Forward vs Reverse rotation tiller?

[CoyPatton]

I changed my tiller to reverse, this model required flipping the gear box over and rotating 180 degrees to the front.
Same power needed, much finer tilling needing only one pass at crawl speed.
Another benefit is the tines will get under a rock and easily lift it up and out rather than bounce off the rock.
I also offset the tiller to behind the right tractor wheel, leaving no tire compressed ground.

“Benefit is tines get under rock and lift it out” not a benefit if rock gets jammed! Been there did that. Once had to remove several tines to get the in my case a chuck of root out. To each there own, but reverse offers few benefits and not enough to justify the extra cost in my opinion.

 

[Phil Timmons]

I'm in the market for a tiller, would use to plant food plots and garden. Tractor is a Yanmar YT359c so 52 PTO HP. I'm planning on a DirtDog tiller from local Yanmar dealer, trying to decide between 6' and 7', forward or reverse rotation. Working width on the 6' is exactly the same as tractor width, which has me leaning toward the 7'. I had a 3point tiller in the past on a smaller tractor that was reverse rotation and really liked it. Question is whether or not the tractor has enough HP for a 7' reverse rotation? DirtDog recommends 45 min hp for the 7', but they don't distinguish hp differences between forward and reverse and I know reverse takes more power.

I have more questions than answers for you. ;P First, this is the same basic equipment but you select the rotation? Do you have to reverse the blades to counter-rotation? As you probably know a BIG issue is what is in the soil. Hard soil or obstacles in Reverse Rotation beat on you and the equipment. As you also probably know, Forward Rotation tends to self-lift or "climb" over obstacles (e.g. Big Rocks). If you are trying to get a very smooth seed bed, do you have the option of making two passes? First run a deep pass Forward -- that clears the obstacles in the upper range. Second pass run Reverse but shallow(er) that allows you to fine till the upper layer.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

My suggestion is get the forward tiller and if you need a finer finish, drive in reverse.
I build football fields and I have done this many times.
I will make the first pass with my tractor in forward and the second pass in reverse. You may need to tilt the tiller forward a bit to go in reverse with the top link. Also, when going in reverse the tiller will want to go deeper, so I just watch my depth and adjust with the 3point as needed.
And the reverse rotating tillers seem to be significantly more expensive.
We don't have any rocks in our soil, so that is not a concern.

 

[Torvy]

I've been researching tillers as well.

Most of my soil is just sandy loam. We do have some spots will some large ferrous rocks, too.

A few brands/models offer the ability to change the rotation. It isn't just a switch, iirc. You need to change the gears/belts manually to switch.

In my head, this makes more sense for me. The best of both worlds.

I'd only go for the wider tiller if you are actually going to be doing large fields all in one go. As long as you are wider than your tracks (or offset), the time you save with a wider tiller will likely be lost by slowing you down. I generally prefer to be closer to the midpoint of specs than on the fringes. It's not about if your tractor can use it. It's more about how efficiently it can do so.

In my case, the tilling will happen in multiple places all less than an acre or two each. I have a wee bit less HP, and 6' is just a bit wider than my stance.

 

[Phil Timmons]

My suggestion is get the forward tiller and if you need a finer finish, drive in reverse.
I build football fields and I have done this many times.
I will make the first pass with my tractor in forward and the second pass in reverse. You may need to tilt the tiller forward a bit to go in reverse with the top link. Also, when going in reverse the tiller will want to go deeper, so I just watch my depth and adjust with the 3point as needed.
And the reverse rotating tillers seem to be significantly more expensive.
We don't have any rocks in our soil, so that is not a concern.

"We just drive backwards" A+

So South Louisiana. I love this place. ;P

 

[Sawyer Rob]

All of mine are forward, and that's the direction I much prefer.

SR

 

[bgr]

Just to throw in another variable for you, on many forward rotation tillers you buy new, you have an option to specify tiller hubs which have 4 tines or 6 tines per side. The 6 tine option gives a bit finer grind and texture to the finished pass. The 6 tine option also gives a little less room to catch and jam large rocks into the tines, they jump over the rock instead. I have a 65 inch 6 tine LandPride HD tiller for a 35 hp PTO tractor which has worked well for me in soil with some rocks in it in MA.

As I understand reverse tine tillers, they are supposed to really stir up the tilled soil as it passes over the the top of the tines inside the tiller case allowing heavier items like small rocks to drop down to the bottom of the tiller path while the finer soil particles stay aloft longer and fall on top of the trash. This is supposed to leave a 2-3 inch layer of clean soil on top of the rocks and trash buried underneath. The people who do lawn renovations like the reverse tine tillers because they get rid of a lot of the small stones which would have to be picked up by power raking before seeding the lawn. (Where I live, that would be a big pile of rocks) Some reverse tine tillers have a set of spring fingers on the top of the case at the back side which knock the larger particles down while the fines go through the fingers and land on top.

Whatever you do with a tiller, it is good to remember that the crops you are planting, like every other plant, have specially adapted bacteria and fungus species which grow in the soil around the plant roots and supply many of the nutrients which the plant needs in exchange for carbohydrates and sugars produced by the plant. The plant can grow without its "helpers", but it does a lot better with them. If you rototill heavily every year, you break up the fungal/bacteria communities your crops are trying to establish, and they won't do as well. It is worth reading about no till farming to understand this better.

 

[lej]

I'm in the market for a tiller, would use to plant food plots and garden. Tractor is a Yanmar YT359c so 52 PTO HP. I'm planning on a DirtDog tiller from local Yanmar dealer, trying to decide between 6' and 7', forward or reverse rotation. Working width on the 6' is exactly the same as tractor width, which has me leaning toward the 7'. I had a 3point tiller in the past on a smaller tractor that was reverse rotation and really liked it. Question is whether or not the tractor has enough HP for a 7' reverse rotation? DirtDog recommends 45 min hp for the 7', but they don't distinguish hp differences between forward and reverse and I know reverse takes more power.

I have a 6’ county line tiller that can be forward or reverse. I have it forward and does a good job. Tillers take a lot of power. This is the only piece of equipment that I have to run my tractor wide open. I have a 40hp tractor.

 

[lej]

I have a 6’ county line tiller that can be forward or reverse. I use forward with good results. I will say this is the only piece of equipment that I have to run my 40 hp wide open as the tiller takes a lot of power.

 

[brewdog]

If you have rocky soil, you are better with a forward rotation. Forward rotation is much more forgiving on rocky soil (softball size rocks). If your soil is fairly rock free, the reverse rotation leaves a smoother and more pulverized finish on the first pass. I have a reverse tiller but after years of stalling it on round rocks, I’ve managed to rake 99% of them out of the garden. Should of bought the forward rotation model. Live and learn.