Do you garden and want a tiller?

@werehatrack those troy-bilt rear tine are supposed to be near indestructible I thought?

Idk anything about legend but the reviews look good and the $200 one is 220lbs, and you can disengage the tines to self propel.

There’s lots of up and down on Slickdeals on all of these. Home Depot is being a little weird

@unksol @werehatrack https://www.troybilt.com/en_US/prior-year-models/bronco-crt-garden-tiller/21D-64M8766.html

My family has owned this thing for a decade +. It has torn apart thousands of square feet across multiple properties. It is indestructible.

It has none of the modern features and is a bitch to operate if you do not know the ‘dance’ of holding it up that would get you fired at any job site to use the tire movement.

It has hit a rock that could take out an engine block. Troy-bilt tillers for life! Literally, for life.

@werehatrack Have you considered looking for an innertube to fit in the tire? A rusty wheel might not be such a big problem if it doesn’t have to seal against the tire bead.

@werehatrack I bought a Troy Bilt Horse tiller brand new in 1984. That thing paid for itself within a few years as I tilled other gardens. It broke new ground, dug ditches with a hiller attachment, leveled for lawns and kept going until I sold it this year. It went through 2 sets of tires, a dozen sets of times, rear seals replaced every 4 yrs, 2 carburetors and a rear gearbox rebuild a few years ago. Through all that, the industrial 8hp B&S engine just kept powering through anything.
I really don’t think there’s any other rototiller ever made that could survive almost 40 years of use, unused only in the winter (with Stabil in the no-ethanol gas).
Yes, sometimes I had to soak a few things in Kroil overnight and/or apply a little heat to get things off, but repairs and parts were easy enough.

@whatthehellever Finding a tube was almost my first thought, but no joy on that search front. You can get sort of close-ish, but the stems are always in the wrong place, and they’ll tear loose and fail as a result. Two local mower repair guys also had other suggestions, but they basically said that the real solution was the torch and big puller. There used to be a supplier for a special puller to get it off even with the tire still mounted, but the guy who made them retired, and the used ones never come up on eBay.

@werehatrack @whatthehellever You can change the tire with the wheel on the tiller. I’ve done that due to being in a hurry with a wagon or something but it’s easier to remove the wheel of course. Soak the rusted wheel/axle in a good penetrant or kerosene and tap on it lightly with something to work it in. Any heat would be put to the wheel, not the axle. put more penetrant. More heat. The tiller must have been stored outside? Get a cheap set of small tire irons & a bottle of soapy water. Break the bead with a rubber mallet & soap it all up. Always put in a new air stem. To mount the new tire I tie a small rope around the tire, tighten it with a screwdriver & it spreads the bead enough to hold air. It’s a PIA to do while on the tiller but not impossible.

@daveinwarsh I have had the tire off, I set the tiller up on stands and engaged the drive while removing the scaly rust from the wheel flanges, and was left with a surface that was badly pocked. Even a brand-new tire still failed to seal. Tire back off, I tried sandblasting, and that made the surface worse. Trying to fill that with epoxy and use various tools to create a seal-capable surface also failed. Putting the tire back on with a generous bead of GE silicone at the root of the flange (and a ratchet strap to keep the sidewalls expanded for 24 hours) resulted in nearly ten minutes of traction before the leakage resumed. When I bought this as an already-very-used unit, I was warned that the right tire would not hold air for more than about half an hour, and that a Troy-Bilt dealer had said that the only real fix was going to be destructive removal of the old wheel. I think some idiot may have buggered the end of the axle shaft before leaving it out in the weather for several years. I have a new wheel and tire sitting here; I just need the demolition capability to get the old one off.

@werehatrack You did get the drift pin all the way out I assume. There’s a few Youtubers with ideas for this. Hopefully the shaft seals are still good after all of this! I’d use my cordless hammer to loosen things up and the idea with 2 reversed clamps (spreaders) to keep pressure on it. Good Luck!

@Kyeh slickdeals is dangerous. Hence why I said my buying one could be a mistake lol. I know I won’t use it today but I should next year… But I never do. Still fomo the last time it popped in

You do not need this for a backyard.

@unksol No, I’m looking at the little electric SunJoe one.

@Kyeh looks like you can get a better one for electric. 16 inch 12 amp sunjoe for 135 but I’m showing a $30 coupon check box making it $105.

https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Joe-TJ603E-Electric-Cultivator/dp/B00V6IEVXM?th=1

Electric is a good option for backyard if your cord will reach. Way lighter. No maintenance. Etc

@unksol Hmm, thanks! Yes, I used to use a corded lawnmower until I got my little battery-operated Ryobi.

@Kyeh i just meant if you were looking at the electric sunjoe from the home Depot link the larger ones from Amazon. Same brand/style etc. Might be a better buy. At least while it’s on sale

@unksol Yes, I took a look and it IS better deal. I’m tempted … there’s this strip at the very end of my yard that’s been taken over by Cleavers weed, horrible nasty stuff. I’m thinking of trying to rake off what I can and then till the patch and try to sow something else there that will crowd it out.

