Howard Selectatilth question
- Thread starter tsherry
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if your 3 point will pick it up you should be okay. Mine in the back yard is very heavy but I am not sure of the model. Your 9n has to fast of ground speed I believe. The Howards are a very well built tiller and you may be able to change the gearing. Ran mine behind a 1650 Oliver so size may be a problem.
Arc weld
Veteran Member
Not a chance! The original Howards with the selectatilth gearbox were the best tillers ever made but they were very heavy duty and needed power. I think the front wheels on an 8N would be 3 ft. in the air lifting an original Howard. The smallest was the model P. It was pretty much designed to run on an MF 135 with 38.5 PTO HP. Even with a slow speed gearbox it's way too much for an 8N. In heavy tilling Howard would recommend 10 HP/ft. You'd be much better off getting a lighter tiller. 8n's aren't the best tractor for a tiller because they don't have a live PTO and the PTO shaft is 1 1/8". You start running into harder tilling and you could break the PTO shaft. If you just want to do something like a garden, a disc would be a much better option on for an 8N.
Ford19488n
New member
I assume by now that you've made a decision on the tiller but I'll post here just in case someone else finds this article like I did.
It's big but probably not too big. I just bought an old Howard HA 155 which from what I can find on the internet so far is a 61" (155 cm) tiller. It is a beast, very heavy and I have not hooked it up to my 1948 8N and tested it but my dad has a 51 8N and we tested it on his. Since we just picked it up today and were eager to play with it we have not adjusted anything yet. The skids are all the way down on this one which puts it tilling about 6" deep. I am not sure what gears set up are in the selectatilth so I cant comment to that. This one has 4 tines where I have seen some with 6. The tines on this model have an edge on them so they cut pretty well.
The 51 8N has the Sherman transmission and he ran around in 1st gear low range but he also has a misfire at the moment so he is a little low on HP. I am guessing you can till ok with standard transmission in first gear provided you are not tilling hard soil or very deep. These are geared pretty low just with the standard tranny. We are in sugar sand for the most part but we did hit some light roots and some clay. This one has the slip clutch so getting that adjusted will help with protecting the PTO shaft. I can say it is a little tricky with the 8N (just like with bush hogging) since the PTO needs to turn to lift it. We had to lift and then connect the PTO shaft. If you get it stuck you can just kick out the PTO and pull forward, it will roll on the tines and pick itself out from being so deep. As for lifting it up, our lifts are not new by any means and it can pick it up fine. If you haven't found out already, these 8N's can really lift back there on the arms. I used to run a good size disc with a few concrete blocks and it would lift it (i didn't have much in the way of steering as it was pretty light on the front tires) and we use a scoop bucket and I have filled that overflowing with dirt with no problems.
I'll post a follow up when I adjust the skids a little and hook it up to mine just in case someone comes across this. What I am interested in is some additional instructions on how to change the gears for the selectatilth. That's how I found this post today. Not sure if anyone is still following this thread but any info on that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
-Brian
It's big but probably not too big. I just bought an old Howard HA 155 which from what I can find on the internet so far is a 61" (155 cm) tiller. It is a beast, very heavy and I have not hooked it up to my 1948 8N and tested it but my dad has a 51 8N and we tested it on his. Since we just picked it up today and were eager to play with it we have not adjusted anything yet. The skids are all the way down on this one which puts it tilling about 6" deep. I am not sure what gears set up are in the selectatilth so I cant comment to that. This one has 4 tines where I have seen some with 6. The tines on this model have an edge on them so they cut pretty well.
The 51 8N has the Sherman transmission and he ran around in 1st gear low range but he also has a misfire at the moment so he is a little low on HP. I am guessing you can till ok with standard transmission in first gear provided you are not tilling hard soil or very deep. These are geared pretty low just with the standard tranny. We are in sugar sand for the most part but we did hit some light roots and some clay. This one has the slip clutch so getting that adjusted will help with protecting the PTO shaft. I can say it is a little tricky with the 8N (just like with bush hogging) since the PTO needs to turn to lift it. We had to lift and then connect the PTO shaft. If you get it stuck you can just kick out the PTO and pull forward, it will roll on the tines and pick itself out from being so deep. As for lifting it up, our lifts are not new by any means and it can pick it up fine. If you haven't found out already, these 8N's can really lift back there on the arms. I used to run a good size disc with a few concrete blocks and it would lift it (i didn't have much in the way of steering as it was pretty light on the front tires) and we use a scoop bucket and I have filled that overflowing with dirt with no problems.
I'll post a follow up when I adjust the skids a little and hook it up to mine just in case someone comes across this. What I am interested in is some additional instructions on how to change the gears for the selectatilth. That's how I found this post today. Not sure if anyone is still following this thread but any info on that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
-Brian
Arc weld
Veteran Member
ALWAYS start a tiller out of the ground and lift it out of the ground before shutting off the PTO. An 8N only has 1 1/8" PTO shaft and I've heard of PTO shafts breaking. Slip clutches and shear bolts help but chit still happens.
sd455dan
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We ran our Howard on a Case 970 with about 90 HP @ the PTO, thinking no way, no how... but ours was 85"
Ford19488n
New member
Very true Arc Weld. In reading the manual I suspect it is rare for people to keep the clutch in good working condition. Says something about loosening the bolts and let the clutch slip so it gets cleaned in case it's rusted or stuck.
As for putting the unit on my 48 8n it did fine. I tilled some rooted vegitation and at full depth it was a bit too much but I had still not adjusted the sleds so it's still trying to till over 6" deep. I am considering the wheel setup for it that I have seen in some photos. No tilling needed until spring so on to other projects for now.
As for putting the unit on my 48 8n it did fine. I tilled some rooted vegitation and at full depth it was a bit too much but I had still not adjusted the sleds so it's still trying to till over 6" deep. I am considering the wheel setup for it that I have seen in some photos. No tilling needed until spring so on to other projects for now.
Ford19488n
New member
Just a quick update. I adjusted the sleds and checked the gears and they are in the slower till speed setting. Ran a test run but here in Florida sugar-sand the sleds are worthless. They basically sank into the sand and I was back to tilling max depth. My tractor didn't like tilling at full depth even if the soil was pretty loose. If you have stiff soil I would still say it might need some disc action to break it up a little unless you have more HP. My dad has a much larger Massey with live PTO so we are thinking that will be the tilling machine. I am still thinking of building a wheel assembly to help since the sleds really wont hold the tiller up out of the dirt at all. Hope this is helpful.
Arc weld
Veteran Member
One of things I remember from an old pamphlet I had on "Getting the most out of your Howard Rotovator" was not to use the skid shoes as the depth control. Original Howards use a big wheel on the back.