Tiller Tiller question

[B.Dooner]

Hello,
I will be buying a 3pt tiller soon and have a couple of questions for anyone who cares to answer.First of all,I have a 94 Kubota B4200DT with 12.5HP
(10PTO)!.Now I realize thats not a lot of power,but it does a supprizingly good job around my small 1.5 acres with the FEL and box blade.
Question #1. I understand there are two basic designs in 3pt tillers.The first is foreward rotation and the second is counter rotation.Which would be better for my needs?.My property is fairly soft ground most of the year with some small rocks and I realize I dont have to make the first pass at full depth if power is an issue.I understand the function of each design,but am still curious which actually works better?
Question #2. My local dealer offers two brands,Gearmore and Landpride.
They both seem to be pretty well engineered.I think he said the Gearmore or parts of may be manufactured in Italy where as the Landpride is good'ol USA!.
The question is durability and parts availability over the long haul with fairly limited occational use.Whats your thoughts.

 

[seapea]

Gearmore is just a distributor. They have many makes of tillers they sell that come from many surces. I'm not sure if they build anything themselves, or even design/spec what they have built for them. See Gearmore Home for a list of all their products

As for parts availability, they do make changes to their tiller lineup. 3 years ago when I first looked into getting a tractor, all 3 dealers I worked with pushed the Gearmore AS series tiller. Gearmore doesn't even offer the AS series now. I'm not sure if that makes getting parts any harder.

Also, the Gearmore E series tillers are exactly the same as the King Kutter II series, but of course you'll pay a lot more for the E series. If you look at the parts manuals for both, you'll see they even use the same part numbers. I felt this was insurance on being able to get parts, because you could go through King Kutter or Gearmore, and the both the E series and KK II are are both very popular tillers.

 

[jbrumberg]

B.Dooner:

Welcome to TBN ! My old Ford 1100 had 13/11.3 HP and I was able to run a Woods T42 tiller. Due to your HP I think you would be better off with a forward rotation tiller as IMHO they require less HP, they will tend to "throw" rocks away from the direction of travel, and you will "paddlewheel" up and over "immovable objects" . They can also paddlewheel you out of muck if you till too early in the season (you do not have to ask why I know this ), but sometimes they cannot and . Jay

 

[wushaw]

Rear rotation takes more power so you would probably be better off with foward rotation.
Try to get one that will atleast cover your tire tracks.

 

[Egon]

Don't even think of reverse rotation.

Look up some of the HP requirements for tillers to see what you can handle.

 

[B.Dooner]

Thanks guys.
I think I will look into foreward rotation.I can understand the idea of the "paddlewheel" effect working in my favor.Now should I be considering another brand like King Kutter?.

 

[B.Dooner]

It seems like all of the brands have a minimum HP rating of 15 at the pto or more.I would assume this means I have to use it carefully in my case as to not "bury" the thing in the first pass and beware of the load it is puting on the motor.I also was looking at a 40" to cover my tracks(original spec called for a 36".Thanks again to all.

 

[HayDR]

It seems like all of the brands have a minimum HP rating of 15 at the pto or more.I would assume this means I have to use it carefully in my case as to not "bury" the thing in the first pass and beware of the load it is puting on the motor.I also was looking at a 40" to cover my tracks(original spec called for a 36".Thanks again to all.

The CR45 gear drive tiller needs only 10 PTO HP. $1,150

 

[B.Dooner]

Wow.Thanks for the info.How much would that cost to ship?or is there a distributor closer to california?
Thanks again.

 

[Egon]

One can always remove a row or two of tines to get the tiller into the proper range to suit the tractor. I have done this in difficult dirt.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

IMO the biggest factor in determining how much power is need to operate a tiller is the ground condition & how big of a bite (ground speed and depth) you're trying to tackle. I don't have any rocks to deal with but the ground can get pretty packed over the winter months will all the rain. I've been tilling the same pice of ground for more than 30 yrs. The old GT had a 15HP rated engine & a 3' tiller. Took quite a few passes to get the ground worked up and ready for planting. I've also use a 55HP tractor & 6' tiller on this patch and the rate I was wroking, it placed a large strain on the tractor. The current tractor (24pto HP)/tiller set-up does well but I don'y try and do it all in one pass. IMO 10 HP isn't going to get much work done using a tiller 3' wide or wider. YMMV

 

[dixie306]

IMO the biggest factor in determining how much power is need to operate a tiller is the ground condition & how big of a bite (ground speed and depth) you're trying to tackle. I don't have any rocks to deal with but the ground can get pretty packed over the winter months will all the rain. I've been tilling the same pice of ground for more than 30 yrs. The old GT had a 15HP rated engine & a 3' tiller. Took quite a few passes to get the ground worked up and ready for planting. I've also use a 55HP tractor & 6' tiller on this patch and the rate I was wroking, it placed a large strain on the tractor. The current tractor (24pto HP)/tiller set-up does well but I don'y try and do it all in one pass. IMO 10 HP isn't going to get much work done using a tiller 3' wide or wider. YMMV

Mickey, just a thought, ever tried using a set of all purpose plows and then tilling? Like you, I plow and till the same ground every year, it always amazes me what I dig up every spring in "old" worked soil with the A-Ps