RotoTiller Question

[JCS]

While rereading the tractor & attachment manuel I noticed I am suppose to be running the tractor at about 1/2 throttle while rototilling???? I did it last weekend at barely above an idle!!! Did I put the chains in the case in wrong soemhow????

[Kent]

JC, I doubt that running the tiller at too slow a speed would damage the tiller in any way. I'd imagine that the recommended speed is for two reasons: 1) To get the tines turning fast enough to till really well, "fluffing" the soil... 2) To avoid lugging the engine and overheating it during prolonged use... IMO, after owning dozens of air-cooled VWs, running air-cooled engines under heavy loads at low RPM (i.e. lugging them) causes them to run MUCH hotter than if they are run at a higher RPM for the same amount of time... Load causes heat to increase, but the amount of cooling air that the fan is blowing is fixed for any given RPM)... If load stays constant, increasing the RPM increases the cooling air flow and drops the operating temperature. Loose valve seats and pulled head studs was often the result of lugging VW engines -- and sometimes even the disasterous "dropping" the head of the #3 exhaust valve through the top of the piston... Also, tine speed is important when tilling. When I'm tilling, I usually make the first couple passes at about half throttle, or slightly higher, trying to keep the engine off the governor (as a sign of loading) as much as I can... Then, I will increase engine speed even higher still (once I think I've found the current crop of New England rocks) for my last couple of passes. This really fluffs up the soil, aerates it, mixes it well, and gives it a great consistency for planting.... At these higher RPMs with the tines turning faster I can get a seedbed for planting that looks very similar to that produced by rear-tine Troybilts (I've owned a Troybilt for over 10 years). I may be doing this all wrong, but it seems to work for me....