front tine rototiller with power reverse

[sgkent]

Sold my old 1990's Craftsman (MTD) about 5 years ago. Used it in roughly 25 x 15 garden. Thought we would not need to till again but after five years of no till, and using mulches etc., the ground is getting very hard to work with unless it is soaked. A lot a clay. It has 30+ years of amendments so it is not like the default clay soil here that is harder than concrete in summer. Anyway have been hitting marketplace, craigslist, general auctions and ebay etc.. No real luck. The only ones I like are 1000 - 1500 miles away. Every thing else for sale is either a rear tine, which is too big for what we need, is scrap / a real project if one can find parts, or is a model with no power reverse. Power reverse is a must at my age when trying to wrestle with turning a tiller at the end of a row, Basically power reverse spins the tines backwards to help move the tiller backwards. Anyway, one of the retailers has a dump on some Champion 24" front tine tillers for $400 but I know nothing about them. They do have a power reverse. One of the questions asked by someone interested in one was what brand engine is on them. The answer was "we build our own." So I am guessing they are a chinese Honda clone because the tiller is made in China. Anyone know anything about how well the Champion front tine tillers hold up? Or Champion products in general? We don't have a dedicated spot for the brand on this forum. Need something more substantial than a mantis etc.. Need to turn compost in at last 8' - 10" over a 15 x 25 area that has been worked before but is showing pretty hard to manually working it. A rear tine would work great at that but they are so long that it would be too much a hassle trying to turn them in such a small space.

 

[sgkent]

Sold my old 1990's Craftsman (MTD) about 5 years ago. Used it in roughly 25 x 15 garden. Thought we would not need to till again but after five years of no till, and using mulches etc., the ground is getting very hard to work with unless it is soaked. A lot a clay. It has 30+ years of amendments so it is not like the default clay soil here that is harder than concrete in summer. Anyway have been hitting marketplace, craigslist, general auctions and ebay etc.. No real luck. The only ones I like are 1000 - 1500 miles away. Every thing else for sale is either a rear tine, which is too big for what we need, is scrap / a real project if one can find parts, or is a model with no power reverse. Power reverse is a must at my age when trying to wrestle with turning a tiller at the end of a row, Basically power reverse spins the tines backwards to help move the tiller backwards. Anyway, one of the retailers has a dump on some Champion 24" front tine tillers for $400 but I know nothing about them. They do have a power reverse. One of the questions asked by someone interested in one was what brand engine is on them. The answer was "we build our own." So I am guessing they are a chinese Honda clone because the tiller is made in China. Anyone know anything about how well the Champion front tine tillers hold up? Or Champion products in general? We don't have a dedicated spot for the brand on this forum. Need something more substantial than a mantis etc.. Need to turn compost in at last 8' - 10" over a 15 x 25 area that has been worked before but is showing pretty hard to manually working it. A rear tine would work great at that but they are so long that it would be too much a hassle trying to turn them in such a small space.

I have decided to wait until after the winter rains are dumping on us to see what comes up for sale locally then. Right now I don't want to risk ordering something that comes in a cardboard box from China that weighs 120 lbs. Too many delivery drivers just dump them and drive on. I had another piece of heavy equipment a couple years ago that someone missed picking it up with a forklift, and drove a fork in to it, and the shipper said it was their fault but they lost the claim at least 20 times so I never got paid. Too much BS going on out there. I've got neighbors I've known for 30+ years who are not the same people they were the last 30 years - meaning that the stress of the last 6 or 7 years has ruined a lot of people's lives who can't take it anymore. I can't even buy a tool at some of the big box stores without having an escort to be sure I am not going to steal it from them. The world has gone crazy and I don't want to be arguing with someone about a bent guard, or crushed gas tank, snapped fuel canister, tweaked transmission etc.. so I will wait until I can see what I am buying. Worst case, it will take a couple days to turn the garden over with a shovel and fork. It is California so lots of models other states get aren't available here, and people here don't garden like here they used to. I was in the nursery the other day, normally at least 100 people on a day like that would be at the nursery, and I was the only one in the whole place. Same for the big Orange box store the other day too. More employees than customers. Last year this time they were selling the same model for $149. This year it is $399 and out of state $500. My guess is that it is the last of the inventory that CARB authorized when the no smaller that 25 HP gasoline engine law took affect last January. I could be wrong but I think the extension granted on some products expires in about a month. Last year I picked up a $900 pressure washer for $249. Should have bought a tiller too.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

