What garden tillers seem to work the best, front tine or rear tine?

I'm looking to buy a garden tiller. I've talked to a couple stores, Home Depot, Lowes etc and they all say they both have their good points and bad points which leaves me with not much to go on except someone who has used both.

What garden tillers seem to work the best, front tine or rear tine?
There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Front tine tillers are usually less expensive. And like everybody says, they are normally a little bit harder to control in some regards. They tend to jump a little bit more and are a little harder to steer. The also don't break up the ground quite as well as rear tine tillers. However there is one advantage to them that many people miss. Front tine tillers have the front tines rotating forwards. This helps pull them along through the dirt. Rear tine tillers normally have reverse rotating tines. So the tines actually push in the opposite direction that the tiller is going. That puts all of the forward push on the tires. The reverse rotating tines help break the ground up very well, but since they push in the opposite direction that the tiller moves it can make the wheels want to get stuck and it tends to make a mound of dirt want to build up under the tiller.





I like forward rotating tines for initialially breaking up the dirt and reverse rotating tines for a second pass to finish the ground and make it a nice fine powder.





Just make sure if you get a rear tine tiller than you spend the extra money to get a good one like a Troy Built. You don't want a rear tine tiller with a cheap transmission or you may very well have thrown your money down the drain. The transmission is the weakest link on most rear tine tillers. You don't really have to worry about that on front tine tillers. They will normally run for years and years as long as the engine runs.
Reply:rear tined they do a better job faster break the soil down so that you are ready to plant. buy the best one you can afford i bought a cheap at first and it wasn't worth a hoot they aren't cheap but they last forever
Reply:great question I am shopping for one myself
Reply:I believe that rear tine works better because the weight is toward the back.
Reply:rear tine are less physically demanding to operate. try a troy bilt.
Reply:Both are good. For amall areas and areas where there a lot of things to g arund then front but if larger area then rear.
Reply:I prefer a rear-tine tiller. They leave a smoother bed, without tire tracks going through it. If the tires are behind the tines, as they are in a front-tine tiller, you're going to have tire tracks in your beds. A rear-tine tiller can be a bit harder to control if it hits a rock, so don't buy more machine than you can handle.


I love my Troy-Bilt.
Reply:Rear tine tillers are better because if you are tilling rocky or very hard soil, you can apply down pressure to assist in the tilling. Front tine tillers tend to jump all around and are hard to control. They tend to ride over hard ground and pull you forward.


Even in sandy loamy soil, with the front tine, you have to walk on the soil you already tilled. With rear tine, you can walk beside it, just holding one handle to guide it. It will do all of the work while you walk along.

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