Rear Tine Tiller Reviews: What is your Experience?

My brother had an older Troybilt that he liked and used a lot. He lost it in an outbuilding fire and replaced it with another Troybilt. His experience with the new machine has not been that good. It does not till nearly as deeply/well as his old one. Finally, he decided to buy a tiller that attaches to his big tractor's three point hitch/pto. He tills with that now and uses the Troybilt for laying off rows.

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I've had a few different ones.
My favorite was an Ariens.
Still have it. At least once a
year, my neighbor tries to trade
me his TroyBilt. He borrows mine
often. For a lighter, less expensive
tiller, a Poulan is OK.

I don't know from personal experience, but I've been told that a rear tine tiller is almost impossible to keep in a straight line on a slope.

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We've a little 2hp, front tine Gilson 'tiller......Can no longer find a brass gear, but before that, it was a great little unit for between rows and small gardens, under 500sqft.

We've rented both front tine and rear tine tillers, and larger front tine will cause me to reconsider a fork/shovel/rake first.

We've also had a farmer stop over with his little garden tractor and 42" 'tiller attachment, that was a worthwhile $50 for our 100'x100' clay garden. If not for the scheduling conflicts we'd have used him again.

Since then, we picked up a 1970's pony tiller by Troy Bilt at an estate auction, it came with a complete service record and all the shop manuals, and less than 1/2 the price of a new one. Last spring/summer it sent the connecting rod through the case, but, a small engine repairman found and installed a used Crafstman B/S engine with reverse pulley for under $200. Since then its been stronger, quieter, easier to start, and better on fuel usage.

Our large garden is on a 10* slope, a little worse in some areas, but as long as the operator remains on the downhill side, with both hands on the handles and is diligent, then it will stay a true course. Operating with one hand is accurate, but not on the first pass, its a bit too jumpy when it hits that new rock or shallow hard spot, after the first three inches are loose, then its pretty easy work.

Our garden spaces:
One area is 100'x100', sloped, clay base.
Second area is 35'x90', flat, sand base.
Remaining areas are strip beds that get turned over by manual tools.

For a 20x30 garden space, if the soil is relatively loose, not packed clay, then I'd say you would do fine with a 5hp or similar ranged machine.
The ability to choose forward or reverse tilling in one machine sounds like a great option, but if you can get a machine that has two speeds(lo/hi) by moving a lever or belt, then it would open up a lot of options for you.

Good luck, be patient, willing to pass on that "great deal", so you can be happy with what you choose.

Thank you for all the replies!!!!!! I would love to hear more!!!!

Our garden is a bit bigger than what I originally stated. It is at least 40 x 40 feet, and we are hoping to start a second garden in another area, maybe 1/2 that size.

Anyone have experience with Craftsman rear tine tillers? I have seen more than a few listed locally. There are alot of Sears stores in this area, and perhaps the reason for seeing so many for sale.

Again, thank you so much!!!!

I have a craftsman rear-tine tiller and have had it for about six years now. Never had a problem with it. Had the carburator cleaned once, only because I had heard that you should do that every once in a while. Maybe once a year I will wash it down, because I want to see the original color. It turns sod into a beautiful bed, after several passes. We change all the consumables (filters, spark plugs, etc.) every spring and keep it full of oil and gas. It runs great! I can use one hand and walk alongside on the last pass. I really like it. We have also lent it out and it just keeps on going.

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Ginny

Deaconjim (and any other folks trying to till on a slope) - that's the advantage of a lockable differential such as is available on a BCS or Grillo brand walk behind tractor. Lock the differential and it's easy to till straight lines regardless of slope.

Unfortunately, the one I bought new from Sears, failed after about 4 years. The engine and wheel drive still worked, but something internal broke. I suspect the tine shaft is chain driven and that the chain either broke or came off a gear. I started to take it apart to try and fix but found that you have to disassemble everything, in order to take apart the 2 halves of the chassis to get at the internal area. I gave up and now just use the rototiller I have for my 3-point hitch of my 25hp tractor.

