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Read articles →This is a real-world job diary, not a spec review: Tim uses his John Deere 1025R and rear tiller to till a rocky, rough-graded 3-4 acre yard for a customer, over multiple evening sessions. It candidly discusses where the 1025R runs out of horsepower, cruise control limits when pulling hard, tiller hop on rocks, and stripped-topsoil soil problems. Good for owners curious how a sub-compact handles a job this size, not a buying guide.
An owner-operator sharing hands-on, unscripted impressions from an actual paid tilling job on his own equipment.
Yes, but slowly. Tim says Johnny can still get the job done fine, though a 40 or 50 horsepower tractor with a bigger tiller or pull-type disc would do it faster.
The hopping happens when the tiller hits rocks in the yard, which was full of them because a delivered load of fill dirt was mostly rocks instead of topsoil.
Pulling hard in wet, sod-heavy soil meant the engine kept pulling down, nearly stopping, and cruise control was hard to disengage without pressing the accelerator harder.
The clay subsoil left behind tills very differently and more poorly than soil with topsoil still present, which is visibly darker and easier to work.
