Hey, what's the best walk behind tiller?

[Dargo]

I looked at a friend's Husky tiller and it doesn't say the HP anywhere. All it says on the B&S engine is that it has 9 ft. lbs. of torque. I can't relate to that. My diesel pickup has a thousand. Nine sounds extremely weak. But, there again, I'd imagine my pickup engine would power a heck of a tiller.

Is it common now to only list the torque? A cheapo I saw at Rual King had an 8 hp Briggs engine on it. Eric's Husky looked far better, but I wouldn't call it particularly high quality. He told me that it cost him $699 and came with a 2 year warranty. Would one like that hold up to my summer's plans for it? Even if it's under warranty, I don't want to spend my summer carting it back and forth for repairs and wasting time with it in the shop.

Thoughts from the tiller pro's?

 

[_RaT_]

I looked at a friend's Husky tiller and it doesn't say the HP anywhere. All it says on the B&S engine is that it has 9 ft. lbs. of torque. I can't relate to that. My diesel pickup has a thousand. Nine sounds extremely weak. But, there again, I'd imagine my pickup engine would power a heck of a tiller.

Is it common now to only list the torque? A cheapo I saw at Rual King had an 8 hp Briggs engine on it. Eric's Husky looked far better, but I wouldn't call it particularly high quality. He told me that it cost him $699 and came with a 2 year warranty. Would one like that hold up to my summer's plans for it? Even if it's under warranty, I don't want to spend my summer carting it back and forth for repairs and wasting time with it in the shop.

Thoughts from the tiller pro's?

Look at the shaft size. If memory serves me correct, you get a 1" with 8 HP and up otherwise its typically 3/4" and smaller.

 

[KentT]

I think this year that Briggs began rating their engines by torque, and not peak HP.

What was happening is that the engine manufacturers (or private-label in the case of Sears) would list peak HP and quite often the engine was governed/limited to where it would never produce that amount in normal operation. That's why you were seeing 6 to 7HP ratings on pushmowers that used to use 3.5 to 5 HP engines, for example...

Briggs changed their rating this year to measure the torque at 3060 RPM, not the 3600RPM where HP was measured, it SHOULD be a "usable HP" rating, instead of something inflated.

Do you remember when car manufacturers first started rating their engines in brake horsepower? This is something similar...

 

[Bird]

I think there was a time when the Troybilt was the standard by which tillers were judged. However, they were very expensive, and now may not be the same quality as the old ones. I noticed comments about the front tine tillers beating you to death. Yep, they sure will, just as a floor buffer will run away with you until you learn to use them and then the floor buffer and the front tine tillers are actually quite easy to use. They not longer make exactly the same model rear tine tiller that I bought in 1995, but this Craftsmans is the closest thing to it and I was very happy with it; easy to use, even with one hand, 17" tilling width.

 

[clarksvilleal]

Dargo - By Father's Day I expect to be the proud owner of a new BCS 853, with 30" tiller. See, last year for Mother's Day / Wife's Birthday / 35th Anniversary I splurged and surprised my better half a fancy, new-fangled Embroidery/Sewing machine to feed her hobby, that just happened to cost about as much as the BCS 853 (WITH attachments - ). So this is PAYBACK TIME !! She made the mistake of asking what I wanted for Father's Day , and I innocently said a new tiller. No problem, says she -- little did she know . She was assuming I was simply going to replace my aging, 35-year old mid-tine Merry Tiller with a newer one (which BTW now costs $1,200 with a Briggs, $1,500 with a Honda, believe it or not, from MacKissic). Eventually of course she did ask how much, and so I said - why dear, it will be no more than your Embroidery Machine She about fell off her chair , knowing roughly how much that was.

Well, to make a long story short, with the little lady's blessing, I ordered the BCS 853 yesterday from Joel at EarthTools. It has the 13 HP Honda engine, the 30" Tiller (convertible to 26"), 26" Flail Mower, 26" Brush Mower, Quick Hitches, 5" Wheel extensions, Hiller Furrower, and Tow Bar. If y'all are interested I'll post some pictures when it arrives - probably Friday (6/15). Then I'll give it a workout over the weekend and let you know how it goes. I was originally going to go with the 732 to save a few bucks, but decided that it wasn't worth it. The brakes were important to me, the extra weight give me more traction, the extra power should help the 30" tiller do its job, etc. So on balance it seemed to be worth the difference. Besides, I have never regretted getting a higher quality, more powerful tool, but I HAVE regretted getting a lesser one just to save money.

