Howdy Dillard! Good to hear from you. Yeah, I'm trying to get my hands back in the dirt. How many times have I looked out at my garden area and wish I had some greens growing. Ah well, looks like I'll be starting back over with weeds and grass, but I know they'll yield to the cultivation and vegetable planting! Just gotta sweat a little bit.
I'll have to check around for rentals. The closes Home Depot to me is Montgomery (about 60 miles away) and they don't show any tillers for rent. I'll have to look up some of the equipment rental places and see if they've got anything. Something tells me I won't find much.
So the CC RT65 is doing you a good job it seems. I had looked at that one at Tractor Supply. Home Depot has one much similar to it with a little larger engine...it also doesn't list the RT65 as being the model. HD also has a Troybilt forward/counter rotating tine one for the same money as the RT65. It looks like the RT65 and the 18" Troybilt model both weigh in at 269 pounds but the RT65 is noted as tilling .5" deeper (7.5" total depth). I think it's one of those things where the manufacture (MTD) makes a small change so different stores have different models.
There's also a Champion model with forward/counter rotating tines, bigger engine, deeper depth, wider path, and it's about $300 less than the CC or Troybilt. I'm a little suspicious of that one, though, but...it doesn't have to last twenty years.
Having the ability to work with counter or forward rotating tines would be nice. My old Husky was a dedicated counter-rotating, a good heavy-duty tiller...it would work me hard but it would tear the ground up good. I've got no problems with rocks but I've cleaned out my fair share of bahia grass and roots out of those tines!
I'm kinda leaning towards the Cub Cadet now. It does seem to edge out the Troybilt on a couple of specs. Does the Cadet really seem like it's close to 300 pounds in weight? That seems rather heavy.
Rick, the garden is 1300-1400sqft...about a 55'x25' plot and there is no nearby electrical outlet. An electric would certainly save hassles with using gas and oil, though! I'll have to investigate the rental angle on this, but I think I'm probably just going to bite the bullet bring one home permanently. It would be a 50+ mile one-way trip to a rental center...if I can find one.
Thanks for the feedback!
Ed
