Tow behind roto-tillers?

[lokidog]

I have a bunch of "lawn" that I am planning on planting as well as future food plots.  My "soil" is heavy clay beneath a thin layer of topsoil, most of it was scraped off while smoothing the ground.  One reason I need to till is to work in some compost but I also need to loosen the surface enough to drag it so it is even and can be mowed easily.

I do not have a tractor, but have one available (25-30hp w/3pt).  If I were to go the three point route, what are some brands to look for, or look out for?  I've heard that the italian/european ones can be difficult to get parts for.  I am looking in something like the 5' wide range as I do not need to cover a huge amount of ground.

I do have a riding lawn mower and a golf cart so have also considered something like the DR Pro or the fancier version of the self powered ones.

Input will appreciated, others may be ignored.      

[curtdiesel]

I wish you lived closer Lokidog.  My dad is retired and loves tractors.  He has 3 or 4 Kabotas now and does all his own maintenance on them.  They have been great for him so far.  He would love to come "play in the dirt" at your place if it was closer.  We have 10 acres with a ton of law and large pumpkin patches, vegetable gardens, some fruit trees, goat pastures and poultry corrals.  He uses the tractors to mow, till, plant everything.

Curt

[Special T]

I think you can rent one from farmers equipment on Hwy 20 for $150 for the weekend, or something like that. Used ones I have seen go for $500 and are beat to hell. I know it would be a major pain for you but id line everything up, maybe your project and a neighbors and rent it... 

[Skillet]

I've had a couple of compact diesel tractors up to 23hp with rototillers, and have tilled Snohomish River bottomland quite a bit.  The area I worked was a compacted silty loam - not quite the tough customer compact clay is, but still not a walk in the park to break.  Yours is a tough job and will use up ALL of those PTO horsepower you have available through a smallish 4'-5' tiller.  Considering your HP available and the work you'll ask it to do, I'd buy a higher quality but smaller gear driven tiller like the King Kutter II 4 footer.  Since you don't have a "huge" amount of ground, you can do the same amount of work with a 4' in 10 passes as a 5' in 8 passes.  A few more hours of tractor time a year tops to save both money on initial purchase and wear and tear on the equipment.  Particularly the borrowed tractor.

Whatever you do, stay away from the import tillers with the rice paddy tines.  They are relatively cheap to get into and work great in muck, but will NOT stand up to breaking hard clay.  I've broken some Snohomish river bottom with them, and found those tines are marginal at that job and are pretty expensive to replace. 

One last thing to mull over - with a tough soil like that you will see an advantage (for the first few seaons, anyway) with going to a reverse rotation tiller.  It will require fewer passes to break the clods, and won't push your tractor - that's especially helpful if the tractor you're borrowing is one of the newer, lighter weight/hp imports.  Disadvantages are they can bind if you get into a buried log and generally use more hp per inch of width to till - which would be a bigger negative if you went with the wider 5' version.

Good luck in your search-

[KFhunter]

Might just hire it out?

Lot's of people with small tractors and a tiller could do it.  I've got a 5 footer I tilled a lot of ground with and a 28hp tractor, takes several passes for a yard quality job. 

Someone with a good old Howard tiller would do a better job than someone with a lesser tiller, like a king cutter.

[Special T]

Since Loki Lives on an Island I would guess a 4' till could be dropped in his boat, and then hauled to his place on the island then lifted out with a chain fall

[lokidog]

Might just hire it out?

Lot's of people with small tractors and a tiller could do it.  I've got a 5 footer I tilled a lot of ground with and a 28hp tractor, takes several passes for a yard quality job. 

Someone with a good old Howard tiller would do a better job than someone with a lesser tiller, like a king cutter.

Um, yeah, not happening, noone out here has a tiller.

I think you can rent one from farmers equipment on Hwy 20 for $150 for the weekend, or something like that. Used ones I have seen go for $500 and are beat to hell. I know it would be a major pain for you but id line everything up, maybe your project and a neighbors and rent it... 

I looked into renting.  The problem is that to transport, I would need about a week to be able to reliably schedule the Transporter so add $200+ onto a week's rental.   

I've actually found that a friend on Lopez has a 5 footer that it looks like three or four people can lift from his truck to the bow of my boat if it is nosed in to the boat ramp.

Thanks for all of the input everyone.

[KFhunter]

more people than I thought on that island, I bet you could pay for a new tiller by charging a fee to till up other people's places.

[Firedogg]

Use a plow attachment first to break up the compact soil, then take the tiller implement to it followed by a rock rake.  You'd be surprised how many good sized stones float to the top.

[lokidog]

Use a plow attachment first to break up the compact soil, then take the tiller implement to it followed by a rock rake.  You'd be surprised how many good sized stones float to the top.

I will not be surprised as I have pulled about a ton and a half out already....     Easier to just dig an inch at a time than find another attachment out here....       Thanks