Big tillers on up to 25hp pics and experiences please

[100 td]

Hi,
I'm chasing some pics and info on folks running 5ft approx rotary tillers/hoes on tractors up to 25hp. Reason, I have a friend with a Kubota FL850 (33") tiller who is keen to get something bigger, I told him to go 5ft, but his dealer says 4ft so he's not that keen. I want to buy his old tiller for my B21 (13 pto hp), so if I can find some pics and experiences with folks running 5 ft on 25 hp tractors I may be able to sway him. But please, no spin to help me have a win!
Hopefully someone will chime in with their experiences in hard and soft ground and hopefully help him with his decision, as well as others thinking about the same.
Thanks in advance
Warren

 

[Ike]

I have had a tiller for the last 30 years and my tractor HP was 28PTO HP 32 engine HP. The tiller is a 6 foot one. What I have found is the HP is not so much of a problem as the ground speed. You have to use a little common sense on the size. I ran an 8 foot one on mine one year and had no problems in the heavy sod but it was slow going

 

[SDMauler]

I've been running a Land Pride RTA1050 tiller, which is a 50 inch cut, and up to 25 HP ( they also make an RTA1558 with 58 inch cut, and up to 35 HP) on my BX2360 for 7 years. It has worked great for busting sod, and tilling an established garden plot. I've even used it to dig a massive trench for a waterfowl pond. I haven't had any problems, except breaking a shear bolt on a large buried rock. You can also get the tiller with a clutch, but it looked too fragile to put up with much heavy use, so I stayed with the shear bolt. The tractor had no problem running the tiller, even when loosening up a well-packed horse corral (pulling the sand up to the top again, about 8 in. Deep). My tiller weighs 385 Lbs, and is about 55 1/2 in. Overall width.

 

[eipo]

I just picked up a 60" Tarter brand from TSC.

We have clay topsoil here and breaking it up means moving slow or it slows the engine down a bit. But on our established garden no issues.

The smaller garden is the established one and the other is the one we started this year. I believe that picture is after the first till. I sprayed the grass a couple weeks prior.

 

[RyeThomas]

Not exactly what you are looking for but I just posted with pics in the what did you do on/with your Kubota thread my experience with a 60" tiller on my little BX1800. Now I will say my garden is established and has been tilled for years but my little BX had no problems. I am always impressed by it.

Long story short I was looking for used 48" tillers, now I'm looking for 60". The weight isn't that much different.

Now I have no experience chewing up virgin ground, I suspect it would be difficult on any size tiller I put on the machine mainly due to the light weight of the BX.

Good luck. Rye.

 

[Kingcreek]

I use a 60" behind my L3010 w 26hp at the PTO. It works OK but not with any margin. On virgin ground turf and clay I can't go full depth on first pass but I can make it work just fine with an extra pass and lowest ground speed.
I wanted to cover my wheel tracks. My buddy on the other hand, wanted to till strips and keep the wheels on turf strips between rows and went with 48" tiller between tire tracks. It works for his type of garden. I always figured if that's what I wanted I could just remove outside tine sets.

 

[cerlawson]

Used a 5 ft. tiller on tractor with 18 HP on the PTO. Ran full depth but in lowest gear to get smooth results. No issues with loss of enough power. It was blue tractor.

 

[Bulldog]

A lot will depend on the tiller itself. My brother had a 4' KK and it was harder to pull than my 62" Bushhog tiller is. 4 tines per row isn't in the same ball park as one with 6 tines per row. A 6 tine will put a load on a tractor in a hurry.

 

[Abe]

No pictures here but I run a 66" Befco behind my 22.5 hp L2250 with no problems. Soil conditions are very good here for ease of operations, no heavy clay or rocks.

 

[Who is John Galt]

FWIW, I am running a 74" Kuhn (6 tines/8 stations . . ) behind an L3800 HST (38 HP/30 PTO HP). The soil here in Central New Yorkistan has a lot of clay.

There is no margin. It works the tractor pretty hard. I may be removing a set of tines. I have a few virgin plots to till this week, will decide after I see how they go.