Hey, what's the best walk behind tiller?

[art]

Not for nothing if it was a small area and I could still drive the tractor thru the area I'd probably have some teeth removed down to the size I need it before I'd drive any where!

 

[Dargo]

Thanks guys, now I'm just as confused as when I started.

One thing that may play a part in suggestions that I may not have mentioned in enough detail is that about 2000' (1000' twice) of what I intend to till smooth will be anywhere between a modest slope to really, really steep. At one area I got sort of lazy and got tired of hauling dirt for backfill. So the result is about a 5' wide area on a 45 degree slope. Yeah, I push mow that part but the lumps and bumps are brutal. By the time I finished with that backfill part I was so tired of the job that I just covered the area with grass seed, fertilizer and then straw. The grass has come up beautifully. Unfortunately, the darn fertilizer is doing it's thing as well.

What got me thinking was the post about being able to manhandle the tiller. Right now I can still flip a loaded 1000 pound rear tractor tire by myself, but I'm not getting any younger. As a matter of fact, my wife was the one who suggested I buy a fork lift a few years ago and stop acting like a human forklift. If I buy a really heavy tiller, will I regret it on the side of the steep places? The plus side is that I don't intend to till on a steep slope but this one time. Now that we've been in a draught I have had more time to fret over what tiller. I see no reason to till up soil that will turn to dust and require watering each day after I plant. Remember, the area I will be planting is really long and narrow.

Yeah, I know, give more details now. Sorry. Oh, BTW, don't waste your money on one of those little "claw" things if you have hard clay soil that is dry. I have some chunks that are bigger than a softball, but smaller than a bowling ball that I wanted to break up. I folded up the tip of a drop point spade trying to chop them up so I bought one of those claw things to try to work those out. I took back the two fingered claw thing that was once a 4 fingered claw later in the day I bought it.

I attached some pics of the driveway work for reference. In one shot you can see that I poured about 16" to 18" thick on a run up to the bridge. That is the area that is backfilled at a really steep angle. In another picture you can see just an average 8" thick area before backfill. And, in the last picture I just wanted to show one of the 3 pumper trucks they used for the 4 days of pouring 375 yards of concrete.

 

[milkman]

I'm not clear on how long or how much you will use a tiller, or how much your wife will use a tiller. Big and heavy, and hard to handle are not necessarily in the same package. Take a TB horse and try to till fresh plowed ground, the tires are close together and in that situation it is top heavy, take a BCS 7xx or 8xx in the same situation, the engine sets lower (crankshaft is in line with trans and tine driveshaft) tires are wider apart, the difference is night and day. They have a differential, when tilling down a row, the tiller can be shifted in and out between the plants with one hand, and at the end of the row, lift the handlebar and swing around, have to do it to see how easy they are to handle, "so easy a woman can do it". They are a lot of money so if you don't plan to use it a long time, you can probably get by with less money, and if you never use one you won't know the difference anyway.

 

[clarksvilleal]

Having used the BCS 853 with the 30" tiller for a whole weekend, I would add the following: the 853 is a great machine, but possibly too heavy for the average woman. It's not so much while you are tilling, esp. in a straight line. But for transporting to/from the work site, supporting the tiller off the ground takes a bit of strength, though by no means strong-man level. And when making very sharp turns, esp. when in an enclosed area (e.g., approaching a fence or wall), some muscle power seems necessary as you are trying to very quickly do a 90 or 180. So I would opt for the BCS 732 if a woman were going to use it in those circumstances. The 732 probably plenty powerful for what most people want to do - certainly more powerful and versatile than the biggest troy-bilt - with a lot less weight to muscle around on those sharp turns than the 853 (160 lbs. for the BCS 732, vs. 230 for the BCS 853, as I recall).

The differential is in my opinion absolutely one of the biggest advantages of the BCS 732 and up. (It's not available on the smaller BCS machines.) I would never get a walk-behind tractor or tiller of any kind without a differential, now that I have used one and seen the huge advantages first hand.

Speaking of tire width and center of gravity, another big advantage of the BCS is the variable tire width. BCS sells wheel extenders that can bring the wheel width out wider - up to at least 12" wider than the standard width. I got 5" extenders which puts my wheel width at 27", although with different mounting of the wheels I can go up to 30", as I recall. They even have a variable-width wheel extender set that varies the additional width from +4" to +8". Bottom line is that the BCS can be made as stable as you want for dealing with sloping ground when you need to, and then brough back to normal when you're on level ground.

