Tiller making a mess of things

[TGKY]

I have tarter reverse tine tiller and any time I till in existing- not pre sprayed- vegetation- it picks up wads of it on either side of the skids on the tiller eventually making large balls that then pick up top soil as well.

Currently I have the top link in the bottom hole of the tractor, and the top of the tiller setting level via top link lenght. If tried everything from having the skids all the way up by lengthening the top link all the way, to having the top link as short as possible and it still digs or makes the wads.

Its insanely frustrating b/c the reason I set it up as reverse tine was to be able to make food plots and not always have to have completely killed or mowed vegetation. Also, even when I start with basically bare ground, it still creates mounds of dirt on either side rather than a smooth seedbed.

The tiller is reversible, I can turn it back around to the rear rotating and am probably going to do that, but I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or tips first- since its a pain of a job.

 

[Flintknapper]

The tiller is reversible, I can turn it back around to the rear rotating and am probably going to do that, but I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or tips first- since its a pain of a job.

^^^^^

Do this.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Good day I have a reverse rotation rear tine tiller and I am not sure I can help…I am not sure I really understand the OP and the configuration of the tines and rotation / reversible-I am just not understanding or familiar with your equip…if I understood you have ‘reverse tine’…to me that means the tines are behind, correct? Then also it said ‘tiller is reversible’…I am not sure what you mean there…is that spins either way? What I can say is that my reverse rotation tiller that mounts on my three point does t see to do what you describe bed, but I would say though that if tilling unbroken ground with vegetation for first time, it will leave plant debris and more problematic and t will leave some clods…you can either till it many times to try to chop up the clods/debris (may be less than ideal for your soil though) I suspect no matter what you do there will be clods, or you could try to scrape or bush hog off the plant debris off before tilling. The pic below was unbroken ground and after two passes it looked like below…certainly not a perfect seedbed as it left some clods. We ended up picking up the largest of clods to make a little easier to run our walk behind seeder…if not for using a walk behind seeder I would have left the clods, but they clogged it up. Anyway I think a reverse rotation works fine considering there was vegation on prior to the tilling. I am not sure that makes sense or not to what you described above and your result?

 

[TGKY]

I am not sure I really understand the OP and the configuration of the tines and rotation / reversible-I am just not understanding or familiar with your equip…if I understood you have ‘reverse tine’…to me that means the tines are behind, correct? Then also it said ‘tiller is reversible’…

Good Morning, what I mean is the tiller as I have it set up now- the tines rotate towards my tractor when hooked up to the 3pt hitch and tilling its moving dirt towards the tractor instead of out the back of the tiller. This particular model tiller allows me to remove the tine shaft and gear box and shaft and reverse them.

My seedbed looked quite a bit worse than yours. I would be happy with what you have pictured there.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Good Morning, what I mean is the tiller as I have it set up now- the tines rotate towards my tractor when hooked up to the 3pt hitch and tilling its moving dirt towards the tractor instead of out the back of the tiller. This particular model tiller allows me to remove the tine shaft and gear box and shaft and reverse them.

My seedbed looked quite a bit worse than yours. I would be happy with what you have pictured there.

I was not aware the tillers could reverse their rotation….at least not easily? I have three tillers(2 reverse rotation for tractor and a mini Honda walk behind with forward rotation…and I grew up with two walk behind forward rotation…regarding forward rotation, they work but in my opinion they move the soil the opposite way versus what a cultivator would do…generally my little Honda does fine as moving forward but it does a lot better job if you pull it backward(like a good ho…I could not even type that without laughing…i am sorry I am simple and easily amused)….digs deeper and doesn’t want to walk off the hard stuff. In general I think the tines rotating opposite direction of travel helps dig and I think it’s also a little easier to go slower that way. I am sure i have not really helped in any way…now that I understand your post, I think you already know what the solution is…what you aluded to and flintknapper suggested. I guess that makes three of us now.

 

[B737]

I have forward rotation, I wouldn't till anything with thick lush grass or vegetation but have gone over mostly alive weeds and grass, on ground so compacted it would bend metal stakes when hammered in... Sometimes I let it ride on the skids others i'll use 3 point control. If you are getting clumps, keep making slow passes. gotta go slooooow

(still have not mastered ending the row as evidenced by the terminating lumps)

 

[jyoutz]

Reverse rotation will do a better job of initial tillage of hard ground, but forward rotation is necessary for that smooth finished bed preparation.

 

[radas]

I have forward rotation, I wouldn't till anything with thick lush grass or vegetation but have gone over mostly alive weeds and grass, on ground so compacted it would bend metal stakes when hammered in... Sometimes I let it ride on the skids others i'll use 3 point control. If you are getting clumps, keep making slow passes. gotta go slooooow

(still have not mastered ending the row as evidenced by the terminating lumps)

Nothing a light raking won't fix, looks good!

 

[NCL4701]

If you have heavy vegetation, bushogging first and letting the vegetation dry for a couple of days before further processing makes the vegetation much easier to mulch rather than clump. If it’s really bad even after bushogging, hitting it with a disc harrow to further reduce the size of vegetation prior to tilling to a final seed bed may be advisable. The disc harrow is unlikely to be needed but sometimes…

 

[fried1765]

I have forward rotation, I wouldn't till anything with thick lush grass or vegetation but have gone over mostly alive weeds and grass, on ground so compacted it would bend metal stakes when hammered in... Sometimes I let it ride on the skids others i'll use 3 point control. If you are getting clumps, keep making slow passes. gotta go slooooow

(still have not mastered ending the row as evidenced by the terminating lumps)

From years of experience, I have found that "flaring" just a bit earlier, will almost always eliminate "terminating lumps" and bumps!

 

[mikester]

If you have heavy vegetation, bushogging first and letting the vegetation dry for a couple of days before further processing makes the vegetation much easier to mulch rather than clump. If it’s really bad even after bushogging, hitting it with a disc harrow to further reduce the size of vegetation prior to tilling to a final seed bed may be advisable. The disc harrow is unlikely to be needed but sometimes…

^this

I have a fwd rotation tiller. If your skids have any curvature you can adjust the angle of attack using the top link to slide over instead of dig in. Slowing your travel speed may help.

I also find that dry sandy soil can clump more because the roots don't have much purchase.

 

[TGKY]

I completed the swap to forward rotation this weekend. Man that can be a job for one guy lol

anyway it’ll be a little while before I can do a good test but I’ll report back when I do. Thanks for all of the replies and help.