PTO driven roto tiller

Winchester1 · Mar 26, 2016

PTO driven roto tiller describes the function, not the name of the implement, I do not know the name. I have seen them around for several years, primarily on melon farms. They are showing up at auctions now, typically 3-7 foot in width. Looks like it would take a 100 HP tractor or so to run a large one.

Anybody have any experience with one and comments thoughts? They seem to be selling halfway reasonable at some auctions.

Thanks,

Bill.

David G · Mar 26, 2016

A couple of neighbors have 5' ones, they are real handy with a hydrostatic tractor, but not good if standard transmission with no granny gear.

Ivan in Mich · Mar 26, 2016

I have a 6 foot bush hog brand and have had it for around 20 years. I works real good but if you try to till under tall grass it wraps around the shaft the tines are mounted to and quits digging in. I just run the brush hog over the ground first if I have tall weed. It will shread corn stalks very well without plugging up. You need to go slow and a tractor such as an 8 N will not work well on it as the tractor will not go slow enough. It would take forever to do a large area. My tractor has 33 HP and it plays with it

Frank 41 · Mar 26, 2016

I have a 4 foot one behind a Yanmar 240. In low gear it makes powder but does not go very deep.

Winchester1 · Mar 26, 2016

Thanks for the responses. I never thought much about them until they started showing up at auctions.

Eldon (WA) · Mar 26, 2016

(quoted from post at 18:20:27 03/26/16) PTO driven roto tiller describes the function, not the name of the implement, I do not know the name. I have seen them around for several years, primarily on melon farms. They are showing up at auctions now, typically 3-7 foot in width. Looks like it would take a 100 HP tractor or so to run a large one.

Anybody have any experience with one and comments thoughts? They seem to be selling halfway reasonable at some auctions.

Thanks,

Bill.

The real thing is called a rotovator...I have used Howard Select-a-Tilth rotovators for years doing custom tilling. I started with a 5' and now have 4 of them. They are built heavy to take our gravelly soil. Mine are old and parts can be hard to find. The nice thing about them is I can change the speed by swapping gears in the gearbox, so I speed them way up and don't have to have the slow gear on the tractors. You should have about 10hp per foot for these. I just bought this 80" Howard at an auction a couple of weeks ago for $400. I made $310 in a little over 2 hours with it today, so I almost paid for it already.

One of my 5 footers, they weigh about 1000# The newer Howards aren't made as heavy as these old guys...circa 1960

My 8' Northwest rotovator, still making them in Yakima WA. If I till when it is too wet the packer roller fills with mud and I can't lift it....

Traditional Farmer · Mar 26, 2016

I have several I use mostly to make a fine finished seed bed for planting vegetables.I like to use some sort of ripper or chisel to tear the ground up first before tilling makes it easier on the tiller and the tractor.For large areas and broadcast seeding I
like a disk harrow better.

jm. · Mar 26, 2016

Probably sold over 2000 in my life time and never heard them called anything but rotary tiller. Many brands are made in Italy, seems that is where they were first used. Howard was a heavy unit, one of the best American made units now is Land Pride but many other brands out there. used here to work up the ground for gardens.

Eldon (WA) · Mar 26, 2016

I've been using the Allis Chalmers 6080 with the Northwest lately as it has the slower gears. It is the perfect tillage tool to prep before I plant my sweetcorn.

farmerwithmutt · Mar 26, 2016

Amish had one rigged up with gas engine it almost ran over the horses! The put a digger on back to hold it back.

Ivan in Mich · Mar 26, 2016

I put mine on the back of my TE20 once to see what it would do. It picked the back up off the ground and we were off to the races. This was on sand I could not imagine what would have happened on clay

larry@stinescorner · Mar 26, 2016

I use one with the Ford

RedGreenGuy · Mar 26, 2016

Have a 5 footer behind a 25 hp Kubota. Can get 8" deep in 2 passes, but could use 5 more ponies under the hood.

