3-Point Hitch Using a tiller with early 8N tractor

[hlyautey]

Is anyone using a tiller with an early 8N (pre live PTO)? From what I understand the tractor is too fast in first gear, around 3 mph, to work right.

 

[Tx Jim]

You presume correct that an 8N doesn't travel near slow enough to operate a tiller SUCCESSFULLY unless it's equipped with a gear splitter.

 

[Lebby]

Just my opinion.... Years ago (early 50's) when I was a kid on the farm my dad had two 8N Fords. Dad said the only thing that they were able to do was "git the cows" and rake hay with an old three bar hay rake. They didn't have a whole lot of power and were geared quite high.
To be successful with a tiller, the tiller would have to be small (very), soil would have to be light and tilled shallow. No live power would add to the mix. The gear splitter would definately help for you to pull this feat off.

Remember, just my opinion. Good luck!!!

 

[hlyautey]

I'm all hat and no cows. This guy is doing it, but I can't decide if it's working all that well.

Ford 8n Rotilling - YouTube

 

[buckshot721]

He is tilling very shallow, and its not doing very good.

 

[bigtiller]

It looks like he is using the tiller to push the tractor to the other end of the garden for some reason.

 

[radioman]

the speed he traveling at, its makes it shallow and poor tilled . If you had to start with a pasture to till, never worked on, You gonna be frustrated. perhaps a single plow pull behind would be a better option.

 

[hlyautey]

I wonder if you could just leave it in neutral and let the tiller push, so long as the tiller is forward rotating.

 

[Clint S]

Maybe after it was plowed and disked you could turn a bit of compost in with it, but forget about it to actually getting ground ready to plant. He is lucky to get down an inch or 2 at that speed

 

[sweettractors]

Would a reverse rotation tiller work any better on a 8n? Ken Sweet

 

[Arc weld]

An 8N is just not the right tractor to run a tiller even with a gear splitter. You're better off with a disk on an 8N, speed is not as critical and you don't need a live PTO. An 8N only has 1 1/8" PTO shaft that even with an adapter is more susceptible to damage.

 

[hlyautey]

Would a reverse rotation tiller work any better on a 8n? Ken Sweet

I don't want a reverse rotation. I need to chop and force surface organic material down into the soil, not lift it.

 

[hlyautey]

Maybe after it was plowed and disked you could turn a bit of compost in with it, but forget about it to actually getting ground ready to plant. He is lucky to get down an inch or 2 at that speed

Yeah, I'll save my pennies and get a more modern tractor. My garden has gotten too big and my bones too old for the walk behind tiller. It's ok for cultivating between rows, but it's overwhelming in the spring. I haul in a lot of organic material too. I need to do more in less time.

 

[motownbrowne]

We have run a land pride tiller behind our 8ns for years. Agreed that it isn't great, and you have to do two passes, but it does work. We grow vegetables commercially on raised beds. Use a plow for primary tillage and then the tiller for seed bed preparation, as well as tilling in cover crops. Now, don't let me talk you out of a newer tractor, but you could at least try the 8n, especially if you're just tilling your victory garden, which I assume hasn't been did or pasture for years. Also, we have a Sherman hi/lo in one of the 8ns and it doesn't help, because it slows down the PTO speed. Nice for the farmi winch, but useless for mowing, tilling, etc.

 

[hlyautey]

What width tiller are you using? I'd like to be able to go 60".

 

[motownbrowne]

48 inch. Which isn't wide enough because the tread is a little wider than that. We end up offsetting it so it leaves one whole tire track on one side rather than two halves. Try borrowing a 60" though, you might be surprised.

 

[hlyautey]

48 inch. Which isn't wide enough because the tread is a little wider than that. We end up offsetting it so it leaves one whole tire track on one side rather than two halves. Try borrowing a 60" though, you might be surprised.

Do you have sides on your raised beds or are you using a bedder behind the tractor?

 

[motownbrowne]

We farm on the contour of a slope. We don't have sides on the beds. What we do is use a single bottom mold board plow to plow one furrow uphill. The plow is centered behind the left (downhill side) tire. Then we use the tiller with the level adjustment to make it level to prepare the bed. The beds end up being about forty inches wide. I don't know if you use Facebook, but if you look us up you can see some pictures. The name is Rising Sun Farm. If we were on flat ground we would source a plow that furrows the opposite direction and use them both as a bedder. Hope that helps

 

[hlyautey]

So you make terraces, more or less. I have looked for a left hand plow and I can't find one. they used to make 2 way plows but i can't fine them either. There are places for me that a left hand plow would work better, due to obstacles.

 

[motownbrowne]

Yep, that's pretty much it. I've heard of left hand plows too, but they probably stopped making them a long time ago. I suppose on a flat you could just plow toward the center of your bed from each direction. As we do it now we plow the bed then drive all the way around the field and back to the same side to begin the next bed. Do you grow for market? We use a troy-built too for some things, but we'd be lost without the tractor tiller.