Customer Reviews

Troy-Bilt 21A645A766 Pro-Line 160cc Honda Engine Rear Tine Tiller

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, I should mention that I grew up running my dad's big Troy-Bilt forward rotating tine tiller. As a very young lad, I could handle the tiller with ease, and with only one hand on the handle. The tiller did all the work and needed very little human interaction. It served our family for 20 or 30 years. I have always been a great fan of Troy-Bilt tillers because of that experience, and that tiller will be a point of reference for this review.

Thinking the counter-rotating tine idea sounded like it would work well, I decided to try it in my garden. After a short time working with the new tiller, I decided that the "counter-rotating" should be changed to "counter-productive." I ran into two major drawbacks.

1) I found it almost impossible to keep the tiller headed in a straight line, even at a very shallow tilling depth. Because the tines work against the forward motion of the machine, any slight divot or furrow would send it off on a tangent, especially if the back end was hitting any hard dirt, causing the back end to bounce. Any time I would run onto an obstacle, such as a corn root from last year, the tiller wheels would dig in and the tines could not dig into or go past the root. I would have to lift the back end to get it to continue on. With a forward rotation, the tiller would just continue forward and perhaps lift itself over the root, but within a couple of passes it would chop it up, rather than getting stuck on it and sending the tiller on a curvy path. Even after a couple of passes, I found that I almost had to push the tiller to keep it moving in a forward direction.

2) I like to put organic material on the garden at the end of the season and till it in, such as the straw and manure from the chicken coop. With the CRT tines, the tines push this type of material forward and up rather than down and back, so soon the space between the shroud and the wheels is clogged, and the tires grab it as it is constantly pushed forward from the tines, so within about ten feet, the space between the frame and the wheels and the shroud and the wheels is clogged so tight with material that it won't hardly move, so I had to stop a couple times on every pass to unclog it.

Summary: This tiller is not meant for gardening. It took me at least four times as long to do anything with it than it should have, with inferior results. The inability to till in organic materials is a serious problem. The machine's inability to keep moving forward and in a straight line is very crippling to productivity. The counter rotating tines also seemed to transfer a lot more vibration to the operator. My hands were numb after running it for a while. I had no problem with the Honda motor or the power of the machine, which ran without a hitch (thus the two stars,) but it was just too hard to get anything done!

Thank goodness I bought it at Lowe's and they took it back!

I was going back and forth on this...whether or not to pay the extra dollars for the "Honda name". Several retailers offer a comparable product with more horesepower for similar prices. Well, the gamble was certainly worth it. After renting tillers year in and year out for various landscaping projects, this one measures up against bigger, more combersome units. At 5 HP, this unit delivers an incredible amount of power and is extremely maneuverable. The power forward/power reverse features are absolute life savers. My soil is the typical heavy Colorado clay and this tiller blew right through it. I can't wait to find more projects to use it on.

Highly reccomended!

Works fantastic in some soils, Plenty of horsepower and mixes the earth to a fine soft texture. Normally it would be a great machine except when trying to till clay soils or soils with vegatation. The reverse turning tines pulls the vegatation to the front and builds up under the deck requiring frequent clean outs. The clay soil builds up under the depth guage and raises the tines out of the ground requiring clean out also.
But if you have a clean sandy soil I have found this to be a real good tiller.

Like many of you I bought this for my garden, but unlike a few of you I understand the correct way to use it. 1 - Don't till to deep when you first start out; 2 - Don't till wet soil as you're only asking for trouble; and 3 - Read and follow all the instructions! Trust me you'll be glad you did!

The video that many of you have seen online of this tiller at work is that of a prepared plating bed being tilled. Not one that is just at the beginning of its preparation. This tiller is for small gardens so if you want a Troy-Bilt tiller to farm with then you should look at the Horse model as it has lots of POWER!

Also, the current Amazon price is $50.00 over the MSRP. Lowe's sells this tiller for $729.00 with FREE shipping to the store. So does Ace Hardware and a few other stores out there! So shop around unless Amazon lowers their price first.

Another reviewer calls this tiller counter productive. They are absolutely correct. The counter rotating tines prevent the tiller from going forward and cause it to veer off course. Compared to the quality of old Troy-bilts this is a shoddy machine. The tines break like they were made of glass. The customer service is terrible. I ordered two right hand tines and was sent two left hand tines. I had to pay $10 shipping to get the wrong parts, pay $10 more to return them, and pay another $10 to get the correct ones. I was told by the customer service rep that that was MTD's policy. The only quality on this machine is the Honda engine. You will be more productive with a $10 hoe.

The Troy-bilt was the only tiller we found with a cast metal chassis with bearings and direct drive gears running in oil. This is how a real farm tractor is constructed. The other tiller chassis' are two piece sheet metal held together with sheet metal screws. However Troy-bilt does not have all the bells and whistles of these other tillers. The counter rotating tines do, as a couple reviewer state, tend to forward push soil if the wheels spin. I found this was due to too wet a soil and not enough weight on the tires. I simply put twenty pounds of weight on the bumper by zip tying two ten pound bar bell disks protected with a carpet scrap. This gave the unit much better traction/less wheel spin. This also allowed the machine to pivot forward when you have to dislodge the inevitable build up of underground roots and wild berry vines. I was then able to till 1/2 wild acres in about 3 hours, stopping only to clears out the long roots. The trick is not to fight the machine or dig too deep at first. Its not going to give perfect soil in just one pass! The big test came when it hit rocks. It just bumped or kicked them out of the way. This would have deformed the chassis of lesser tillers. My mechanic friend said that is why the other tillers eventually start leaking grease within a couple of years. It does tend to off track toward the down hill when traverse tilling a slope, and tills easier down hill than up. But smaller and lighter allowed me to get it into the fenced garden and into the raised beds. What took several hours bed prep was reduced to less than 1/2 hour. The 16 inch width will get it between corn rows too. Love this machine! The Honda engine is quieter than the others and starts first pull every time and uses less fuel that my similar equipment. If you want long life and low maintenance get this one. Bells, whistles, weight and future headaches-the others.

The Troy-Bilt Pro-Line 5.0 HP Rear Tine Tiller did all they said it would do and more! I have used a front tine Honda tiller for 20 years and was pleased with its service, but it couldn't dig down 6 inches in the red clay soil that is common in my area of Central Virginia. This new tiller with the Honda 5 HP engine has plenty of power to keep on digging and enough weight to go deep.

The only problem I had was on hills, I couldn't go straight up the hill because the wheels would slip in the mud. I was able to go with the contour and till 6 inches deep. The powered wheels make it possible to dig at a good pace. It may be that I need to wait until the ground dries out more before tackling the hills directly.

The size and power is judt right for my 30 by 100 ft. garden. The Honda motor starts up on one pull and the convience components are very helpful. The quick and easy pin position clip allows for eacy changes between free wheel movement and ingear movement. This allows for moving the tiller much easier when it is not running. Also, very helpful is the bars on the front that allow you to pull the tiller into a shed when you have to move/pull over a step or maneuver into a tight corner.

I am a true believer of honda motors. This tiller tills will ease and the 5hp honda motor has plenty of power and is very quiet. I went from a front tine tiller to this rear tine and I will never go back.
Recommended!!!!