Rotorvator question

My dad has an ancient 8hp rotorvator. I have a patch of land that is currently covered in grass in parts, and nettles and thistles in other parts.

Will an 8hp rotorvator turn it all over without my having to go at it with a spade first?

 

If it propels the wheels, rather than just the tines, then Yes. (Well, "Probably"!!)

If its the type where the wheels are just for transport, and you take them off and then the motor just drives the tines then No.

 

The engine does also drive the wheels along. Apparently, with the necessary attachments, you can have a seat on it, but my dad doesn't have that bit so you just have to walk behind it

It's about a million years old (it can't even use unleaded petrol without the lead replacement additive), so that 8hp is probably more like 4hp by now, allowing for normal engine wear over the years.

I'll give it a go this weekend if I can borrow my dad's trailer to get it up there. Even if it doesn't work, it will be fun trying, I've only ever used it on his allotment so far but it is a noisy, heavy beast of contraption. If it suddenly hits a hard patch and the tines get a good grip, it nearly yanks your arms of it their sockets

 

If its a Howard Gem then it is a) a million years old and b) will still do the job!

 

Not sure what make and model it is, I'll have a look when I go up. Thanks for the pointers

 

Yes it will, work in one direction then when youve completed the area turn the machine and go at it from 90 degrees to that you previusly worked.

The result should be a nice level surface of earth.

One important tip, Strim off and rake up the worst of the grass first.


Here is some very rough ground I rotovated in Late February, the machine is a hired 8hp cammon C8, took about 3 hours to complete.

 

Cheers. Good tip. I'll give it a bash.

 

BTW, I didnt strim the grass off on the above job but being as it was a hire machine I wasnt bothered about flogging it only getting the job done quickly.

If it was my own machine then Id strim it as I sudgest in order to save stress on the engine.

It would be great to see a pic of your dads machine as I love looking at old machines!

 

I'll be taking my camera along.

 

"I didnt strim the grass off on the above job but being as it was a hire machine I wasnt bothered about flogging it only getting the job done quickl"

That apart, there is a real risk that the long, dead, grass tangles up around the tines and has to be undone - which takes time and energy. So I now burn all the tops off to reduce the amount of tangling we get when we rotavate (but strimming / mowing would do the same job)

 

My dad's ancient rotorvator minced up the ground, nettles and all, quite nicely. Although we had to perform so many improvised repairs it would have probably been quicker to just do it by hand

One one occasion when it conked out we discovered that a bolt had completely fell out of the carb, and the one remaining bolt had shaken loose, so the carburettor was actually partially detached from the engine block. The throttle cable came off and the butterfly valve developed a mind of its own so we had intermittent over-reving followed by random stalls, and it kept jumping out of gear.

It was tremendous fun though. We could have filmed it and sent it into the extreme sports channel. At one point it found firm ground before I did, and proceeded to drag me down the hill at a fair sprint trying to get it back under control before I fell over and the machine proceeded to do a rather impressive stunt all on its own before falling over While my dad was using it it found firm ground and did a rather stylish wheelie before my dad thought to pull the clutch.

All in all though, it could be described as a success. The ground is now ready for planting, and my dad and I still have all our bits attached. Job well done I reckon.

 

Sounds a good result!

They can be fun, with the new machines everything stops if you let go of the dead man's leaver but if it runs away with you the desire (for me anyway) is to hang on to the machine!!!

 

"dead man's leaver"

Would that it was so simple :(

Depress top bar. Engage rotors. Rotors now spinning, but we don't have any forward drive yet.

Depress bottom bar as well. Now the spinning rotors can dig, and also have forward propulsion. Hooray!

But its a bit health-and-safety + gone-mad :(

 

A health and safety inspector would have had a field day if they saw how my dad and I were working. His rotorvator pre-dates any safety features (ok, it does have a guard plates over the tines but the bolt that held it on shook itself free several times and given the unreliable nature of the engine we didn't stop to fix it back on until the next inevitable engine failure). The throttle control was just a lever in a not so convenient location, until that went from nearly useless to completely useless when the cable became detached from the carburettor. The clutch is almost pointless, as it only sometimes disengaged the drive wheels, and the engine cut-off switch is actually on the engine, not much use considering you can't reach it from the handlebars. The only thing that even comes close to suiting the name 'dead man's leaver' would be the gear leaver that you had to wrestle with while leaning forward over the machine with your arm uncomfortably close to a moving drive belt and a large spinning flywheel, and your feet uncomfortably close to the tines that you are trying to engage.

 

suprised your Dad still has all his fingers and toes, has he?