walk behind tillers

hi, we are thinking about getting a walk behind garden tiller and wondering whats every ones thoughts on front tine vs. rear tine tillers? and what brands have you had good luck with? Lowe's has a couple craftsman tillers, a 24" front tine for $500 and a 16" rear tine for $800. haven't checked any other places yet.
 
I have a big Troy 8hp Horse so I am kinda partial. Every machine out there is the same if the soil is hard and compacted. The machine is going to bust you up. Rear tine is a bit better after you start digging 1/2 inch per pass. Just a little at a time till you get to the maximum depth. TAKE YOUR TIME. When you have added tons of much, dead grass, composted horse or cow etc. That is when you can till like the commercials show.
 
Front tines are man killers . Will work you to death keeping it where you want it. Get an old rear tine model. Troybilt is pretty popular. Older machines are still solid working machines, with parts pretty available too. We work the garden with a regular tillage tool like a field cultivator or disc first in the spring though. Makes tilling much easier.
 
I have an old Troybuilt Horse that I have owned for 50 years. Plenty rugged but heavy and harder to move around as I get older.

I needed a light rear-tine tiller for cultivating between rows mostly. I went out and bought the cheapest rear-tine tiller I could find locally last year. Cub Cadet 16" for $550 at the time. Model RT35. The most simple machine I have ever seen. Just engage or not engage. No speed ranges, no reverses. Just forward. If you want "neutral" you manually unlock the wheels. I love it. Does a great job, real easy to move around. Also the easiest starting gas engine I have ever owned. I would not own a front tine machine.
 
Get a rear tine or wish you did 5 minutes after using a front tine.

Box store tillers are all about equal. You will find some with alittle different set up. Such as forward/reverse transmissions.

The biggy is machines that have a forward or reverse rotating tines. FRT or CRT forward rotating tines are good for working stuff into the soil (fertilizer, mulch etc) and Reversing RRT or CCTT are better for breaking up the soil but do not work as well tilling stuff into the soil.

Look at the Husqvarna tillers. They have some good looking machines with good features.
 
I had a 24" walk behind, 8hp, and opted to have dual tires fashioned on it by my weld shop...why?....all rear tine tillers are clawing the ground, working against the rear turning tines.

Then the clawing tires want to slip over into the soft tilled earth and your machine nearly tips over sideways, so your always fighting to keep it on task. The duals helped that from happening alot.

Bought a new 16" and the tires were smaller, so I couldn't use the old set up. The new tiller has elec. start.
When your new unit ages and as you will also, you will wish not to jerk,jerk start! lol I paid $800 for the new smaller tiller and I wish I had paid that $$ and put a new elec. start on the old tiller...it had handle adjustments so you could walk BESIDE the fresh tilling and not pack it back down. Sigh.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top