Bought a Troybilt 634K-ProLine tiller, UNHAPPY :(
 

My wife and I were all excited. We received a small windfall in the mail, and know that we need a tiller like YESTERDAY. I have a bulging disk in my neck, so digging with a shovel and breaking up the soil with it just eats up my upper back. Anyway, we spent $850+ on that thing at Lowes (will never buy a tiller from a store again). The instructions are poorly written, the illustrations sparce and incorrect at times. Now, I think Briggs & Stratton engines are durable and nice-looking, but I'm wondering why the hell they put TWO "low oil fill" in there (along with the "high oil fill" where you check your oil)? One of the lower ones you can't even access unless you use a long-necked funnel. The sparkplug is very hard to get to. It's somewhat buried under the cage that protects hands from the exhaust. You practically have to remove the exhaust cage in order to remove the sparkplug and its cover. I know, I know, those are peddly complaints. My BIGGEST COMPLAINTS, though, pertain to the tiller in motion. Why on Earth did Troybilt design a tiller that goes in reverse only when you pull on a cable? That's so old-fashioned-like. They could have just built a shifting system (like a tiller I rented several weeks ago had, which was nice). I can just see that cable snapping some day. And, why did they not include a multiple-speed transmission with this expensive beast? It only goes one speed. In order to make it go any faster you either need to mess with the governor (which I'm not going to do) or remove the cotter pins to the wheels. Silly. Probably the WORST aspect of this tiller, in my opinion, is that the tines are forward moving. It is nice that it's a rear-tine tiller, but still.....The ---- thing constantly hops and skips (they should have dressed it in a flower dress, with ribbons in its hair). I looked like I was riding a rodeo out there. :) I told my wife I wasn't going to complain too much since it IS a lot better than tilling a garden by hand. And, it took me a long time to get that thing together so I'm not going to return it to the store. I may just not return to Lowes at all, ever :p

please don't take this as an arguement, i am just "thinking out loud" as to why some of this is as such.

the reverse mechanism is active only when you pull on it. i believe this is a safety feature that would prevent someone from being tilled into the earth if they happen to fall down while in reverse. i think troybuilt marketed to older folks for a while. i remember seeing older folks on tv running the machine with one hand...as if.

my troybuilt finally died this year after 20-25 years of service. the rod came through the case. for the 20-25 years of service, it ran great...mostly. my model had a carberator that kept coming loose. it was designed in such a way that the fuel tank was in the way of the bolts. i hated that. i eventually had to use blue locktite on the carb bolts.

i have a friend who bought a new honda tiller. it is big and has forward and reverse tine gears. i was surprised that his reverse tines feature seemed to bounce on rocks more than the forward. as far as using the forward tines...be patient. once you bust through the sod and weeds and roots and such, it should get better. any rock the size of a childs fist or bigger will give you a jolt if you hit it. my tiller would jump two feet when i hit a rock. in that case i sort of liked the reverse set-up. i would pull the handle, no need to flip a lever and then release it when i got back to where i was. i think that is easier than shifting levers but to each his own.

i am always in a hurry but i learned to break sod slowly and with a shallow setting. i worked to depth gradually. once you get it loosened a bit it should mix like cake batter.

$850+ ???? How many horse. My replacement engine ran $600 with shipping and no labor as son did that. Troy I have is old, how old???? But a Troy Horse 8 HP. I have electric start so that ran it up. It is 4 speed but only two till you move the belt over then has another two. I run in the lowest and it take time to get to the field but can be shifted. Reverse as Meloc says is safety that it backs up only when you made it do it. Mine is on the shift and have to press it upward. Which takes it out of gear. Then shift back into to forward. (I have an old Sears walking tractor and they nevet even put a reverse in it. )

I just had a round checking oil in mine B and S engine. It has two oil filer plugs and the two drains. Then has the other oil deal but mine does not have a oil check guage on it. You check oil by opening a filler plug. But to fill it you can get a fennel in to the one where would be guage and fill easier. Have a plug open and fill till it starts running out. Mine takes a screw driver to open the extra deal. Just now got about 5 hours on the engine. This engine is new to me. I need to change oil. So far I have not looked to where the spark plug is. I do know this new B and S engine is more blanced on the tiller than the old one.

Once you get rocks, stumps, roots and such out it will work better. Then wind stuff up in the tines and has a to be cut out. I had to make handle pads for it as my hands got so sore the first year. And the shift would dig into my hand so bad and hurt I put pads on it. Laugh if you want but not funny to me and my tiller may look odd but sure did help. Arthritis and female and 74 and I run this tiller. Big garden. There are things I do not like on Troy and one is can not shut off the tines. Could on the Ariens. But it has more power it seems. Each one will have different things and draw backs I guess. You can't do it in one pass over.