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i have a craftsman rear tine tiller it is the one i would recommend. ive used troybilt and some other noname front tine.

I bought my first tiller last year. A used Roto hoe which i quickly fell in love with. Easy for me to handle being a rear tine and is a true blessing in the garden. I use to hand dig every year before it... i find it easier since it does pull itself more then a front tine in my experience. Buying a used machine will save you money if you can find the right deal and model. i just can not spend the money for a new one since I only use it for tilling in the garden. If I were to use it more often, maybe i would go new, but this model is amazing- too bad they no longer are in production.
Being a woman, I have o.k strength in my arms and found this still easier to use then any i rented or used in the past. i even customized her, proclaiming "she" is a bad *** woman's machine...LOL-


P.S It is a Roto~Hoe 4 seasons model 990-5
Bought from a yard sale for $50! One owner and sat in the garage for awhile after the husband passed away. Worked great and used it as soon as I got it home and changed the air filter. Just talking about her gets my hands itching to grab those handles and tare into some soil... Hurry up Garden season!

a BCS tiller will embarass just about any other machine out there. They are monsters.

With the dumb counter-rotating tines. I hate it too. You gotta almost push it through the garden. It breaks up the soil very well. It's just that the wheels don't get enough traction to pull the dumb thing.
I've tried it deep. I've tried it shalow. Same deal each time.
It doesn't get much use, in a 30 x 35' garden.
But in 6 years, not a problem.
Sometimes I wish it'd just catch fire. Then I'd be rid of it.
But I can't afford another kind, right now.

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I rented a Barreto tiller this weekend to till the garden and expand it 20 feet. This was the 1st time I tried this model. It really beat me up trying to handle that 430 lb monster. It still 'bucked' when it hit big rocks. I found the forward tine setting was definitely faster in previously tilled soil while the counter rotating tines was the only way to handle breaking new ground. Turning at the end of the rows was hard as it didn't have individual braking or singe wheel drive control. Tilled shallow, then deeper. Below is a picture of the 1st pass where I was turning under remnants from last season and some composted horse manure. I did a total of 5 passes over 2 days to incorporate all my compost.

Happy with the results but for $ 75.00 I could have had a local guy with a JD and a 3' tiller handle the job for me. He probably could have gotten down in 1 hours what took me 4 to handle. The other 4 hours I spent was good exercise.

Hey New Dad - you also got some good experience handling the tiller. Don't underestimage the value of doing it yourself! I rented for a couple of years before getting a used BCS.

From reading this thead and my own research, I decided to buy a Cub Cadet rear tine tiller. I am putting in a garden in our new place 7000 sq ft. I need a great tiller, easy to handle and that will last me until I can't garden any more. I am a middle aged lady in poor shape. I bought the tiller today and tilled 1/3 of the garden space. It is a former horse pasture and is covered with sod. Or was.

Here is what I learned. The CC tiller has a wheels-forward/tines reversing gear. It is specifically for turning sod. It worked really well. I have very few rocks in my garden though we did hit one that got stuck in the tines. Once I stop the tines, it fell out. I have nice loamy sandy soil. With one pass, due to that soil, I was able to till it well to the full depth of the tiller with absolutely no trouble. I could control the tiller with one hand until I got to the end of the row. It is a bit hard for me to manhandle at the end of the row to turn it around. If one wheel was in soft dirt and the other on the sod, it had a very hard time moving forward. When I put it in tines forward/wheels forward, I really need to move the depth stake up to not allow it to till so deeply at once. Other than this, I am very pleased with the tiller so far. I have a lot more to learn about it. I hope to be able to till my garden spot at least 3 times before I actually plant anything - and perhaps even plant a green crop for a month of that time.

The tractor store I bought the CC from also had the top-line Troybuilts. They are very nice looking machines but much longer in body length than the CC = and the CC was cheaper by $400+. I got what I could afford. I am not sure I could have handled a much longer tiller on the turns.

Again, thank you for all the posts. It has given me new perspective on tillers.

Keep them coming!!!! I am really enjoying reading everyone's experiences.

Clove