Taking Care of Tiller

Back when we had a garden down at the farm that was probably four times the size of our current garden, we invested in a nice tiller. BCS Tillers are made in Italy and are known for their quality and versatility. Technically, it is a walk behind tractor with a tiller attachment because they make a dozen other attachments for it from brush cutters to snow throwers. We only have the tiller attachment which makes things easy since I don't have to swap out anything.

They make a variety of models but I chose the 722 model mostly because it came with electric start. I've have spent a fair amount of my life yanking on corded starts that I wanted something I could start like a car. The electric start worked really well for the first year or so that we owned the thing but then the battery died over one of our cold winters and I've never replaced it since. In the spring, I will put a portable charger on it a couple hours before I till the garden and that is good enough to start it that first time. There after with more frequent use, I can typically start it with just two good pulls of the corded start. So thus far, I have just kept the dead battery there because it has been fairly easy to get started. Maybe someday I'll replace it if it begins to start harder with the pull cord. 

I received my new throttle cable in the mail and though it worked, it was quite a bit shorter than the original one meaning I had to route it slightly different. The other one was quite long and routed in not the most direct way so perhaps that was simply a change they made in the years since we bought ours. While I had it up in the garage, I decided to change the oils in it. The engine oil probably hadn't been changed in a couple years and I'm not sure if I have ever changed the gear oil in it. To be fair, the manual says to change the engine oil every 100 hours and the gear every 500 hours and I doubt I have used the thing 100 hours in all the yeas that I've had it. But time and cold are also an enemy so it was due for both.

I got them both changed and I'm glad I did. The gear oil looked extremely bad. Not only was it like a chocolate brown color but it was thin looking. The replacement oil that I put in was black and thick like a syrup. I'm sure it will thank me for it. But it is all done except for the gas treatment I usually stick in it during my last use and is ready to spend a sleepy winter under our porch deck with next year's garden mulch tarped up in the background.