Rotary tillers for market farming preferences?

[red hott farmer]

I am aboutlooking to purchase a rotary tiller for my Ford 3930. I am between the Woods 60" and the Frontier 60" tiller. any other prefrences or comments. they sell both locAlly. and the dealerships st ock parts for these if needed.

[agmantoo]

Regardless of the brand I would buy one that will till the width equal to the outside of one rear tire to the outside of of the other rear tire. I like the tiller to clean out the tire tracks. On a 3930 I think it will have to be a 72 inch but verify that wide.

[travlnusa]

Keep one thing in mind. My grandfather used a rotor-tiller on the fields for years. Made a GREAT seed bed, but over the years, it created a VERY hard pan layer under the top soil. Not only does the roto-tiller turn soil up, it also pushes soil down as it works its way back into the soil. Again, this will/should not happen in a year or two, but over longer time frames.

It took a few years with a chisel plow and a huge rented tractor to get it broken up.

[red hott farmer]

Originally Posted by travlnusa

Keep one thing in mind. My grandfather used a rotor-tiller on the fields for years. Made a GREAT seed bed, but over the years, it created a VERY hard pan layer under the top soil. Not only does the roto-tiller turn soil up, it also pushes soil down as it works its way back into the soil. Again, this will/should not happen in a year or two, but over longer time frames.

It took a few years with a chisel plow and a huge rented tractor to get it broken up.

I have a good plow I have been plowing deep and adding layers upon layers of compost 12" deep. So my top soil is good and rich. But my seeding bed is Rough. After plowing deep and harrowing it smooth I still get the rough beds. for the seeding bed. SO every couple of years do a good Plow on the land to make sure my Hard pan does not build up too much.

[Windy in Kansas]

I have the Italian made Caroni which serves me well and has worked under a few bricks I've found in my field and a few chunks of 3 inch tree branch as well. The unit had been purchased by the owner of an old Ford tractor and they quickly found out their tractor was too fast and not capable of using it so returned it. I purchased it from Tractor Supply as a used unit at a discount. This photo of mine might be too large for embedding so I'll post the link instead.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...tilling001.jpg

As you can see my Caroni is slightly offset and still works out the tractor tire tracks.
Here is a view that better shows the crop it is working under.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...ontview001.jpg I have very sandy soil which allows my Ford 1720 the ability to handle it.

In addition to plow pan be aware that a hard rain can run the fine soil together and cause runoff. If very large areas are worked up without barrier strips they may also be prone to wind erosion, especially if sandy like mine is.

Lots of good tillers out there and it sounds like you have already narrowed down the selection. Sorry that I can't help you with either of the models you requested help on.

There has been recent and ongoing discussion on this forum thread about tillers which may provide you with more reading of interest.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/a...-features.html