How to Use a Tiller - Earthquake Victory Rototiller Review

In this video, "How to Use a Tilller - Earthquake Victory Rototiller Review", home renovation brothers Rich and Dave and Dave's son, Caleb, show you all about tillers.

There are front tine and rear tine tillers.

Front tine tillers are generally less expensive and more lightweight.
However, they usually are not very powerful.

Rear tine tillers are generally more expensive, but more powerful and can help you till your garden areas much faster.

The specific tiller in this video is the Earthquake Victory Rototiller, which is a rear tine tiller.

We love it!

We just built a 20x60 hoop house that needed to be tilled.

We have many other huge garden areas that we have not yet tilled.

CONS of this machine:

It isn't cheap. About $500 or so, but you could also rent it to save money.

It also has annoying wheel locks that are not simple to unlock. Basically the wheels won't roll with the machine not running unless you put them in a certain position.

It isn't simple to assemble. There are many steps, but you can figure them out.

PROS of this machine:

It tills great! Very Powerful. Can get through clay soil nicely.

It tills a 16 inch path, which helps get big jobs done fast.

It can till 10 inches down. We need to till 8 - 12 inches for tomatoes, so this is ideal for us.

It has a reverse gear! This is an awesome feature if you get it stuck on roots or you need to work in a hoop house, with lots of corners to deal with.

The tires are nice and big, which really helps maneuver the heavy machine.

We totally recommend this tiller for anyone serious about gardening. Might be overkill if you just have a small garden.

We would definitely buy this tiller again. Can't wait to till the rest of our garden beds!

Hope this helps!

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Here is a list of some other tools we often use :
RENOVATION TOOLS - TIME & EFFORT SAVERS
DEWALT 20V MAX* Cordless Impact Driver Kit, Brushless, 1/4-inch (DCF787C2)

DEWALT Line Laser, Self-Leveling, Cross Line, Red Beam (DW088K)

DEWALT 20V MAX* XR Oscillating Tool Kit, 3-Speed (DCS356C1)

DEWALT Oscillating Tool Blade, Titanium, Flush Cut (DWA4213)

IRWIN Level, I-Beam, 72-Inch (1801096) , Blue

POWER TOOLS: NICE!
DEWALT Miter Saw, Single Bevel, Compound, 10-Inch, 15-Amp (DWS713)

DEWALT 12-Inch Miter Saw, 15-Amp, Single Bevel, Compound (DWS715)

DEWALT Table Saw for Jobsite, Compact, 8-1/4-Inch (DWE7485)

TOOL BOX - MUST HAVES:
Amazon Basics Soft Grip Retractable Utility Knife with 3 Blades

The Original Duck Tape Brand 394475 Duct Tape, 1-Pack 1.88 Inch x 60 Yard Silver
Or
Gorilla All Weather Outdoor Waterproof Duct Tape, UV and Temperature Resistant, 1.88" x 25 yd,
Black, (Pack of 1)

IRWIN Hammer, Fiberglass, General Purpose, Claw, 16 oz. (1954889)

DEWALT 20V Max Cordless Drill / Driver Kit, Compact, 1/2-Inch (DCD771C2), Yellow

IRWIN VISE-GRIP Pliers Set, 4-Piece (2078707)

IRWIN Screwdriver, 9-Piece Bits

Stanley Hand Tools 33-725 1-1/4" X 25' FatMax Tape Measure

[whatnotzone]

I own the Model: 33970 Earthquake Victory 16" 212cc tiller with the pneumatic tires.
Here are a few postive observations from my experience. At 212cc It has the power and torque to break fresh ground, IF you work your way down in increments. You can't just go all in at once, for those that are new to rototilling. It has plenty of power and torque to till around 6 to 8 inches in depth. At the depth you're tilling, it digs right in and gets the soil worked up.
The tines do good job getting the soil to a sufficient consistency to plant onto, as well. It's decent at incorporating grass root clumps back into the soil when breaking new ground.
It starts up every time with just a couple pulls. Even after having set entire winter seasons. On a side note, I'll admit that I forgot to treat the fuel when putting it up for this last 21-22 winter season. But, it started up without any difficulties. I probably got lucky and do not recommend not treating the fuel.
The forward and reverse operator controls are placed in good locations. The engine kill switch is located far enough down on the handle bar that it's easily reached but can't be accidentally switched off.  I've never used the free wheel function. I've always drove it around under it's own power to where I needed it. With the weight of the machine pushing it around in free wheel doesn't make sense to me.
Here are a few negative observations from my experience.
If you're expecting a 10 inch tilling depth from this machine, No way! It is not realistically possible from my experience. Once you reach 6 or so inches of depth it requires that you constantly raise and lower the tines in the soil using the handlebar and pushing the tiller forward because the tires will loose traction and the machine stops moving. The CRT will apply enough ground contact force to stop forward travel in the loose soil and the tires just spin. The maximum usable tilling depth is 6 or so inches. More then that and It will wear you out very quickly tilling a large area! If you were able to get the tines to 10 inches (which would have the rear tine shroud pretty much buried into the ground) the tiller would never move forward because all resistance of the parts that would be physically in contact with the ground and the tine rotation pulling against the machine.
The height of the handle bars, when breaking ground to roughly 3 or so inches they're at a comfortable height. Going to the 6 or so inches and the handle bars are far to short and there's no length adjustment to make them longer (Taller). At the mentioned 6 or so inches of tilling depth the handle bars are just about mid thigh, I'm 5' 11" tall. The hunching over while lifting and pushing is very tiring on your back.
There is a considerable gap left between the Right side and Left side sets of tines. It leaves a untilled ridge in the ground when doing your initial tilling work. It requires that double up on your work to till again at 90 degrees multiple times to smooth everything out to a consistent depth. If tilling previously tilled ground it's less of a problem.
My final thought is that overall the machine seems adequately built for what's it's capable of doing. The real question is would I buy it again? My answer is a NO for me. Not that it's a terrible tiller. It's a surprisingly good tiller for the cost to get you going! For myself, considering the ergonomics and how that effects the usage/operation it falls short. My recommendation buy up a decent amount in price point to get the better ergonomics. If you're not concerned with the ergonomics then buy this model tiller and get a good workhorse of tiller for 6 to 8 inches of tilling depth. You won't be disappointed from that aspect of the machine.