I have decided to wait until after the winter rains are dumping on us to see what comes up for sale locally then. Right now I don't want to risk ordering something that comes in a cardboard box from China that weighs 120 lbs. Too many delivery drivers just dump them and drive on. I had another piece of heavy equipment a couple years ago that someone missed picking it up with a forklift, and drove a fork in to it, and the shipper said it was their fault but they lost the claim at least 20 times so I never got paid. Too much BS going on out there. I've got neighbors I've known for 30+ years who are not the same people they were the last 30 years - meaning that the stress of the last 6 or 7 years has ruined a lot of people's lives who can't take it anymore. I can't even buy a tool at some of the big box stores without having an escort to be sure I am not going to steal it from them. The world has gone crazy and I don't want to be arguing with someone about a bent guard, or crushed gas tank, snapped fuel canister, tweaked transmission etc.. so I will wait until I can see what I am buying. Worst case, it will take a couple days to turn the garden over with a shovel and fork. It is California so lots of models other states get aren't available here, and people here don't garden like here they used to. I was in the nursery the other day, normally at least 100 people on a day like that would be at the nursery, and I was the only one in the whole place. Same for the big Orange box store the other day too. More employees than customers. Last year this time they were selling the same model for $149. This year it is $399 and out of state $500. My guess is that it is the last of the inventory that CARB authorized when the no smaller that 25 HP gasoline engine law took affect last January. I could be wrong but I think the extension granted on some products expires in about a month. Last year I picked up a $900 pressure washer for $249. Should have bought a tiller too.

Champion is designed in the good old USA, and built in China. I have a Champion generator. The Honda knockoff engines (Chonda) are just fine from what I have seen. Overall, there is nothing great or terribly bad about either Champion, or Honda clone engines.

 

[StarTech]

Too much BS going on out there. I've got neighbors I've known for 30+ years who are not the same people they were the last 30 years - meaning that the stress of the last 6 or 7 years has ruined a lot of people's lives who can't take it anymore. I can't even buy a tool at some of the big box stores without having an escort to be sure I am not going to steal it from them.

I had a local Kroger store to lock up the shopping cart wheel 3 x in two months as I was leaving the store. This was after I already paid for the groceries. The last time I demand a full refund. I could tell they were pissed about having through a whole shopping cart of groceries to refund me but I was also very pissed for being treated like a criminal after the sale.

I no longer shop at the Huntsville Al Kroger stores. Instead I shop in another Kroger in Tn. I also transferred all my meds from Huntsville store to the Tn one. That is over a $1000 in meds every month that the local store lost to the Tn one. Glad I got an ice chest for frozen foods. But it is worth to me to be not treated like a criminal for just buying groceries.

I am not going to be treated like a criminal just because I want shop a vendor's store. For this reason I do buy a lot my tools and other locally purchasable items from known good online retailers. Besides I get better prices and better after the sale support.

Beside if a product is under lock and key it just don't get purchased by me. What really caused me to stop shopping at local Dollar General store was when they demand to see my driver license when I purchase some BIC lighters for lighting my torches saying I had to be 21 to buy them. Then the next time it was some cold meds that they tried that BS on me and I just told them where they could shove the meds up and walked out. And I haven't been back in their store in the last 7 yrs. Their parking lot use to be full of cars now it is like a ghost town.

 

[sgkent]

I had a local Kroger store to lock up the shopping cart wheel 3 x in two months as I was leaving the store. This was after I already paid for the groceries. The last time I demand a full refund. I could tell they were pissed about having through a whole shopping cart of groceries to refund me but I was also very pissed for being treated like a criminal after the sale.

I no longer shop at the Huntsville Al Kroger stores. Instead I shop in another Kroger in Tn. I also transferred all my meds from Huntsville store to the Tn one. That is over a $1000 in meds every month that the local store lost to the Tn one. Glad I got an ice chest for frozen foods. But it is worth to me to be not treated like a criminal for just buying groceries.

I am not going to be treated like a criminal just because I want shop a vendor's store. For this reason I do buy a lot my tools and other locally purchasable items from known good online retailers. Besides I get better prices and better after the sale support.

Beside if a product is under lock and key it just don't get purchased by me. What really caused me to stop shopping at local Dollar General store was when they demand to see my driver license when I purchase some BIC lighters for lighting my torches saying I had to be 21 to buy them. Then the next time it was some cold meds that they tried that BS on me and I just told them where they could shove the meds up and walked out. And I haven't been back in their store in the last 7 yrs. Their parking lot use to be full of cars now it is like a ghost town.

totally understandable. Honest people in general are tired of the cons getting away with it, and then honest people being treated like thieves.

 

[sgkent]

Champion is designed in the good old USA, and built in China. I have a Champion generator. The Honda knockoff engines (Chonda) are just fine from what I have seen. Overall, there is nothing great or terribly

Yes. Seems the biggest complaint is many of this model get damaged in shipment due to their weight (appx 120 lbs), and there is disappointment with that when they show up with broken and dented parts, missing pieces from the box being torn. I had an aluminum engine case a few years back that weighed about 40 lbs, someone put a fork lift right blade right into it and bent a mount area. Heavy items do not do well in the age of Amazon and online shopping. Someone about an hour away posted a fairly new Husqvarna in my price range. It has a forward and reverse, and seems to be based on the MTD style tillers that take so many names, although it has a Husqvarna engine. I'll probably go with that one. Kind of had given up but this one stumbled into my view.