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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2015 1:48:41 GMT
The nice thing about dad's old Ahrens tiller is that is was heavy enough to do the job, but light enough that it could be handled.
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Post by motdaugrnds on Apr 27, 2015 19:40:34 GMT
I have one of the older models 8 Hp Troybilt Tiller with a Briggs & Straton motor and heavy duty tines. It has a blade for pushing soil/snow/etc. as well as a furrower and engine guard. Bought it new and used it once or twice a year; so it's like new. It is now too heavy for me to manipulate so it is up for sale. (My repair man has it on his lot, protecting it and selling it for a percentage of the sales price.)
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Post by feather on Apr 27, 2015 19:44:18 GMT
He's about my height, has a rye sense of humor, kind at his core, couldn't do without him!
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Post by Raeven on Apr 27, 2015 20:26:13 GMT
We have a Cub Cadet - rear tine. I love it. It starts with 2 pulls. We've had it for six years. It's great a breaking up sod here- we have sandy soil. It can churn the straw into the soil also. But it's big and it's heavy and one day, it's going to run me into the fence. Turning it around is really hard. If I'm tilling straight down a row, I can do it with one hand. Sometimes, I wish my rows were longer. I prefer no-till and I've only tilled my garden three times since I moved here a decade ago. The first time, my husband and I rented a rear tine Honda tiller from Home Depot and did 3 passes in an afternoon, switching off. It was the first time the garden area had been worked in quite some time, so tilling was a necessity to get started. That was a delightful tiller, but new, it ran in the $2,700 range. So no. After my husband died, someone found me an old 7 HP TB Horse that was manufactured about the time I graduated high school -- so that sucker was OLD. I used it last year to overcome what could not be overcome with no-till mulch of cardboard and straw. (Straw has gotten ridiculously expensive here, so I'm researching new ways to mulch. I like what @karlintn and @jwal10 are doing and plan to plant rye and/or vetch this fall: Organic Mulching Methods ) That old Horse beat me like a professional and I worried it would eat my feet!! I sold it on to someone else who thinks those things are the eel's eyebrows. Not for me. Meantime, I splurged a couple of months ago on a new tiller like Callie's: My Tiller! It has an electric start I haven't yet had to use and I love this machine. My hope is to use it very little except to break new sod and till only areas that have become impacted or too weedy to control with regular hoeing or weeding. (It happens.) The easiest way I've found to turn it is to release the dead-man's bar, swing it up on its tippy-toes and turn it on one wheel. I've also found I prefer to till more in a square than up and down rows. I love that it has 5 gears: Forward no-till, backward no-till, forward till, backward till (meaning the tines run in reverse to break sod but the tiller still moves forward) and neutral. That thing just yawns at my garden -- no challenge there! I have a Cub Cadet lawn tractor and despite my best efforts, it is still goes strong after ten years. I hope my new tiller is as sturdy. I'm hopeful it will be!
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Post by not2gabby on Apr 27, 2015 23:11:42 GMT
When my grandma passed away 3 years ago, I got her Ariens tiller. It is 38 years old and starts on the first pull almost every time. Heavy enough to get the job done, but small enough for me to handle it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 0:02:00 GMT
We invested in a BCS 8 hp walking tractor about 12 years ago now. It has been used pretty hard, busting up a lot of clay sod, but still starts easy each time and runs great. I'm guessing that it will outlast me and be a useful machine long after I'm just fertilizer for the next generation.
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Post by LauraD on Apr 28, 2015 0:27:26 GMT
My husband bought an old Montgomery Ward Easy Till at a garage sale for $25. After several afternoons working on it and a few new parts (including clutch & solenoid, we have a great old machine that does just what we need it to do. We also have raised garden beds - we use the tiller to help us dig out and level the area where the bed will be "planted" 2-4 inches in the ground. That particular technique will probably change once we find our land and move...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 23:41:20 GMT
My old craftsman got a workout today.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2015 1:44:29 GMT
I can't tell you all how much I have enjoyed this thread! I've loved hearing about your tillers!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2015 23:56:20 GMT
I have a 5hp craftsman tiller and a rear mounted one on my garden tractor. The craftsman was free, someone put the wrong spark plug in it and bend a valve. About one hours time and $10 in parts I had it fixed. The one on the tractor hasn't been used in about 3 yrs as we don't plant a huge garden any more.
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Post by grillbilly on May 1, 2015 11:39:40 GMT
Our first tiller was an orange and white front tine I dug out of my in-laws barn and got to running, I think it was a Montgomery Ward. Used that for a couple of years until I met an old gardener who'd been suckered into buying a new Troy Built. He sold me his old Craftsman rear tine and I enjoyed running it so much that, over the course of several years, I made the garden too large for us to handle with our work schedules. We gave up the following year, as we were young and had better things to do.
Today's tiller is pecking away on this keyboard. We got the bug again about five years ago and put in a single raised bed filled with rotted horse manure. Somehow it doubled in size every year since and we now have a garden larger than the house, raised beds with wood chips in the paths. Gardening is alot more fun when you can plunge your hand up to the wrist in loose, friable soil!