[larryrobinson]

Well done video, ordered mine today, thanks for the tips

[kaylporter]

Just bought one :-) Looking forward to using. Thanks.

[mqcotlw]

..well done video and well explained in an easy to understand manner. I would like to have actually seen the back up feature in action but that is merely a suggestion for future perhaps. Thanks again!

[laurieharsh]

I just bought this rototiller and it will be delivered Friday; had to wait this long for them to be back in stock. Hope it can bust through soil that has a lot of rocks until we can get them mostly sifted out of the garden spot. Love the greenhouse!

[gtdude]

I wonder how it will start on its own if you didn’t remove the spark

[earthquakeoutdoorpowerequi]

Great Video! I am glad to see you are enjoying your Earthquake tiller! For reference, the two orange oil caps you mentioned are actually both for the engine oil and both will reach the same reservoir. This is present to make it as convenient as possible to service your engine. Also, when adjusting the wheels into neutral, it may save you some headache if you push the wheel further onto the axel rather than pulling it over the axel hole. Then the pin can be replaced and will hold the wheel on as it spins freely! The way it is done in the video may actually cause the wheel to slip off while in transport. If you're looking for a tiller that does not require this step, I would suggest our Pioneer Dual Direction Tiller. It functions very similarly to your Victory but it can be easily shifted into drive or neutral with a single lever. It also features some other nice benefits!

[kevinpugh]

Indiana wants me.. Lord I can't go back there.. Enjoyed the video!

[jimbojambo]

You will need a lot of water to grow tomatoes in there :)
As suggested below you should water the area before tilling. 16" wide? Going over the ground 5 times? Front tillers usually go deeper than rear tiller. As you say, they reverse better.

[GusLandy]

It's 10x easier if you soak the ground first (but not too much). The "concrete" becomes "butter".

[northerngirlhobbies]

Ours keeps blowing belts, what are we doing wrong?

[phleuge]

Great video! The only negative on this machine is the damnable wheel lock. I had a Troy Bilt with that feature and absolutely hated it. A real PITA to fool with for an older person with reduced physical capacity due to shoulder injury.

[gradyharper]

I own the Earthquake Pioneer and I would make one suggestion. When you open the box stop. Find the yellow sheet, then be very careful unpacking the rest. Assembly is 12 steps, and will take about 2 hours. Stop often to read the directions, then continue. I like my tiller. It will do quite a bit of work in a short period of time.

[rob]

It's a bad ass Rototiller, big or little, it gets the job done

[MysticWanderer]

Currently this seems to be the cheapest rear tine I can find on the net and magically in store at Menards at the moment. The price has gone up and the tires look very different this year. Also since Menards does not have reviews I found this one on Home Depot's site and found several negatives about the tires that are more recent. Looks like a good value in it's original format. Thanks for the review and let me echo the suggestion that you make and post a build video for that hoop house. Good reason to build another.

[deshavetalkwithkit]

Where did you get that tiller for $500 ??? The lowest price I can find now is $727 at Home depot . Thanks Kit

[perryspain]

Great video. But looking for the hoop house build and find it on the channel. Would be interested being it appears different from many others

[onacres]

Great video, I’m thinking of getting this off of amazon. Do you have a video on how you built this greenhouse?

[mountainviewcattle]

Awesome video! That tiller certainly does a good job. Good tip about steadily increasing the depth for each pass. Good to see you wearing your jeans over your boots too, pretty much required to stop dirt and soil from flying down into your boots and socks, especially on that kind of job. Are those rubber boots steel toe? I always wear my jeans over my rubber boots for work. Much better that way. Looks like you're going to be planting a ton of tomatoes this year!

[michaelmoore]

Good stuff. Thank you. I'm also in Indiana. The clay here is no joke. Curious what you added to the soil to amend it now that all that clay is broke up.