Troy-Bilt Cultivator: Review

Review of the Troy-Bilt Cultivator

The Troy-Bilt Cultivator had 99 customer reviews and 23 answered questions on Amazon.  I’ve read through the reviews and condensed the results into this review. I hope that this helps you when shopping for a tiller.

Best Fea​tures

• check ​Lightweight​​​​
• check ​Compact
• check Price
• check Can get in tight places like narrow rows
• check Troy Bilt has a history of standing behind warranty

Item Specifics

The Troy-Bilt Cultivator is a powerful and versatile tiller designed to cultivate flower beds and vegetable gardens.   It is equipped with a 29cc 4-cycle engine.  This tiller does not require mixing oil and gas and has a 6-12 inch adjustable tilling width.  Featured are 6 premium steel tines with 8 blades are ideal for tilling up to 5 inches deep.  The SpringAssist JumpStart feature allows the engine to be started without pulling a cord (engine starter sold separately).   The folding handle design makes it easy to store this tiller without taking up a lot of space in your garage or shed.  

The dimensions are 32 x 18 x 18 inches by 37 pounds.

Wheels

The transport wheels make it easy to transport the tiller to the area that you want to cultivate.  Being a lightweight tiller, it is very easy to push or pull back to storage because of the wheels.  

A Little Workhorse for the Size

Many people commented that the Troy-Bilt Cultivator was very powerful for it’s small stature.  Some bought it for small cultivating but were surprised at the amount of work it could do.  One customer said that it is a “Great cultivator for a small garden, but it’s powerful enough to tackle the big jobs too. Love the way it arrives fully assembled and ready to go.”  While many others such as the following person said similar things to say.  “I found it hard to believe that this small machine had the power to cultivate the garden and flower beds. I wish I’d of gotten one years ago,” commented another.

Starter Pull Rope Often Doesn’t Work

A lot of complaints were left on Amazon about the pull start rope not working.  You can remedy this problem by getting the engine starter which is sold separately.  It’s too bad that the engine starter doesn’t come with it or that the manufacturer doesn’t work on getting this tiller to start with the pull rope better.  This seemed to be the number 1 complaint that I’ve found for the Troy-Bilt Cultivator.

Lightweight

One of the biggest selling points of the Troy-Bilt Cultivator is that it is lightweight. This makes it easier to transport to and from where you will be cultivating.  This tiller weighs in at only 37 pounds.  That means the the average sized adult can easily lift it into their vehicle.  With the wheels and the weight being so light, it is an easy tiller to push back to a storage area.  On a negative side though, some customers felt that the lightweight quality to this tiller made it hard for the machine to dig into the soil properly and deep enough.  Not all felt this way, but there were several comments about it being too lightweight to work well.

Small and Compact Size Has Benefits Over Large Tillers

If you will be tilling acres upon acres, then I would not recommend the Troy-Bilt Cultivator.  However, if you have a small areas to cultivate this should be perfect for the job.  It even has the advantage of being small enough to till between narrowly spaced rows.  A large tiller would not be able to fit into the places that the Troy-Bilt Cultivator can.  One customer said this about the size and price, “If you want to pay the additional money for a power cultivator go for it, but I wanted the necessary power to do what I wanted to do and the convenience to till between the rows and be able to do the flower beds as well.”

Warranty

The warranty for the Troy-Bilt Cultivator is for 2 years.   I read in customer reviews that Troy Bilt did in fact stand behind their product when people returned it or needed to have it repaired.  One customer reported that, “Troy bilt covered the warranty with no problem so far and has a good dealer (although a 25 minute ride from me) but I am skeptical of the ruggedness that is advertised about this product.”

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Pros

• plus Compact
• plus ​Lightweight
• plus Powerful

Cons

• close Pull start cord often doesn’t work well
• close Lightweight quality makes it harder to dig down deep like a heavy tiller

Troy-Bilt Cultivator  Conclusion

The Troy-Bilt Cultivator is a lightweight tiller that has some heavy duty power.  The majority of those who purchased this cultivator reported that they used it for family sized gardens and flowerbeds.  This tiller is not a heavy duty tiller that you should use for large acres.  However, for it’s small size it does has advantages, like being able to fit into narrow rows in both vegetable and flower gardens.  One drawback to the Troy-Bilt Cultivator is that the pull start cord does not work very efficiently.  That was the main complaint that I came across.  Other than that, most of the feedback that I read about the Troy-Bilt Cultivator was positive.  For the price, I think you are getting a good deal on this tiller.

Common Questions

Here are some top questions that I found for people considering buying a Troy-Bilt Cultivator.

• chevron-circle-right Can you till a very shallow depth, like 1-2 inches with this machine?  Yes and because it is light and smaller you can get into small areas.
• chevron-circle-right Does this have enough torque to get through clay and home builder back fill?  I’ve got to loosen dirt to dig for a patio foundation. No, it is not intended to be used for going through clay.
• chevron-circle-right Does this tiller have to be pulled backwards to effectively till as the mantis does?  Pull back and forward, however the best tilling is done by pulling backward.

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