Troy buiilt is not the quality that it once was, the company was bought out by another that makes cheap things for walmart. I wish I could remember the name.

I woudl suggest that even if you are not going to return the thing (and I certainly cannot blame you there) and even if you don't plan on returning to Lowes (and I don't necessarily dissagree with you there either) that you at least contact the store or the manufacturer and express your displeasure. If the store doens't know that people are unhappy, thery cannot make improvements. If the manufacturer has contracted out for the insturctions, they may not know just HOW inadequate they are.

You could wind up making an improvement in someone elses life later on if you just amke your complaints to Lowes and to the manufacturer....

That said - thanks for the heads up.

I think it's 8HP. No question, the tines MOVE! It actually scares me how fast they move. I sincerley hope I never get my foot or leg caught in there. It's a blur, that's how fast the tines move. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it isn't. Personally I think they should have included a slower speed (for the tines). So far in the hours and hours I've spent tilling this garden I've not run into many rocks. I think what's making the tiller jump so much (aside from the fact that the tines move in the same direction as the wheels) is that the ground is bumpy. I hate to come off as a complainer, because there is no way with the neck problems I am having that I could have gotten this garden done without the tiller. It's nice being able to till when <I> want to till, not because the thing is due back to the rental place tomorrow. :) That said, I about :Bawling: (and I'm a guy) today when I went out there and was able to pretty easily use the hoe to create the furrows where see will go. :angel:

Jennifer, it is MTD. The same company does Yard Machines, Ryobi, Bolens, Troy-Bilt, McCulloch, Huskee and White Outdoor.

We do the biggest part of our tilling with a 58" wide Kuhn tiller for our tractor and it jumps quite a bit when it hits a rock.

We also just aquired an old Troy-Bilt like what Meloc has described. That thing is quite rugged and heavy but the previous owner (74 years and going) said it used to belong to his mother and she could use it with one hand. We will see.

Is it possible that the 634K-ProLine's tines are supposed to move BACKWARDS when the tiller is going forward, and because they are going FORWARD instead THAT is the reason the tiller pulls as strongly and erratically as it does? Check out this thread

My username is the same on that site.

My two troys are are fifteen and twenty years old. I just put two sparkplugs in mine the other day. First time ever. I've never changed the oil in them ever. I'm going to do that this week. Plugs are really easy to get at. In fact one I took off with an open end wrench. I keep them out of the weather in a shed, but every spring when I start them, they start on the first pull. I just replaced the forward drive belt on the 5 horse. removed to screws from the cover and put the six dollar belt on in five minutes. Very simple. That tiller I bought new in 1987. There are two drain plugs to drain oil. You only need to drain it from one side. There is a gear oil drain, and a separate gear oil fill plug. If you add gear oil in the gear oil fill hole, you have to have the gear oil drain plug open so that you know when it is full. The regular oil should flow out of the fill hole when it is filled properly. Just seeing the oil isn't enough. It has to filled to overflowing. I don't know what the quality of the newer MTD models is. There is no way that any company could compare to the original. I do rototill my garden using one finger to guide my tiller. Obviously turning it requires more effort. The tines need to turn in the same direction as the tires though. Otherwise you'd be pushing the soil in front of the tiller. When you start tilling, it is important to till on the shallowest setting and then go back over it on the next setting, and so on. I too have a neck problem. Nerve damage. I can relate to that for sure.

Troy-Bilt makes both forward-rotating and counter-rotating tillers. The later are designed for heavier soils. The smart thing to do is buy whichever best suits your needs. Sounds like what was needed here was a Pro Line CRT, not a Pro Line FRT. A week ago, friend rented a Troy-Bilt FRT to do his community plot. Took him awhile to get the hang of it. Before long, he was volunteering to till everyone else's plot as well!

Martin

Alright, everyone. I feel better now. My problem is that I want to get this garden tilled up NOW, and it's clearly not going to work that way. :)

Yes,MTD now makes Troybilt.It's now the same quality as the older machines. But after saying this, I use a 5hp front tine tiller and it does just fine. The trick is to not get in a hurry and let the tiller do the work.

Today I attempted to till again. When I set it close to turtle speed, the tines themselves move too slow to get much done. When I set the tines at a smaller depth, they don't get enough of the soil. Of course, it doesn't help that we've had rain for I don't know HOW many days in a row. The rain seems to be gone now for the next week or so, save a small shower here or there. Still, the soil is damp enough to make dirtballs if you squeeze it in your hand. When I set the tines to a deep depth (after making a couple of passes at a shallow depth, the tiller STILL threw me around (and I wasn't pressing down on the handlebar or anything) like I was riding a bull. It's frustrating, even when I go painstakingly slow on this. I have a feeling there isn't enough weight at the engine-end of the tiller.

I hated my Sears tiller. It only lasted one season, though, so I am rid of it. It gradually destroyed itself. Was real hard to use, requiring nearly as much strength and energy as I would use with a shovel anyway. What is the best tiller for someone who doesn't want to put in so much muscle work?

I check on my new engine where the sparkplug is. As have not need to remove but looks like long thin socket and extention and ratchet. Do not know if I have an extention. IT will be fun learning how it is done.

My tiller is heavy, starter, generator and battery add more. It could well be you need more wt. At least when just starting the tilling. Are you double tilling?? Till a stripe and move half over and do the next strip each time. So all gets it double going over once.. Mine leaves ditch other wise. I did 12 rows yesterday each up and down twice so 2400 feet of tilling. Slowest it goes.

Colorado, I'll give that a shot. I've thought that double-tilling like that made it easier in general to break up the soil. We're forecasted to not get rain for a week or so. YES!!!

The part under the gear box does not get tilled in the center. Tines miss it of course. I tried to till some onions yesterday and ground too hard. I could do in time but I tossed in the water and then will get it hopefully before too dry. Not tilled this year and onions from last year and horseradish and garlic. In 90's shere. I had watered it several time but this heat now is baking it.

Hawkeye, the tiller I rented weeks ago was a Honda. Really enjoyed that thing. It was a rear-tine, and the tines moved backwards. Worked WONDERFULLY. In fact, I don't think this will fly, but I am tempted to make an offer of a trade in the $850 634K ProLine tiller for the ol' beatup Honda tiller they had.

Man oh man, am I glad I didn't buy a Troybuilt! I'm the tiller in my family and we have a Mantis. Laugh all you want, we've had it 4 years and it is a work horse. I'm 5'4" and I can start it MYSELF w/o hubbies help. We broke it in 4 yrs. ago on 1/2 acre garden. Since then it has prepared 1/4 acre asparagus patch, continuous garden areas (expanded to 2 acres at one time!), dug a patio this winter/spring (l7x20), prepared a formal rose garden this spring for daughter's grad party (10x35) and never let me down. I argued for a T-built, but hubby had doubts I could handle anything that big no matter how convincing their ads were. That's one battle he won and I'm very satisfied. Li'l devil does a great job for us - soil at one place we lived nothing but rock-hard clay. Much, much better ground where we are now. Ohyeah, we also planted 3 1/2 rows of triple crown blackberries, 50 ft. each with it last year. Out of grass/sod. Also used it to plant our peaches (45) and apples (75) we put in as new stock in our orchard. I wouldn't be without it. I just pop it in our old golf cart and away I go.

Well I've only run a tiller once before and it was a beast to run, I imagine most of them are. As for the oil filling, on a briggs you can remove either of the "low" oil fill plugs and with the engine level, fill until oil spills out. Or some engines like you indicated have a dipstick mounted vertically that you can use to check the oil and fill through. Either way works. They put plugs on both sides because of the many different types of equipment that use the engine.

I have one of the old troybilt horse 8 hp models.The only time it jumps about is if i'm trying to till to deep on ground that has never been tilled,or been many years since it has been tilled or plowed.I can't till but about two-three inches deep.Once over drop down another three inches and then I'll drop it all the way for the last time. As long as I till it once a year,every spring,I can go over it once and at full depth and it will never jump about.I know some locations the land is harder than other places, but like I said,where I garden,once a year till deep in spring and the soil remains loose........Eddie Buck

The new smaller Troybilts are useless. Need to step up to the Horse model if you want something that looks like they did way back when. Darn pricey though.
The small things you are complaining about they have no control over,
weird oil holes-different aps for the same engine.
Stupid controls-govt mandates for safety.

I use a Honda F501 mid tine tiller for my one acre market garden and I have zero compliants about it. I love it, but they are not cheap!

For one thing the engines are not specific to any piece of equipment so multiple fill and check points are common... Sad to say but an 800.00 tiller today is NOT the equivelent to the 800.00 Troys of 30 years ago! The good ones are over 2000.00 now but the smaller one you ghave will work fine when YOU learn hoe to use it,

You need to know you will need to make multiple passes on the area ya want to till especially in new areas. I also try to till at 90 degrees to the first pass and alternate between the passes.

That small tiller may bounce but it is a small tiller and you will get used to it. Try not to hiold on so tight- let the tiller do the work and do not try to horse it around. Its all in the learning! And ya will learn by practice.

and the smaller tillers are not worthless they do have a learning curve and won't do like the bigger horse models but in reality most folks won't be putting in gardens big enough for the bigger models... If you are gonna garden that large of a scale you should know better by then!

We bought an Ariens 7hp rear tine tiller in 1977 or so, and still use it. Did wear out an engine and a set of tines in 30+ years. We borrowed the neighbors 8hp Troybilt (an old one) and couldn't believe how hard to handle it was compared to our Ariens. We also have a BCS that we got used a couple of years ago. It is better built but I find that our particular model of BCS is a little light for our soil. They are a well engineered machine, though, with lots of accessories.

My number one rule of buying anything with an engine is to buy it from a place that has a shop on the premises--or if it is used, to buy a brand that is sold by such a place. If they don't work on them, don't buy it there. Avoid buying chainsaws, mowers, or tillers from big box or discount places. They don't have to fix them so they don't care.

As with everything everyone has a different opinion and experience. I bought a Sears tiller 4-5 years ago. You can change the rotation of the tine by moving a lever on the handlebars. It is rear tine. They turn either forward or counter. I have used Troy Bilt tillers a fair amount. Mainly ones made in the 80's and 90's. And like the Sears every bit as good if not better. No jumping or throwing you around or running on hard ground like the Troy Bilts like to do. Once you get the hang of a Troy Bilt they do a good job. But to me not as user friendly as a Sears. The only thing I would change being a mechanic technician is I would have more horse power for the tilling width. That is what limits how deep you can go at a time. You can overload the engine. I would have to look at the hp but believe it is 7.5 or 8.0. I had a Honda mini tiller that was almost useless and the engine was a lemon. But haven't had a bigger Honda. JD

I have a craftsman rear tine garden tiller I bought new about 6-7 years ago. Other than the belt slipping off a few times, which is probably my fault as I've never replaced it, it has been a work horse here. We don't have a lot of stones in our sandy soil, so the tiller glides right along. I've had pretty good luck with craftsman garden equipment (chipper, mower, riding mower, etc.). Maybe I'm just in the minority though. I remember wishing for a troybilt when I was young lad, but I'm happy with my craftsman for now. I've never met a front tine tiller that I liked.

I also have and older craftsman rear tine, and have been very very pleased with it. I bought it used after looking at the new troybilts and realizing that the quality just wasnt there in the Troybilts any more. I got a LOT more tiller and features for less money, and have been nothing but pleased with my 15 +/- yr old tiller that still starts on the first pull, has more speeds than I need, and gives me nothing but excellent service.

If I were you, I wouldnt hesitate taking it back to Lowes. They will simply return it to the manufacturer, which sends the strongest message of all.

Irv

We bought a used Troy Bilt a few years ago. DH thought it would be easier for me to handle. I had the same experience that you did. I am not a small person but that thing dragged me all over the place. Our ground here is too hard for that type of tiller so last year we sold that one and bought a good front tine tiller. It works great. We were told that Troy bilt tillers work great in sandy soil. Here we have hard pan and clay.

Sorry this happened to you because a "good old name" isn't now. As Jennifer said, the company sold out to a cheapie outfit and "This ain't your grandpa's tiller anymore." We have an old Troybilt Horse and love it but when it's done, it'll be something else for us. It's a hassle even getting parts for the old ones.

I'm sorry you are having such bad luck with your tiller. I had very similar results when I bought my Troy-bilt about 7 years ago. At least I only wasted about $550 at that time.

I was so excited about getting it, and it turned out to be the second biggest piece of junk I've ever bought. I tried everything, I put ten lbs extra weight on the front, I tried different depths/speeds. Once I got my glove caught and the darn thing pulled me off my feet and dragged me for a bit until my hand came loose from the glove. It got pinched between the handlebar and the throttle bar, so even when I let go the throttle stayed up.

I never could get that machine to work well. After we moved from WI to SD, I tried again with similar results. Finally spent a lot of money on a Craftsman reversible tiller, (I think it's the biggest one the have, the others didn't have the features I wanted) and have got wonderful results. I gave the TB one last try, taking it out in to the freshly tilled garden and I still had it jump around and pull me all over. I refused to sell it, would not inflect that on anyone. Finally told DH he could take off the motor and use it for a different application.

Cathy

I really like our Cub Cadet that we got last summer. It really tears up sod in new garden areas.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...ser/tiller.jpg

Sorry to hear all these bad reports on the new troy-bilts, my 8.0 Horse turned 30 this year and still performs great. I do have a sandy soil, but used it some on a garden I shared with a friend on clay ground and quickly found it was torture unless you caught the soil with the perfect amount of moisture made sure to take shallow passes. On new ground you can only cut a couple inches at a time with each pass. Back when I had a repair shop I tried most brands that I worked on and for the most part prefered the troy-bilt.