Walk-Behind Rototiller Mounts On Tractor 3-Pt.

Walk-Behind Rototiller Mounts On Tractor 3-Pt. FARM HOME Miscellaneous 26-1-4 "It's a lot easier than using it by hand," says Roger Leitzen, St. Peter, Minn., who recently called FARM SHOW to tell us how he mounted his walk-behind rototiller on back of his 16 hp Ariens garden tractor. Leitzen didn't want to till by hand any more but he didn't want to spend the money on a tractor-mounted tiller. He also wanted to be able to use the tiller by hand when necessary. So he made brackets to mount the hand tiller on the tractor's 3-pt. The tiller faces backward, with the handles up alongside the driver so the clutch and throttle are within easy reach. Leitzen runs the tractor in reverse, driving backward very slowly. The rototiller's wheels serve as depth gauge wheels, and the 3-pt.'s top link controls the angle at which the blades enter the ground (a threaded rod with an I-bolt on each end connects a crossbar between the rototiller handles to the top link). He used 1/4-in.thick flat metal to build the mounting frame, which fastens to the 3-pt. with two pins and two bolts. "It works so well that I don't even have to look back as the rototiller works," notes Leitzen. "Because the tractor is hydrostatic driven, the 3-pt. is able to apply uniform down pressure to the tines. "Some people have asked me if I could reverse the direction of the tines so I could drive forward. However, if I turned the tines around, their cutting edge would be on back instead of on front. The only way to resolve that problem would be to change the direction of the shaft. "If I want, I can quickly remove the rototiller from the tractor and use the machine as a conventional walk-behind model." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger D. Leitzen, RFD 1, Box 229, Timber Lane, St. Peter, Minn. 56082 (ph 507 386-0170)

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