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2015 22:34:06 GMT
My craftsman tiller wore me out today. It is amazing how wearing it is on a person just walking around following a tiller.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2015 3:53:04 GMT
Thanks for a great thread.
There is a rear tine Troy at an auction tomorrow. I can't wait to look at it.
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Post by Skandi on Jun 13, 2015 9:58:51 GMT
My tillers meant to be 5'5" blond heavy build. but it breaks down often and is tempremental to start in the mornings.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jun 13, 2015 21:04:18 GMT
I've had lots of tillers over the years, my favorite being the old Gravely with the vertical plow, tilling, and mowing attachments. Long story where that went. Now I'm using an '80 Troybilt Horse, 8 hp, electric start. It does a great job, but boy, tilling inside a fence and turning it every 70' will either keep you in shape or kill you.
A month ago a neighbor wanted to start gardening, so being the big, dumb, and happy soul I am I volunteered to break her garden area up. I live in Stone County, and they named it properly. She's got a garden plot, and I've got new tines.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2015 2:00:00 GMT
I've had lots of tillers over the years, my favorite being the old Gravely with the vertical plow, tilling, and mowing attachments. Long story where that went. Now I'm using an '80 Troybilt Horse, 8 hp, electric start. It does a great job, but boy, tilling inside a fence and turning it every 70' will either keep you in shape or kill you. A month ago a neighbor wanted to start gardening, so being the big, dumb, and happy soul I am I volunteered to break her garden area up. I live in Stone County, and they named it properly. She's got a garden plot, and I've got new tines. I am amazed with how many people love their Gravely. I've never used one, but would love to try it out.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 2, 2015 17:30:18 GMT
The only reason I bought a used Gravely long ago was because of the rotary plow attachment. The older ones with the actual Gravely engine can be cantankerous. The "L" model was first sold mid 30s I think, had the Gravely made engine up until mid-70s, rest of mechanism remained much like the original until it was discontinued in early 2000s. Believe it or not, a governor was optional... You do not ever want to use one of these without a governor. And they had an old farm tractor type magneto. And engine was pressure lubricated, not splash like most small engines of the time.
Unfortunately lot of Gravelys were retired to fencerow just because they didnt have an economically replaceable engine. There was guy in Australia that made a kit to put a 13hp Honda as a replacement in 90s I think. Unfortunately for him most of the old Gravelys were in USA and shipping in small volume to USA big hassle.
After he stopped selling the kit, others developed own methods using salvaged parts like adapter plates from later model Gravelies that used Kohler, Briggs, and Robin engines. Though obviously these parts for do-it-yourself conversion quickly became hard to find and expensive. Kinda like trying to find carburetor era auto parts in local junkyard.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 22:16:13 GMT
We don't have a tiller and, boy, do my weeds know it! They are a bold and audacious lot with no respect for authority. I would like a little one to keep them to their proper size and hubby wants a PTO driven to go behind the tractor (that we also don't have!).
They seem rather expensive though, even the used ones around here.
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Post by Rustaholic on Jul 3, 2015 1:01:09 GMT
I guess my favorite one is the one that will arrive here on Tuesday It is a rear tine one with steel wheels for $25. He says it runs but if it doesn't I will either make that engine run or put another engine on it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 13:44:17 GMT
The only reason I bought a used Gravely long ago was because of the rotary plow attachment. The older ones with the actual Gravely engine can be cantankerous. The "L" model was first sold mid 30s I think, had the Gravely made engine up until mid-70s, rest of mechanism remained much like the original until it was discontinued in early 2000s. Believe it or not, a governor was optional... You do not ever want to use one of these without a governor. And they had an old farm tractor type magneto. And engine was pressure lubricated, not splash like most small engines of the time. Unfortunately lot of Gravelys were retired to fencerow just because they didnt have an economically replaceable engine. There was guy in Australia that made a kit to put a 13hp Honda as a replacement in 90s I think. Unfortunately for him most of the old Gravelys were in USA and shipping in small volume to USA big hassle. After he stopped selling the kit, others developed own methods using salvaged parts like adapter plates from later model Gravelies that used Kohler, Briggs, and Robin engines. Though obviously these parts for do-it-yourself conversion quickly became hard to find and expensive. Kinda like trying to find carburetor era auto parts in local junkyard. Very interesting, John! I didn't know any of that...I feel like I learned something today! Thanks for sharing!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 13:46:51 GMT
FWIW, my cousin had a Gravely. When he got it, the thing was in about 74 pieces. I don't think that he ever put it together, and it ended up in the scrap pile.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 3, 2015 14:02:58 GMT
They were an amazing design, a very high quality and complex gear box. Been lot more them used lot longer if they had been designed from getgo to use a standard easily replacable small engine. I think the in-house engine was part of attempt to develop dealer network where the only place to get parts or find somebody to work on one of these was that local dealer.
The first ones sold less than $200 brand new (lot money back then) and last ones with Robin engine sold for like $5000 base price. $5000 seemed crazy price to me but people spend more than that on lawn mower anymore...
Anybody has one of these in pieces dont scrap it, parts sell crazy prices on ebay. They have become collectible. People want to restore them, etc....
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jul 4, 2015 15:38:04 GMT
My Gravely had a Studebaker engine. Who knew Studebaker made small engines? It was half again the size of a similar HP B&S.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 4, 2015 19:18:34 GMT
My Gravely had a Studebaker engine. Who knew Studebaker made small engines? It was half again the size of a similar HP B&S. Actually its the original Gravely design engine (upped to 7hp) on the low end model through 1976. Studebaker just bought Gravely company from the family around 1960 and owned it for few years, so people got to identifying it with Studebaker. Sure wikipedia can give rundown of who owned Gravely company through the years. Overview Benjamin Franklin Gravely of Dunbar, West Virginia, introduced his power-driven push plow in 1916. It used belts to transfer power from an Indian motorcycle engine. He called it a motor plow. He incorporated the Gravely company and, in the middle 1920s, marketed a 2½-horsepower Model D tractor from a manufacturing plant in Dunbar. Early Design Eustace Rose, an inventor said to have created Chrysler's first automatic transmission, was a friend of Gravely and a Gravely company stockholder. Rose did much of the engineering on the first tractor. The crankshaft of the engine served as the hub of the wheel. The piston and crankcase were on one side of the crankshaft; the gear drive was on the other. The first tractors weighed about 190 pounds each. Model D Gravely first marketed the 2½ horsepower, two-wheeled Model D in the mid-1920s. Gravely made cultivator, sickle mower and lawn mower attachments for the Model D. Model L Gravely introduced the two-wheeled Model L tractor in 1935. The Model L had a four-cycle engine with one cylinder; it delivered 5 horsepower. The tractor could pull two 25-inch gang mowers, making it useful for mowing golf courses and other large areas of turf. Early models came with flail mower and rototillers. The company later added snow blades, snowblowers and sprayers as well as seats and steering wheels. Later History Benjamin Franklin Gravely sold the last of his stock in the company in 1940. He died in 1953. The Studebaker company eventually bought a majority interest in the company around 1960. Using a rear-engine design, Gravely began marketing a four-wheel garden tractor in 1964. The Ariens company bought Gravely in 1982. Garden tractors designed by Gravely ceased around 2000. The Gravely name was dropped from tractors in 2002 although it is still used on lawn equipment.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2015 23:32:27 GMT
We had both front and rear tine tillers for years and sold them both this spring as we have all raised beds now. The front tine one was about 30 years old but ran like a champ. The rear tine was a Troy built tiller that was at least 20 years old. We sold them both for pretty hefty prices as tillers have gone up in price so much. We always kept them inside and they were very clean so sure that helped with selling them. Of all the things to mourn the loss of when selling stuff from our old homestead and moving to the burbs is the old front tine tiller aka "old red". I loved that tiller! I could never master using the rear tine one but sure could maneuver the front tine one.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jul 4, 2015 23:37:18 GMT
Thanks for the info. One thing I remember distinctly about the Gravely is the sulky seat used with the mower attachment. NEVER, EVER, use it on uneven ground, unless you already have all the children you want. Turning it uphill is an experience you'll never forget.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 5, 2015 15:23:35 GMT
Thanks for the info. One thing I remember distinctly about the Gravely is the sulky seat used with the mower attachment. NEVER, EVER, use it on uneven ground, unless you already have all the children you want. Turning it uphill is an experience you'll never forget. LOL, the sulky was not one of their better ideas.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2015 0:24:24 GMT
We don't use anything with fuel in our garden or on our lawn. It is bad enough to have to run a generator when the power is low. This is what we use to put our garden in with. It is so easy that I can even do it (and I can't walk real good). @katlupe Can you tell me more about this? Is it homemade? What can it do? I like the idea! Thanks
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Post by Rustaholic on Jul 7, 2015 15:48:16 GMT
We don't use anything with fuel in our garden or on our lawn. It is bad enough to have to run a generator when the power is low. This is what we use to put our garden in with. It is so easy that I can even do it (and I can't walk real good). @katlupe Can you tell me more about this? Is it homemade? What can it do? I like the idea! Thanks Those have been around for many years. The big wheel makes it easy to push. There are different ground engagement tools for the working end. That looks like a simple multi hook cultivator for cleaning up between the rows. It will clean up a row to plant seeds in also. They have hillers, hoes, V-plows and that cultivator. Those are the only attachments I have seen. I have parts of an old wooden one but I recently saw the parts I need to complete it in a shed at my mother's house. In a video I posted about growing crops here you can at least see the hoe that guy is using. I just checked it out again and earlier in the video he is using his with a V-plow that is making the ground ready to plant his wheat. Also notice how small his wheel is and how easy it seems to push. A taller wheel like the one katlupe has will make it even easier. The steel wheel for mine is the same size as hers is.
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Post by comfortablynumb on Jul 7, 2015 16:05:52 GMT
Ive just always used a front tine tiller... with a reverse lever, they do the job. Once all the rock is picked out of the soil, they till easy enough for a small plot.
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