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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

My comments interspersed with others..

> Robert Walton wrote:
> > Same happens with me. I have a rear tine tiller. Mine cuts off when
> >  a rock gets jammed in the tines.

Good to know I am not alone here..I feel like I often spent more time
dislodging rocks and recranking the tiller than I did tilling...up and
down, muscle it out, back and forth to grab the crowbar, etc. I used to
keep a crowbar nearby to dislodge the melon sized rocks that would wedge
up in there, and it seems that the tines were off at least once a
year.<g>  Sometimes I feel like I am growing rocks. More just keep
popping up!



Don Bowen wrote:
> > Sounds like cheap bearings.  A good bearing should handle shock 
> > loads.

Maybe, but they were quality rototillers, so I dunno.

> > I have a Troybuilt rear time.

What model? CRT or FRT?

> > It does have a problem now after several years in storage, the 
> > carburetor is plugged, the fuel pump diaphragm is holed, and the 
> > battery is dead.  And it has a flat tire.

It must be one of those super expensive models if it has it's own
battery.  I've never spent enough that my tiller had a
battery..lol..lucky you..<g>


Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
> Good answers on this already.  But I'd have to say I've had the same 
> experience as Bev, even on very heavy duty tillers and expensive 
> tillers.  Yes, before I knew better, I used some monster tillers, 
> some I owned and some I rented. When I first got this place I decided
>  to break ground for the garden in my selected spot and rented a 
> monster Troybuilt.  The ground (around here most of the bottoms are 
> old glaciers) was so rocky that I gave it up and moved the garden. 
> There the problem Bev reports was even worse because the rocks were 
> farther in between.  You'd be tilling along and then "chunk!" a fist 
> sized, or two fist sized, rock would be lifted up by the counter 
> rotating tines and jambed between the housing and tines or side of 
> the tine transmission and the tine. Many times I had to get a 1" 
> piece of rebar and a drill hammer to get the rock loose and sometimes
>  I had to take the pins out of the tines and remove them to get the 
> rock out.  In at least one case repeated lock ups from the rocks beat
>  the bearing race beyond use.


Yeah, the first tiller that the rocks ate was a Troy-bilt, and the
second was a top of the line Craftsman.  Both were quality, rear tine,
CRT, tillers, well over $700.
After losing so much money and having two quality products destroyed, it
makes you rethink the cause of the problem.  I may end up renting one
because I only use it once or twice a year anyway, it is just this year,
I have a lot of 'in ground' work to do.  Lots of corn going in, as well
as peanuts, beans, etc.  I cultivate by hand or with a small Mantis type
attachment that I can use on my weed trimmer(that thing is awesome,
especially for turning compost!). A working tiller could
prepare the ground in an afternoon, otherwise, I'll have a lot of sore
muscles from hoeing and shoveling for a week or more.  What I really
dream about is a pull behind tiller that you can hook up to an ATV or
lawn mower. Those are mega-awesome!  But, that is really overkill for my
applications.

I'm wondering if the problem is maybe counter rotating tines.... Both of
our previous tillers were CRT, and I know some rear tines tillers are
actually forward rotating.    By rotating forward, fewer would lodge in
the housing, I think. Perhaps that, not the brand or soil, is the
difference?  The area I would be tilling has been tilled in the past, so
it is not like I am starting from scratch.   I looked at a few sites,
and I noticed that the top of the line Troy-bilts (which are out of
financial range) are FRT tillers.  They say that CRT is best for
breaking new ground and hard clay soils, but in the case of rocks, maybe
all bets are off??  I'm not too picky about brand other than I want a
good quality machine.  I liked my Craftsman tiller just as well as the
Troy-bilt..both were good, one hand, walk beside/behind tillers.  I just
don't want to make another mistake.  Basically, I would be using it for
row prep and tilling under biomass into already soft, but rocky, soils.
 Occasionally(once every few years only) would it be used to break new
ground for a new area, and I foresee those areas to be small, like small
corn patches, maybe 20x20 in size.


B

--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge