Fun with New Tiller

[RomeGrower]

Picked up our first rototiller on Friday after work. Powermate 11" for $599. We got it going on Saturday and I couldn't get it to move forward. It would go backward fine though. I backed it down to the garden and it went forward about 20 feet before stopping and I could only back it up again. I was pretty disgusted with that, so I called Home Depot and told them I was bringing it back.

They had another of the same model that was returned the day before that had never been used. The Home Depot guys made sure it went forward and backward this time.

Now I can get back to my gardening this week hopefully.

[RomeGrower]

In the limited time I had with the faulty tiller I did pull some vine roots off the tines with my bare hands and now have a rash for my trouble. I'll be wearing gloves from now on.

[GunMonkeyIntl]

Be sure to pick up some extra shear pins/bolts if you're cutting new ground and/or hitting a lot of roots - they always break at the worst time. If you go the shear bolt route, make sure they are the recomended Grade 3 or Grade 5. You want the bolt to break before the gearing does. Too often, people get frustrated with pins/bolts shearing and buy Grade 8 bolts, which defeats their purpose and ends up damaging the machine.

[RomeGrower]

Originally Posted by GunMonkeyIntl

Be sure to pick up some extra shear pins/bolts if you're cutting new ground and/or hitting a lot of roots - they always break at the worst time. If you go the shear bolt route, make sure they are the recomended Grade 3 or Grade 5. You want the bolt to break before the gearing does. Too often, people get frustrated with pins/bolts shearing and buy Grade 8 bolts, which defeats their purpose and ends up damaging the machine.

Thanks for the advice GunMonkey. I had this garden tilled a month ago with a tractor, but it only went 4" deep and I need to go over it again. Hopefully it is not so hard now. We're moving at the same time so I have limited time to do all this and I know it is getting late.