#2 Tiller - What Could go Wrong?

[Bob95065]

I have a CC 1450 that I picked up about a year ago. It came with a beat up 44” deck, a box scraper and a #2 tiller. The tiller was complete with the mount and 90° gearbox. It also had the 3 point hitch and a pair of wheel weights. If you are interested you can read more here: http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=29556

I got the tiller mounted on the tractor because my wife wants me to till up a garden next month. I need belts and it is about ready to go. I haven’t used this tiller and I don’t know the history of it or when it was used last. How prone to failure are these tillers? Is there anything I should do to get it ready to work before I use it?

I would rather do some maintenance on it than go ahead and use it and cause a failure that will be difficult to repair. I want to avoid breaking hard to find parts.

Thanks,

Bob

[Yosemite Sam]

I would definitely (at the very least) open the gear box and see what's going on in there.

They have a tendency to get water in them, if it does have moisture, I would take it apart clean it up, check the shafts and replace the bearings. If there is any wear on the shafts, contact Jeff in Pa, he can make new shafts for you at a reasonable price. Someone on ebay is selling gear box bearing kits also at a reasonable price, if you don't actually see what you're looking for, contact the guy, he has all the bearings, seals and gaskets that you would need. Bearings and shafts are easy to find and fairly inexpensive, you don't want to break the gears, they are pricey and more difficult to come by.

I personally have never had a chain case open, so I don't know what kind of problems may exist in there... But I'm sure someone who has will be along shortly.

Good luck.

Tilling with a Cub Cadet really is great fun!

[finsruskw]

Be prepared to pay for the long drive belt, They are pricey.
Do you have the correct mule drive pulley set up for it?
I run one on my 1650 and do about 20 plots every spring. They do a great job.

[drglinski]

IMO they are basically as bulletproof as the machine they are hooked to. I've ran one on Dad's 125 VERY rocky soil at his house for years and it works great. I've also used the same one on my 147 for the past 3 years and it still works great. Because of the rocky soil, most of the case was loose, but that was solved by tightening the nuts back up again.

The biggest annoyances of them are how tricky they can be to hook up since darn near everything moves and you can get pinched fingers easy. Strings & roots like to get wrapped around the tines and they can be a PITA to get out. The drive belt is expensive.

For general garden maintenance & soil prep they are great IMO. I love using the one I have.

[782CC]

Definitely check all the bolts. If you are working virgin ground, I rip it first if you can. Helps with roots a bunch. The tiller will thank you and you won't be as alarmed about breaking anything. Doubles the seat time so everyone wins. lol

[Sam Mac]

Originally Posted by 782CC

Definitely check all the bolts. If you are working virgin ground, I rip it first if you can. Helps with roots a bunch. The tiller will thank you and you won't be as alarmed about breaking anything. Doubles the seat time so everyone wins. lol

Amen to what he said. I hit our garden with my plow first and found plenty of land mines. I'm one of those that has what I call soil challenged land. More like a rock quarry. Even after that the tiller found plenty of rocks.

[Bob95065]

I opened the 90° gearbox and saw no evidence of water.

The tiller has surface rust. It looks like it has seen some rain. I think I may open the chain case to see what's inside. Does anyone know what the factory lubricant was?

We moved out of town to a place up in the mountains a little over a year ago. The soil here is mostly sandy loam. The area my wife wants the garden was dug up before we moved in by the eptic guy when he put the drain field in. It is pretty loose. There are some weeds that came up but not a lot of vegetation.

I don't have a plow but I wish I did.

[Bob95065]

Picture of the subject tiller:

[finsruskw]

Be very careful with the TEE Bar adjusting handle on the lift. That is a good way to loose a finger if one would happen to have one in there at the wrong time.

Not to mention you can bend the heck out of the fender pan if it is turned inward when lifting.

I cringe when ever I look at that handle, thinking about how quickly and easily that could happen.

[Bob95065]

Thanks for the tips. A hydraulic lift can only make those 2 situations worse.