seedbed in one pass. It also seems to do a better job of burying the surface debris then a forward tine.

Forward rotation is a lot more forgiving to the tractor but on really hard soils it might not want to dig and will take multiple passes. Hit anything hard the tiller will bounce right up over it. With a reverse rotation it is likely to stop you dead in your tracks.
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #19  
I run a 6 ft. County Line from Tractor Supply (Tarter maybe?) it's been too long. It's forward rotating and our soil is clay. I time it so the moisture is right or end up with big clay balls. Some years I till it 2 or 3 times in the spring, letting it dry out in between each time. I fill it will 90w each time I use it, it leaks a little.

Last year I broke new ground for a deer plot for the neighbor. It was slow going and all the 37 horse HST wanted.

Kevin
 
   / forward rotating models and reverse rotation tiller #20  
A reverse tiller is OK if there are no rocks around.
When people get a rock stuck in a reverse tiller a
lot of choice words seem to spew out cause its not
an easy task to remove the rocks jammed in the
tiller.

willy
 
 
 
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