@Kyeh tilling generally churns things up though. I know some people don’t like sprays. But. A good dose of ground clear. Round up or otherwise. Might be warranted. To kill it all first

@unksol I’m not in a hurry. Herbalists evidently think cleavers is great stuff! I need to someone who’ll come and pick a bunch of it. Lots of people into herbal stuff around here.
But I also have a lot of vetch growing in other parts of my yard, so if I can encourage it to grow there, I think it will crowd out/shade out the cleavers. We’ll see. This is the vetch, when I let it grow one year instead of mowing it.

Electric is a good option for backyard if your cord will reach. Way lighter. No maintenance. Etc

@Kyeh @unksol Yep, I bought a small 7 amp Wen from Woot a while back, figuring out that it’ll just be supplementing the big gas one I already had.

Well, I haven’t used the gas one since I got it. Sooooooo much lighter, no exhaust fumes, and zero need to double up on hearing protection.

@Kyeh @narfcake well electric is better across the board. For those reasons and more. But it’s hard to get the power out to the back field. So gas has its place.

Batteries get expensive. A rarely used tool on AC makes some sense

@narfcake @unksol It took me a while to get on the battery tool bandwagon - always had corded electric thinks. But this year I got that Shark battery vacuum cleaner from here, and the Ryobi battery mower in an online estate auction. And since then I’ve vacuumed and mowed way more often than I used to! It’s so much more convenient.

@Kyeh @unksol Electric ones are fine as long as you have beautiful soft soil. I live at the very bottom of what once was Lake Agassiz & the soil is ROCK HARD. Electric tillers just bounce off. You gotta have both the weight and the power of a gas engine tiller to make any progress around here!

@Kyeh @unksol how very pretty

@tinamarie1974 @unksol Thanks! Yes, it’s pretty in bloom; it doesn’t make for a very good “lawn,” though.

@Kyeh @unksol how tall does it get? It looks fairly dense

@tinamarie1974 @unksol About 2 feet; it’s kind of scraggy with little feathery leaves.

@tinamarie1974 @unksol Here’s a close-up.

@Kyeh @unksol
Wow I had no idea that cleavers was used for lymphatic drainage. I really hadn’t thought about trying a herbalistic approach for my stage 3 to 4 lymphoedema. Not until this minute anyway. Always have hope, right! There’s an awful lot of possible side effects, some could be a bit problematic. Diarrhea, hives or a rash, throat swelling, and trouble breathing just to name a few.
I’ll stick with having hope!

@Kyeh @unksol That’s pretty, how long does it flower?

@Lynnerizer @unksol Several weeks, I guess; not sure exactly. The bees love it, so that’s a plus, and vetches are nitrogen-fixing plants, so I figure maybe it’s doing something good for th soil long term? If I start mowing it before it gets tall and strong, it’s not a bad ground cover, kind of cloverish.

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @unksol The local variant of that has a blue flower instead of pink; it tries to take over my front yard every spring. Yours has a lot more flowers, and they’re prettier. Ours is just a shaggy, straggly weed.

@Lynnerizer @unksol @werehatrack I was told that a resident years ago planted this crown vetch on purpose.

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @werehatrack they might have but because it spreads via rhizomes it could have gotten out of hand. If you wanted to keep some I think you could knock it back then put down a border deep enough it couldn’t grow around

@stolicat eh. I’ve let the back field go for years. It hasn’t gone anywhere. You’re probably fine

@Kyeh Hey, even at Home Depot, you can get tea AND tillers. But I’m sure it’ll be easier to find a variety of tea you like on Amazon.

@ircon96 Hmmm - my garden would probably like that, but me, not so much!

@Kyeh meant to post in driving game huh? Lol

@Kyeh @unksol i was about to break the news to her that it was a duplicate before i remembered what topic we were in!

@chienfou the $200 legend is back with ~600 available if you want one. This sale has been weird with them going in an out of stock, the rest will probably pop back up too based on the last known numbers.

It’s worth refreshing the home Depot page if you want one

@unksol
Thanks!

@unksol Mine is still two weeks away from its due date. I suspect it’s still offshore.

@werehatrack probably. I’m not going to poke the bear/I can wait. If you wanted to murder that area. Maybe some roundup

@unksol The weather has killed damn near all of it except for the bahia grass. Since the fire department and the NRC frown on the other two known methods of controlling that stuff, it looks like I’ll be renting a sod cutter for a day, to slice that crap off at the roots and roll it up to transfer to a composting barrel before I till the area in general.

@werehatrack most likely. But for the specs and the price I’m happy to wait. If it ever shows up lol

@unksol Same here.

@unksol Welp, the thing was supposedly shipped via truck line a week ago, and was forecast to be delivered two days ago. The local logistics outfit that’s supposed to handle the final-mile delivery says they haven’t seen it yet, and the truck line wasn’t identified.

