Tips for Your Garden Tiller

With Spring rapidly approaching it might be time to consider getting ready for your vegetable garden. Along with planning what to plant and the types of fertilizer to use and so on, you may want to consider getting your garden tiller up to shape.

Most garden tillers use a Briggs and Stratton engine. These little motors are strong and reliable and with a little care can last many years.

It would be a good idea to remove and empty the gas tank on the tiller. Flush it out and make sure it is clean and dry before replacing it. Spray some lubrication into it for the choke plate and spray some more on the linkages.

If it has been a some time since you did so, you should replace the spark plug, points and condenser. The points and the condenser are usually mounted under the crank assembly on top of the engine. Take that off and you can get ready access to them. And as long as you are under there take some fine grit sand paper and remove the flaky rust on the flywheel. This wheel has a magnet embedded into it and and it is this magnet and a pickup coil that produce the spark the engine needs in order to run.

Some other items to look into are the engine oil and breather filter. Change the oil and clean or replace the filter. Also most tillers have a belt assembly to engage the tines. That belt gets worn over time and even when operating has a great deal of stress placed on it. Examine this belt and if it has cracks, small pieces missing or appears burned or highly glazed you should replace it as well.

Next take a look at the tines themselves. They do not need to be really sharp but they do need to have a respectable edge to them. If they appear very blunt or nicked you should use either a file or a grinder on them to bring them back to a proper edge. Given the weight of most tillers they will dig down into the ground even with dull tines but a good edge will make the job a lot easier.

Lastly examine the wheels and the depth rod. The wheels should not be wobbly and turn freely. A light oil will make them turn easily. And the depth gauge should be set to limit how deep you want the tiller to dig.

As with all power machinery use extreme caution when working on them or using them. Tillers can be especially dangerous as the rotating tines are right out there where a person can fall or trip right into them.

Got a wheel barrow for garden work? Inspect the handles and determine if all the fastening bolts are hardware are intact and tight. That the handles themselves are sturdy and not dry rotted and likely to snap off when placed under a load. If the wheel has an inflatable tire you should insure the tire is in good condition, inflated and not dry rotted.

What about shears and pruning tools? A quick shot of spray lubricant will loosen up sticky pivot points and a file will bring an edge up on the blades for you.