Ray IN · Mar 26, 2016

They are great for small spaces and I use one to work up the soil inside my tomato high tunnels. Too slow for actual field work, however. I can pull a 6 ft wide landpride tiller with a 48 hp tractor with front wheel assist easily.

Janicholson · Mar 26, 2016

If your tractor can go between .5 and .3 mph, with the throttle at PTO speed, or is hydrostatic drive, most rotary tillers will be very frustrating. They also chew up and kill worms. Jim

Eldon (WA) · Mar 26, 2016

(quoted from post at 19:48:35 03/26/16) They are great for small spaces and I use one to work up the soil inside my tomato high tunnels. Too slow for actual field work, however. I can pull a 6 ft wide landpride tiller with a 48 hp tractor with front wheel assist easily.

If you can go slow enough almost any tractor will pull a tiller. My tillers are speeded up, so they take more HP to run. Mine are fast enough to do actual field work...it all depends on the setup. I've seen guys with little compact utility tractors running a 5' tiller, but I can till the same garden area in half the time and for less money. I've seen a lot of competition come and go over the years....they all were running the lightweight Deeres, Fords. King Kutter, and Landpride tillers. A couple of years and they figured out it wasn't worth it.....

pete black · Mar 26, 2016

Run a 5 ft. from Tractor Supply with a 34 hp Kubota with hydrostatic drive. Does a fantastic job on existing garden spot. Use it on 3 gardens for fourth year with no problem. Couple words of caution though; takes the right transmission setup in order to effectively use it and that is slow toward speed. Studies suggest 1) continued use of a tiller may ruin the tilth of the soil by making it too fine. 2) continued use also may develop a hard pan under the tilth which may affect water absorption. These things said, my pto tiller enables this 68 yr old man with some physical limitations to raise a large garden each year, I wouldn't be without one.

CenTex Farmall · Mar 26, 2016

Speaking of, I ran across a Seaman tractor on CL that still had the tiller. I know it was made for mixing road base so I'm not sure if it would be good for chopping down into the dirt.

2x4 · Mar 26, 2016

depends on the tines used. Had several different types of tines; one set could dig 2 ft. deep. These were for digging up ground for planting orchards, IIRC

Bill in Colo · Mar 27, 2016

I have one neighbor who has a 12' Behind a 200 hp Deere, he sprays with Round-Up chisels, roto tills and plants grass grain or alfalfa.Usually gets great stands.

Blackhole49 · Mar 27, 2016

I rented a 42" and put it behind Kubota B7100HST (16hp). It handled it fine. I would by one if I could get it a a good price.

64frd4000ind · Mar 27, 2016

I have a 6ft Tiller, It works awesome behind my 64 Ford 4000 Industrial with the SOS transmission, and it is tolerable to use it on the 8N so long as I have worked the ground before.

I use mine on the N to break the garden open for early planting of Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts... but the garden is worked every year, so it works just about right, keeps me from getting the bigger tractor out in the garden so early when I might get it stuck if I'm not careful.

I wouldn't dream of using the N with it on virgin ground for a food plot, and even on the 4000 it seems to work a lot better if I open it up first with a disc so that the grass has a chance to die before running the tiller, but IMO there is nothing better to prep a food plot with.

Eldon (WA) · Mar 27, 2016

(quoted from post at 18:20:27 03/26/16) PTO driven roto tiller describes the function, not the name of the implement, I do not know the name. I have seen them around for several years, primarily on melon farms. They are showing up at auctions now, typically 3-7 foot in width. Looks like it would take a 100 HP tractor or so to run a large one.

Anybody have any experience with one and comments thoughts? They seem to be selling halfway reasonable at some auctions.

Thanks,

Bill.

This one just popped up today..same as the 5 footers that I have. This is a great deal if it runs as good as it looks. I might just have to make a road trip if it is still there tomorrow...like I need a fifth
https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/5510871594.html

PTO driven roto tiller

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