Tiller Has anyone used the new King Kutter reverse rotation tiller?

[schillbilly]

I thought I had made my mind up to buy the Kodiak 6 foot rotary tiller, then saw where King Kutter now sells a Reverse rotation tiller. Has anyone used one? Gotta be a little leary of a new product that may not have the bugs worked out?
We have some rocks, but not very many, as we normally plant the same areas. We plant our fall food plots pretty heavy, which leaves a very thick blanket of vegetation to till up the next spring. I have a 800 pound fairly new disc harrow, but it takes 4 to 6 passes to break it up nicely, and still have some vegetation on the surface. The garden spots aren't nearly as much trouble to till up.
I have a Kubota MX5100 2 wheel drive tractor. 44 HP PTO.

Is soil dampness much more of a problem for the reverse rotation? I plant one area in a bottom really holds moisture.

 

[BukitCase]

When I was researching tillers for my 45 horse Long 460, there weren't many reverse rotation ones that came up - but at least one (east coast, so not a good deal for me) mentioned that a reverse rotation tiller tends to need quite a bit more power per foot of width than a forward rotation one.

My tractor could use a slightly slower lowest gear, but I wouldn't want any more load that the 6 foot forward rotating tiller provides. This is especially true in sod or heavy clay, both of which I have ample

My tiller is a Priefert 6 foot - 6 tines per flange, all gear drive, forward rotation, weighs 784 pounds, came with clutch PTO shaft.

I guess if you had a slow enough tiller gear, a 45 horse tractor might get by with a 6 foot reverse rotation model - but I'd be a bit skeptical... Steve

 

[schillbilly]

Well, that stinks, but makes perfect sense that reverse rotation would require more HP to pull. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Don87]

Your tractor will operate that reverse tine tiller just fine.

I had a 30" reverse rotation on my old Cub Cadet 2160 L&G, it was belt drive.


EDIT: to answer your other question, soil dampness never made any difference between forward or reverse tilling in my ground.

 

[BukitCase]

Went looking for the site I'd seen the comments I mentioned, and (of course) couldn't find it - did notice that at least some of the reverse rotation ones are chain drive (think it was landpride), and saw some negative comments about rocky soil and reverse tine -

Lowest speed on my old Long 460 is 1.6 mph, would prefer about 1.0 with a tiller but it's what I have

TractorData.com Long 460 tractor transmission information

Sounds like your Kubota may be much better at tilling

TractorData.com Kubota MX5100 tractor transmission information

All things considered, I agree with Don - for your application. In my case though, with a gear drive tranny and too fast first gear I'm gonna stick with the tiller I bought. I can live with 3 passes in new sod since it's 6 foot, covers both tires, and I'm only doing about 40 x 100 foot area.

Good luck... Steve

 

[schillbilly]

Thanks for the help. A local John Deere dealer (30 miles away) has a 6 ft reverse rotation Taylor Pittsburgh, pretty much a King Kutter, from what information I can gather. I'm thinking its wothwhile to haul my tractor there and make sure the PTO fit is right and everything works properly. That way, they can cut the PTO shaft, if needed.