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10
BREAKING IN YOUR TILLER
Break-in your belt(s), pulleys and tine con-
trol before you actually begin tilling.
• Start engine, tip tines off ground by
press ing handles down and engage tine
control to start tine rotation. Allow tines
to rotate for fi ve minutes.
• Check tine operation and adjust if
nec es sary. See “TINE OPERATION
CHECK” in the Service and Ad just ments
sec tion of this manual.
TILLING HINTS
CAUTION: Until you are accustomed to
han dling your tiller, start ac tu al fi eld use
with throt tle in slow position.
To help tiller move forward, lift up the
handles slightly (thus lifting depth stake
out of ground). To slow down the tiller,
press down on han dles.
If you are straining or tiller is shaking,
the wheels and depth stake are not set
properly in the soil being tilled. The proper
setting of the wheels and depth stake is
through trial and er ror and depends upon
the soil con di tion. (The harder or wetter
the ground, the slower the en gine and tine
speed needed. Under these poor con di-
tions, at fast speed the tiller will run and
jump over the ground).
A properly adjusted tiller will dig with little
ef fort from the operator.
• Tilling is digging into, turning over, and
break ing up packed soil before planting.
Loose, unpacked soil helps root growth.
Best tilling depth is 4"-6". A tiller will
also clear the soil of un want ed vege ta-
tion. The de com po si tion of this vegeta-
ble mat ter en rich es the soil. Depending
on the climate (rain fall and wind), it may
be advisable to till the soil at the end of
the growing season to further condition
the soil.
• Soil conditions are important for proper
till ing. Tines will not readily penetrate
dry, hard soil which may con trib ute to
excessive bounce and diffi cult handling
of your tiller. Hard soil should be mois-
tened before tilling; however, extremely
wet soil will “ball-up” or clump during till-
ing. Wait until the soil is less wet in order
to achieve the best results. When tilling
in the fall, remove vines and long grass
to prevent them from wrapping around
the tine shaft and slowing your tilling
operation.
• You will fi nd tilling much easier if you
leave a row untilled between passes.
Then go back between tilled rows There
are two reasons for doing this. First,
wide turns are much eas i er to negoti-
ate than about-faces. Sec ond, the tiller
won’t be pulling itself, and you, toward
the row next to it.
• Set depth stake and wheel height for
shal low tilling when working extremely
hard soil or sod. Then work across the
fi rst cuts at nor mal depth.
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CULTIVATING
Cultivating is destroying the weeds be-
tween rows to pre vent them from robbing
nourishment and moisture from the plants.
At the same time, breaking up the upper
layer of soil crust will help retain moisture
in the soil. Best digging depth is 1"-3".
• You will probably not need to use the
depth stake. Begin by tipping the depth
stake forward until it is held by the stake
spring.
• Cultivate up and down the rows at a
speed which will allow tines to uproot
weeds and leave the ground in rough
con di tion, promoting no fur ther growth
of weeds and grass.