Tiller for 1250

[first7letters]

Hi,

I will be looking at a Cub Cadet 1250 with a tiller this afternoon. I'm not quite sure which tiller the guy has, but he said it was 42". This will be my 3rd season running a 3 acre CSA and Market farm and I need rototiller for bed prep. We currently have access to row crop tractors so primary tillage is taken care of, I just need something to A) prepare a fine seed bed for those smaller veggie seeds, B) re-prepare beds after a crop is harvested to either replant to a veggie crop or cover crop.

I think the 'best' option for a farm my scale would be a BCS or Grillo walk behind tractor, but they are easily $3500, hard to find used in the Mid-West, and imported from Italy so I worry about the cost to repair them. My main concern with a Cub Cadet mounted tiller is its ability to handle ground that has seen a couple months of rain after a harvested crop. Do these tillers have enough guts to work up clay/ loam with some vegetation, especially later in the season? The guy is thinking it will be $1000-1200, which is much cheaper than a walking tractor, but if it doesn't really cut it, the savings will be moot.

any thoughts...

[CADplans]

I have tried a belt and a shaft drive rear tiller. Whether they work great depends on soil conditions.

GT tillers are a little light for tight soil, but work great in loose soil.

No rotary tiller does tall standing weeds well without wrapping the weeds some.

Plan on mowing first if you want to save a lot of time cutting and pulling vegetation off the tines.

I do not like how wide a GT tiller is, too much lost row width, so I do not own one.

Mid teason tiling is a breeze with a Gravely walking tractor, and they are priced right, if you can find one, I found two last year, I am set for LIFE!!

[ACecil]

Welcome to OCC! Hope you get the 1250 and tiller.

[finsruskw]

You should be able to pick up a used tiller in good shape I would think for somewhere around $200-$400 depending of course on the condition, time of year and location.

That being said, that would be a fair price I would think for that package, Especially if the 1250 is in great shape and especially so if it has the optional on 1250's, hydraulic lift.
If not, it will at least have the manual lift, HOPEFULLY with a spring assist!

Be sure to inspect it closely and pay special attn' to the the gear box shafts and bearings. Check for loose and sloppy bearings and seals. The boxes are not cheap to rebuild if you use quality parts. Shafts are all but non-existant.

Make sure it has the correct mule drive (it should) as well as the correct pulleys and belts, (they are pricey as well) . There should also be a belt guide for under the trans housing as well as a cover/guard (important) for the main (short) drive pulley as well as a center tooth between the tines to loosen the ridge that they do not cover.

Make sure it has a good working PTO, I'd ask for a demonstration if at all possible.
Good Luck

[Cubcrazy]

Welcome to OCC!
The GT tillers work pretty darn good. I personally like the #1 and #1A tillers that have the extensions that can be mounted on either side. The initial tilling I have both extensions on to make a wider swath and then I pull the extensions off and just leave the main tiller section which is around 28" so I can still go between the rows. My 0.02.

[finsruskw]

So, How did this turn out??

[first7letters]

It turns out the guy had a CC 147 with tiller. It ran when he put a new spark plug in, but he's going to give the machine a complete tune up. It has an electric motor for raising and lowing the tiller, which he says is the weak link to the whole machine. We're also going to put on a spring assist. All said in done it will be around $1100 with tiller. I'm really happy that we found this, and Bob seems to know his way around lawn tractors, he tractor pulls them. I think it will work for us for now since we have access to tractors for primary tillage. Down the road when we have our own farm we'll need to figure out the appropriate machine, but we're still figuring out how much acreage we need to run to make a living. Thanks for everyone's comments!

[Cubcrazy]

Thanks for the update!

[ACecil]

Originally Posted by Cubcrazy

Thanks for the update!

X2!