BTW, Dargo, I am a gardener (and avid one), with 5 acres to maintain, and so I expect to use the 853 a LOT, for doing a more organic style gardening, rotating several plots with cover crops and vegetables/strawberries with a 3- year cycle, adding & cultivating some rows of grape vines and super-dwarf fruit trees, etc. I will use the flail mower to chop up and incorporate cover crops and maybe other organic material like the mountain of leaves we get in the fall. I also plan to use it to maintain a wooded area with the brush mower. I may get a dozer blade at some point for moving dirt and light snow, but probably not the snowblower since I have a big 28" 11 HP Ariens unit that works real well.

Wish me luck. I hope the 853 is as good as I think it is, based on all of the reviews and forum posts I have seen.

Al

P.S. If you do decide to buy one, EarthTools is my choice of the best place to do it. They know their stuff, have good prices, and have most of the equipment in stock, unlike our local dealers. Joel was a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend them for anyone who doesn't have a good local dealer.

 

[DaddyRabbit]

If I had a 5 acre field you can believe that I'd be employing the use of a 3 point tiller. Sweeps would be a lot easier to go between your rows too. Nonetheless the BCS tiller is a brute of a walk behind that you'll enjoy for many yrs to come.

BTW, Dargo, I am a gardener (and avid one), with 5 acres to maintain,

 

[DaddyRabbit]

If you were closer to NC I'd sell you a TroyBilt Horse 8 hp Kohler w/electric start. It is one of the old ones w/less than 10 hrs use on it, just don't need it. BTW, beware of some pawn shop tillers, they're there for a reason.

Thanks for all the info so far. I think I'll prowl around a couple of local pawn shops tomorrow.

 

[bontai_Joe]

If used machinery doesn't scare you, how about a Gravely with tilling attachment? or one of the great garden tractors of the 1970's with a rear tiller? Both can be had for around $1000 in pretty good condition.

 

[_RaT_]

Dargo - By Father's Day I expect to be the proud owner of a new BCS 853, with 30" tiller. See, last year for Mother's Day / Wife's Birthday / 35th Anniversary I splurged and surprised my better half a fancy, new-fangled Embroidery/Sewing machine to feed her hobby, that just happened to cost about as much as the BCS 853 (WITH attachments - ). So this is PAYBACK TIME !! She made the mistake of asking what I wanted for Father's Day , and I innocently said a new tiller. No problem, says she -- little did she know . She was assuming I was simply going to replace my aging, 35-year old mid-tine Merry Tiller with a newer one (which BTW now costs $1,200 with a Briggs, $1,500 with a Honda, believe it or not, from MacKissic). Eventually of course she did ask how much, and so I said - why dear, it will be no more than your Embroidery Machine She about fell off her chair , knowing roughly how much that was.

Well, to make a long story short, with the little lady's blessing, I ordered the BCS 853 yesterday from Joel at EarthTools. It has the 13 HP Honda engine, the 30" Tiller (convertible to 26"), 26" Flail Mower, 26" Brush Mower, Quick Hitches, 5" Wheel extensions, Hiller Furrower, and Tow Bar. If y'all are interested I'll post some pictures when it arrives - probably Friday (6/15). Then I'll give it a workout over the weekend and let you know how it goes. I was originally going to go with the 732 to save a few bucks, but decided that it wasn't worth it. The brakes were important to me, the extra weight give me more traction, the extra power should help the 30" tiller do its job, etc. So on balance it seemed to be worth the difference. Besides, I have never regretted getting a higher quality, more powerful tool, but I HAVE regretted getting a lesser one just to save money.

BTW, Dargo, I am a gardener (and avid one), with 5 acres to maintain, and so I expect to use the 853 a LOT, for doing a more organic style gardening, rotating several plots with cover crops and vegetables/strawberries with a 3- year cycle, adding & cultivating some rows of grape vines and super-dwarf fruit trees, etc. I will use the flail mower to chop up and incorporate cover crops and maybe other organic material like the mountain of leaves we get in the fall. I also plan to use it to maintain a wooded area with the brush mower. I may get a dozer blade at some point for moving dirt and light snow, but probably not the snowblower since I have a big 28" 11 HP Ariens unit that works real well.

Wish me luck. I hope the 853 is as good as I think it is, based on all of the reviews and forum posts I have seen.

Al

P.S. If you do decide to buy one, EarthTools is my choice of the best place to do it. They know their stuff, have good prices, and have most of the equipment in stock, unlike our local dealers. Joel was a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend them for anyone who doesn't have a good local dealer.

Al, I'd like to see some pictures of your garden. Sounds super.

Here is another tiller besides the BCS. I think it has even more gusto. I've used this one.
Commercial industrial landscaping equipment - Tiller, Trenchers & More - Barreto Manufacturing, Inc. | La Grande, OR

 

[IllMarty1]

Just another hint to making your tilling easier. Spray sod with roundup a good 2-3 weeks before you till.

If you do this first, you might be able to use a cheaper but more readily available tiller.

Marty