@werehatrack oh. Didn’t think anyone was still monitoring. Mines in the back of the expedition. Cause I’m lazy, it’s 200 lbs, and I need to make room in the garage. There were inaccuracies at every step tracking though and then it just showed up at home Depot and I got an email. Probably taking their time if shipped to home

@unksol The weight is important information. I’ll make sure the heavy hand truck is ready for it.

@werehatrack well assuming it was the $200 one. 220lb lol.
Dimensions: H 75.47 in, W 26.61 in, D 33.19 in
It was on a kind of half skid horizontal which other people have reported being dropped off in the driveway. We just kinda put it on end, walked it over, leaned it in then picked up the other end and shoved it in the back

It’s hot out, I’m on my own and just haven’t felt like messing with it yet too get the beast out/together

I saw a couple front tines sitting in the actual pickup cage area on the flat carts. This thing they had to go find in back with one of those forklift style hand cart things

This will haunt me if I don’t correct it. So. Public service announcement and ashamed correction
“one of those forklift style hand cart things”

Is a pallet jack. That is what it is. I knew this and yet somehow… Brain skipped a track and it just popped back in.

I’m not ocd. Nope. Not a little

@OnionSoup
I have a 4" auger I use now and then on my Ryobi cordless when I have smallish things to plant in the yard. My dirt is not too bad for the first 6-8 inches then in lots of places it becomes rocks/red clay.
I was using the auger the other day to plant some bushes along the road and totally snapped my drill off at the handle due to the torque. So yes, I understand your point about the wrist pain!

considering I have had that drill about 20 yrs and it was a reconditioned/refurb when I got it I think I got good use (and abuse!) out if it…
(BTW, amazingly enough… it still runs!)

@chienfou At least your battery won’t be rendered useless if you buy a newer Ryobi drill to replace that one. I have no idea whether the housing would still be available. (Locally, there’s a place that picks up pallets of Ryobi stuff that was returned to Home Depot, and sells it off piecemeal for prices down to a quarter of list price - and drills tend to go cheap.)

@chienfou yeah, a small auger drill on a hand drill wouldn’t cut it in my yard.

I’m talking about one of these. Absolutely necessary to make any dent in the shale that we call soil here.

I didn’t pay that much though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-40V-HP-Brushless-Cordless-Earth-Auger-with-8-in-Bit-with-4-0-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-RY40710/314127852

{VMod edit: cleaned up the URL.}

@werehatrack
I’ve already replaced it with a drill that’s got 710 lb of torque and is a half inch Ryobi brushless. Got it for 50 bucks from Amazon as a tool only, but I have a metric s*** ton of batteries here for the Ryobi environment…

@OnionSoup
I’m a big fan of the Ryobi environment. I’ve recently been upgrading my yard tools to the 40 volt line. So far everything I’ve gotten from them has been Rock solid. The only things I’ve blown up so far are that drill and a reciprocating saw that I used for years to cut down bamboo in the dirt. Finally burned up the motor on that one.
Come to think of it, that was also part of the same initial recon-refurb tool set that I bought back when they only had an Ni-Cad batteries! Totally love the fact that they kept the same format for their lithium batteries so all my tools were still good.

@chienfou @OnionSoup I’ve become a Ryobi fan since buying my great little lawnmower! That battery compatibility is so excellent. (I have a string trimmer too.)

@Kyeh

@OnionSoup

I didn’t pay that much though.

My first thought was “holy crap” that’s expensive!
Last time I used something like that I was dropping fence posts every 8 ft around an acre of property. The front (road) side was so badly compacted I would make a dimple in the dirt, fill it with water, move down the line, make a new hole, fill that with water, etc then come back and pull out some more dirt from the first one, add more water etc, etc.
Took several rounds to get them finally deep enough. Used a rental for those though. Much as I like Ryobi ‘toys’ I would have a hard time getting this one past SWMBO!.

@chienfou it was expensive. Think I ended up paying around $300 for mine. The wife actually was A-OK with the purchase (she wanted a fence put in, which I did with the help of the auger).

I use it all the time though. I never dig a hole without it and I’ve planted several dozen. Trees/bushes since I’ve been here.

It’s cheaper than medical bills breaking my back swinging a mattock into the clay and shale to break it up.

@OnionSoup
Absolutely. A good tool is worth the investment, and once on hand you wonder how you managed without it!. Glad to hear the ringing endorsement for the auger. If I need to go that route at least I will have a better sense of its utility and capability.
Go #teamryobi !

@chienfou @unskol @OnionSoup

A good tool is worth the investment

I agree! When we moved to our current rural location, I held off for a couple years but finally invested in a tractor. JD diesel compact 4WD with a front loader. Once I started using it, I wished I hadn’t waited. It has been a real workhorse.
BTW, I also eventually invested in a (used) 3 pt. tiller implement for it. It tills a 48" swath while I sit on my ass.