Mini Cultivator

I have a Poulan, about same as Mantis. Works great. I used an old car license plate to make a side shield for it so it don't throw the dirt into the lettuce, cabbage, etc. plants. Only did one side and it worked so well will do the other side this spring.

that is a very good idea......
 
Funny thing...... last night I was talking to my 92-yr-old dad..... he had been doing some yard work, redoing a drainage swale around their house (pretty flat lot, they get runoff from a wildlife area behind their house). He mentioned that he had gone to Lowe’s and bought a Mantis tiller to do the work. He said, “Here’s something pretty nice about this one...... it has a small 4-cycle engine and it runs like a champ.”
I mentioned to him that I have a 4-cycle engine on a Dolmar blower that I have and would love to have one on my Mantis, and the old him that I needed to order a carb for the Mantis. He said, “Hold off on that. I’ll be finished with this one pretty soon. I’ll just donate this one to you.”
First off.... everything I am as a man came from my dad.... my love for being outside, my mechanical competence, my love for running just about anything that has an engine, etc. I thank God for him, and I also thank God that at 92 my dad can still give a Mantis tiller a good workout!

Looks like there will be a 4-cycle Mantis tiller in my future!
Brought it home last weekend! Hopefully the garden spot will dry out sometime this year so I can try it out!
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I have a Craftsman and a Mantis, they are great for weeding and cultivating. I think I'm on borrowed time with the Craftsman, I hear the little gear box locks up, they get hot and they have no way to add fluid. The Mantis was given to me as it wouldn't run, quick carb cleaning and runs like a top, I like it better than the Craftsman.
If you have a drill, there is always a way to add grease.
 
Well a sad time my little Huskee Cultivator bought the farm last week. Engine runs great but no tiller turning just a crunching sound. I haven’t torn it apart yet but expecting a gear worn out and probably cost more than it’s worth to fix. I don’t have time for another project so I started shopping. I started to buy the same one but now it’s called a Viper made by Earthquake instead of Huskee. I went to order it and seen for about $50. more I could get the 4 cycle version. Along with that the controls are on top of the handle versus having to bend over to start and stop it so all that makes it a no brainer for me. Just like the old one works very nice and a lot more quieter. CEAE7C10-7808-4E0C-9F78-D0D129AA290F.jpeg227ECF71-3D09-4F35-AEDC-704D97E9C02D.jpeg
 
I have a love/hate relationship with my Mantis in that it will not shed even the smallest roots and you eventually have to stop and clean everything off the tines in order to get penetration. I love it for the small spaces it can work in like the greenhouse. Real tilling like the veggie garden is done with the Troybilt Horse.
 
I have the Ryobi brand of the small tiller. Have had it for about 4 years now and still going strong. Put shields on the side to keep the dirt from flying into the Lettuce and cabbage. Taller weeds, 6"+ will wrap up some times but usually get chewed up.
 
I have a love/hate relationship with my Mantis in that it will not shed even the smallest roots and you eventually have to stop and clean everything off the tines in order to get penetration. I love it for the small spaces it can work in like the greenhouse. Real tilling like the veggie garden is done with the Troybilt Horse.
On my old one I never used the drag bar but this new one for some reason needs it to dig. Once I found the right depth it liked it dug good. I have a lot of clay and this is our fifth year of gardening here so I only have about 4” of good soil. I try not to go very deep or I’ll have clay clumps that turn into rocks. I use to disc it with a double gang before we fenced it in. I do run the Simplicity 7117 with the rear tiller does a good job early and late year prepping.
 
I picked up a free Yard machine. Put $30 into it, Carb and fuel lines and sold it to my neighbor. He really likes it.
 

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I wonder iof a lot of them are made by the same company with different badges on them. They sure look a lot alike. Kind of the box store lawn mowers.
I never heard of the Earthquake Company before I bought this.
 
AFAIK Earthquake makes mini tillers and gas post hole diggers. Probably some other things too. Just checked their site and they sell a lot of different OPE.
 
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I have Mom's OLD Mantis, but after a lot of work on it, still doesn't run right, if at all. Got tired of fooling with it and bought a Lowes Kobalt 80V cordless. Only bought the tool, as I already had 3 80V batteries. It does great, but need to see if I can lower the handlebars as they almost look like ape hangers, and make it somewhat difficult to use, especially for Teresa being she's shorter than me, and it causes me issues. The batteries give long use times, up to an hour or more even working hard.
 
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