Regards,
Al

P.S. If you join Yahoo Group "BCS_Users" you can see photos of my new BCS 853 along with others' BCS machines, and read some of the comments and questions as well as interact with the BCS users who are in the group. Here is the LinK

BCS_Users : BCS_Users

I'm not clear on how long or how much you will use a tiller, or how much your wife will use a tiller. Big and heavy, and hard to handle are not necessarily in the same package. Take a TB horse and try to till fresh plowed ground, the tires are close together and in that situation it is top heavy, take a BCS 7xx or 8xx in the same situation, the engine sets lower (crankshaft is in line with trans and tine driveshaft) tires are wider apart, the difference is night and day. They have a differential, when tilling down a row, the tiller can be shifted in and out between the plants with one hand, and at the end of the row, lift the handlebar and swing around, have to do it to see how easy they are to handle, "so easy a woman can do it". They are a lot of money so if you don't plan to use it a long time, you can probably get by with less money, and if you never use one you won't know the difference anyway.

 

[pshonore]

I'd second the person who suggested a Gravely. They're relatively cheap and lots of them around. They take all kinds of attachments as well (snow blowers, rotary mowers, sickle bars etc.)For new ground I'd use their Rotary Plow and the cultivator for existing gardens. Be aware they are very heavy and the older ones lack safety devices (that's good sometimes, but bad at other times).

pshonore

 

[dmccarty]

Dargo,

DR has a tiller for $1,100. Its got a Briggs engine on it. I don't have one but I'm looking to get a tiller next year.

Later,
Dan

 

[Dargo]

Thanks guys. I've looked at and looked up several tillers now, but I've never had a chance to actually use any tiller. My ground is rock hard right now and I plan on doing my major tilling work later this summer. Has anyone tilled really hard clay soil with a walk behind tiller? I've done a lot of things and have operated so many pieces of large equipment, but I've never used a little walk behind tiller. I feel almost foolish pondering so much about just buying a darn little tiller. Sometimes I think I ought to just go buy one, but I don't want to buy a "junk" one that might not do what I need. If so, I will have wasted $800 to $1000 or so since it seems that the used cheapo tillers can be had for a hundred bucks or two at pawn shops. I've always been in control and known exactly what to look for, what I need, and what prices to expect on buying equipment. Now on a silly little garden tiller I feel lost.

The job I'm going to do first with one later this summer may end up being big enough to kill a really light weight tiller, so I've pretty well crossed off the $400 cheapo tillers at the big box stores. Other than that....???

 

[aesanders]

I have a BCS 830 ( similar to an 853 size wise but with a smaller motor 9hp) It's a great machine. I bought mine used for well under half what they go for new. Still about as much as a new Troy Horse but better in many ways. The only tiller I would say definatley tops the BCS is the Barreto. Now that is a beast. All hydraulicaly operated and weighs double what the BCS weighs. The BCS s way more versatile though as you can put all kinds of attachments on it. I sure don't need anymore than the BC offers.

Have you considered rentng oe to get the bulk of the material done. I also have a mini tiller that goes on the end of my ECHO PAs 260. It's not for breaking new ground but does a good job of already loose soil I use it plant beds and between rows in my garden. It works great for those light duty jobs that I don't want to bust out the ole BCS.

I have a couple pictures of my BCS listed below under my pictures 'page 2' of interested.

 

[milkman]

Dargo, here's a ride behind tiller, the BCS has a tiller transport wheel that is a caster wheel that goes under the flap behind the tines and also a transport sulky when you have the tiller and the transport wheel attached. I have the transport wheel and the mower sulky and after about an hour in the garage with some scraps and a lot of noise, I now have a transport sulky/tillerrider sulky. Still have some tweaking to do before I paint it.

 

[Dargo]

Okay, y'all can pick on me now. The boss told me that I was to till the garden now! All the used ones I saw in my local paper and at the pawn shops were cheap ones when new. So, since I had to get one now, I went ahead and picked up a Cub Cadet tiller at Home Depot.

Yeah, I know; I went cheap. It wasn't just too cheap hopefully. It is powered by a Honda 5.5 hp engine, has tines that turn either way and has reverse. It also had taller tires than most all of the others I saw in person. Oh, duh, before I forget, it came with a 3 year mfg warranty as well and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.

It did a relatively decent job tilling her a garden. I can see where having a regular differential would be nice as well as a little more power and weight. I came close to just tilling her a garden with my 7' PTO tiller and not worrying about buying a stand alone tiller until later. It just got too late in the day and my 7' tiller is up on a pallet rack. I would have had to get it down and hook it up before I could use it. That would have involved moving 3 or 4 cars around to get as well. Anyway, that's what I got. Hopefully it will be okay for what I need. After my main job next to the driveway, I will only use it a few times a year.