Asking for advice on using a rental 3ph tiller for a first-time user

[Jim Goodman]

Looking for some advice here, so I don't do anything boneheaded. I want to prepare my yard for planting decorative plants and turf. I have an L4060 tractor with HST. Last summer, a friend lent me a BCS walk-behind "tractor" with a tiller that is sort of a rototiller on steroids. I'm in Raleigh, NC and we have a lot of orange clay with plenty of rocks embedded in the clay. Over the next week, I tilled in 20 yards of organic compost in an area of about 1/4 acre. There were a lot of rocks, and I wore out one entire new set of tiller tines and it was pretty rough on the BCS tiller. There were many places where the tiller tines would not fully embed and kind of skipped along the surface, despite my trying to force it to dig deeper. I did get some improvement in the soil, but not really enough. I also don't have a rock rake and I hand-raked and hauled away the rocks that were on the surface after using the BCS tiller.

A year later, I want to try to do a better job of tilling the entire area deeper and preparing it for planting both decorative plants and turf (how much of each, is yet to be determined). I want to do it with my Kubota and use a 3ph tiller, then smooth it out. This will be the only time I ever use a tiller, so I want to rent one at approximately $150 rather than buy one, and I have never used one before. I have a Pat's Quick Hitch setup on my L4060, which I know extends the length of the PTO shaft needed, so I'm thinking of removing it when I rent a tiller, because my intention is to use the PTO shaft that comes with the rental tiller. QUESTION #1 - Is the PTO shaft that is used with a category-1 tiller the same length for every tractor or should I figure on needing to buy and modify my own PTO shaft? I’ve never used the PTO, and I think I’ve read some horror stories of stripping gears internal to the tractor on this site and TBN when the operator engaged the PTO incorrectly. QUESTION #2 – What to I need to be careful about when hooking up the tiller to the 3ph and connecting it to the PTO to avoid damaging the tiller and tractor? QUESTION #3 – How do I determine the right forward speed to use when operating the tiller to avoid damaging it? Will I “feel” the resistance the tiller meets, and it will be obvious from the level of resistance when I am going too fast? QUESTION #4 – I’m also concerned about damaging the rental tiller with the rocks it will hit. How do I deal with the rocks? I know there's no way around hitting rocks, but should I make shallow passes first and make additional passes while gradually lowering the depth of cut of the tiller?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[old and tired]

What transmission do you have in the L4060?? HST would be the easiest to use with a tiller...

 

[Jim Goodman]

What transmission do you have in the L4060?? HST would be the easiest to use with a tiller...

Yes, sorry, should have mentioned that I do have the HST

 

[old and tired]

So I had a King Kutter tiller, depending on how old the tiller is, I was not able to use Pat's on it. It looks like the new ones you could. I could have cut some metal to make it work but decided to sell the tiller for other reasons.

Are you planning to take the tractor to the rental place to pick up the tiller? I would have them fit it on (but would double check behind them as for the fit).

You need to have the correct length for PTO; I would assume the rental place would have different lengths... You need a bit of over lap 3" or so but make sure it does not bottom out in the raised or lower positions.

You hear the engine bog down if you go too fast. So how many rocks you got at your place???

 

[Jim Goodman]

Yes, sorry, should have mentioned that I do have the HST

So I had a King Kutter tiller, depending on how old the tiller is, I was not able to use Pat's on it. It looks like the new ones you could. I could have cut some metal to make it work but decided to sell the tiller for other reasons.

Are you planning to take the tractor to the rental place to pick up the tiller? I would have them fit it on (but would double check behind them as for the fit).

You need to have the correct length for PTO; I would assume the rental place would have different lengths... You need a bit of over lap 3" or so but make sure it does not bottom out in the raised or lower positions.

You hear the engine bog down if you go too fast. So how many rocks you got at your place???

 

[Jim Goodman]

Thanks for the info on the PTO shaft.....just did a search on YouTube and found a couple of good videos explaining just what you're talking about. I also looked at a slip clutch that was mentioned to me on another forum and that looks like a very good idea too, so I think I'll buy my own PTO shaft and add a slip clutch to it to be safe....and then I'll have them for future use too.

As far as rocks go, it's not like I'm in a gravel pit or anything. But I do have fist-to-football-sized quartz that I hit every so often and I churn up 3/4" - 2" rocks often. In the 1/4 acre I'm dealing with, I filled up my FEL bucket 4-5 times after tilling and hand raking last summer. More of the same will come up this time when I till deeper.

 

[old and tired]

You'll know when you hit the football size ones!!! Fist size shouldn't be bad. The tiller will jump up and over them.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I think number one you will be surprised at the power of your machine…you’ll likely giggle compared previous if you have ever wrestled a walk behind. Second, when you till it’s like a box of chocolates…there is no way to avoid what is below really, but if you take several cuts then maybe you would reduce the risk of hitting something big…but unless it’s really big the tiller will make some unsettling noise and climb over it…if it’s a reverse time it will keep hitting it and you’ll know to stop and move the rock. you may graze it first pass and then if you get off and dig it up there’s that…if not you’ll find it next round. There is no way around it. But unless they are huge rocks you shouldn’t have a problem. If you are really worried about the potatoes and footballs, maybe ask rental place if there is insurance and how it works.

 

[skeets]

My 2 cents, if you were going to buy thats one thing, rent is something else. Do a search of a land scaping business in the area and have them come out and give you a price,, I know you wat to do what you can for your self. However sometimes ,someone with the right tools will make your job much easyer inthe end

 

[animals45]

Get the insurance !
animal

 

[DustyRusty]

Also, rent or buy a landscape rake to pull all the rocks out with the least amount of effort. It is one thing to be thrifty, but another to be downright cheap. Buy the correct tools for the job and then sell them after you are done with the project. That way you will not be rushing to get them back to the rental yard.

 

[bird dogger]

It could pay (both in time saved and repair bills??) to use a small cultivator to first loosen up the ground if its hard. You'd also find any buried large rocks that could do damage to the tiller. Removing those rocks that the cultivator brought up would certainly save on the tiller and make that job quicker/safer. You'd be able to rototill deeper and faster afterwards.

It's much safer to find buried rocks and debris with a cultivator than finding the same with and doing damage to a tiller and its drive components.

Edit: In this area we call a cultivator one that has knives/shoes on the bottom of S tine spring shanks.

 

[Jim Goodman]

My 2 cents, if you were going to buy thats one thing, rent is something else. Do a search of a land scaping business in the area and have them come out and give you a price,, I know you wat to do what you can for your self. However sometimes ,someone with the right tools will make your job much easyer inthe end

Thank you! You are absolutely right, that's what I should do. I'll never use a tiller again after this project and by the time I get the shaft, slip clutch and take the risk of breaking something into account, it doesn't make sense to try to save a few bucks on this. Thanks for knocking some sense into my head!

 

[Dave Ogren]

I tried to rent a rototiller in my area, there was no place to rent it from so I had to purchase one. I use a box blade first, gradually lowering the shanks lower and lower to get the rocks up, then till. Good Luck. My area is Asheville, N.C.