McCulloch 433691 Instruction De Maintenance

Break-in your belt(s), pulleys and tine control before you 

actually begin tilling.
•  Start engine, tip tines off ground by pressing handles 

down and engage tine control to start tine rotation. 

Allow tines to rotate for five minutes.

To help tiller  move forward, lift up the handles slightly (thus 

lifting depth stake out of ground). To slow down the tiller, 

press down on handles.
If you are straining or tiller is shaking, the depth stake is 

not set properly in the soil being tilled. The proper setting 

of the depth stake is through trial and error and depends 

upon the soil con di tion.  (The harder or wetter the ground, 

the slower the engine and tine speed needed. Under these 

poor con di tions, at fast speed the tiller will run and jump 

over the ground). 
A properly adjusted tiller will dig with little effort from the 

operator.
•  Tilling is digging into, turning over, and breaking up 

packed soil before planting.  Loose, unpacked soil 

helps root growth. Best tilling depth is 4"-6".  A tiller 

will also clear the soil of unwanted vege ta tion. The 

de com po si tion of this vegetable mat ter en rich es the 

soil.  De pend ing on the climate (rain fall and wind), it 

may be advisable to till the soil at the end of the grow-

ing season to further condition the soil.

• 

Soil conditions are important for proper tilling. Tines will 

not readily penetrate dry, hard soil which may con trib ute 

to excessive bounce and difficult handling of your tiller. 

Hard soil should be mois tened before tilling; however, 

extremely wet soil will “ball-up” or clump during tilling. 

Wait until the soil is less wet in order to achieve the 

best results. When tilling in the fall, remove vines and 

long grass to prevent them from wrapping around the 

tine shaft and slowing your tilling operation.

•  You will find tilling much easier if you leave a row 

untilled between passes. Then go back between tilled 

rows. (See Fig. 10) There are two reasons for doing 

this. First, wide turns are much easier to negotiate than 

about-faces. Sec ond, the tiller won’t be pulling  itself, 

and you, toward the row next to it.

•  Set depth stake for shallow tilling when working ex-

tremely hard soil or sod. Then work across the first 

cuts at normal depth.

Cultivating is destroying the weeds between rows to pre-

 vent them from robbing nourishment and moisture from the 

plants. At the same time, breaking up the upper layer of 

soil crust will help retain moisture in the soil. Best digging 

depth is 1"-3".
• 

You will probably not need to use the depth stake. Begin 

by tipping the depth stake forward until it is held by the 

stake spring.

•  Cultivate up and down the rows at a speed which will 

allow tines to uproot weeds and leave the ground in 

rough con di tion, promoting no fur ther growth of weeds 

and grass (See Fig. 11).