Rototiller Co-op?

[Tars]

I have a well-used rototiller that I'd been planning to put up for sale on Craig's List. I have a larger one we use here, so this old one doesn't get used much. But I wouldn't get much for it, so I got to thinking about sharing it around for people to use on their home gardens - sort of a rototiller co-op, if you will. This seems like the good place to post about it, to see if folks in these parts would be interested in something like that, or if it's a do-able thing. I wouldn't want to make it available to this community for borrow, then have some knucklehead use the opportunity to just swipe the thing.

I'd like to get feedback whether anyone would be interested in this idea, and if so, are there ideas about how it could be administered.

The rototiller is medium-duty, making it fit for use on personal/home gardens. It has wheels, but it's not self-propelled. It's pulled foward by the action of the tines. It's made by Craftsman, and has a 5-horse engine. It doesn't smoke, and once it's started it runs smoothely.

It has some idiosyncracies. To start it I take the air filterr off, and dribble a few drops of gas into the carb. Then it starts up fine. The clutch cable is gone, so once it starts the tines immediately start moving.
The throttle is operated by a screwdriver. If a person is able to deal with these little weirdities, the thing functions quite well.

I'd like to make it available for community use if possible. But I don't want to have to spend a lot of time trying to get it from the last person who used it. Is there an arrangement to be made so that people could have use of a rototiller for a day, without having to rent one, and it could be transferred to the next user?

You can see what i looks like at: ROTOTILLER (https://www.rpriddle.com/webpix/roto1.jpg)

[rbulwa]

Ray,

Considering the condition of the machine, I would strongly discourage you from this proposition, or for that matter, from even loaning it to a friend. The lack of a clutch cable is more than an "idiosyncrasy". The operation of the clutch is a safety issue, and there could not only be the issue of danger to an unskilled user, but legal liability to you. A tiller can be dangerous if the tines cannot be disengaged. Even a power cultivator has a clutch handle that must me held closed to operate the tines. This would be even more complicated by a person needing to start up the tiller in the fashion you suggest.

Sounds like you should either repair it, send it to tiller graveyard, or offer it for free to someone interested in restoring it. Just my opinion.

Bob


I have a well-used rototiller that I'd been planning to put up for sale on Craig's List. I have a larger one we use here, so this old one doesn't get used much. But I wouldn't get much for it, so I got to thinking about sharing it around for people to use on their home gardens - sort of a rototiller co-op, if you will. This seems like the good place to post about it, to see if folks in these parts would be interested in something like that, or if it's a do-able thing. I wouldn't want to make it available to this community for borrow, then have some knucklehead use the opportunity to just swipe the thing.

I'd like to get feedback whether anyone would be interested in this idea, and if so, are there ideas about how it could be administered.

The rototiller is medium-duty, making it fit for use on personal/home gardens. It has wheels, but it's not self-propelled. It's pulled foward by the action of the tines. It's made by Craftsman, and has a 5-horse engine. It doesn't smoke, and once it's started it runs smoothely.

It has some idiosyncracies. To start it I take the air filterr off, and dribble a few drops of gas into the carb. Then it starts up fine. The clutch cable is gone, so once it starts the tines immediately start moving.
The throttle is operated by a screwdriver. If a person is able to deal with these little weirdities, the thing functions quite well.

I'd like to make it available for community use if possible. But I don't want to have to spend a lot of time trying to get it from the last person who used it. Is there an arrangement to be made so that people could have use of a rototiller for a day, without having to rent one, and it could be transferred to the next user?

You can see what i looks like at: ROTOTILLER (https://www.rpriddle.com/webpix/roto1.jpg)

[Tars]

Sounds like you should either repair it, send it to tiller graveyard, or offer it for free to someone interested in restoring it.

Good point Bob, that hadn't occured to me. I'll see if I can get a clutch cable for it. Whether I can or can't I'll just keep it here as a backup.

[klaus mazura]

Hello
I have recently picked up and repaired an ariens rear tine--the rototiller co-op idea crossed my mind also. My thinking was to trade rototilling for some of the harvest--I would come and till the ground and would occasionally pick-up some veggies---organically grown--I am in the Petaluma area and need to stay close---or I would possibly sell the "ox" having no garden/ground of my own---Klaus

[jitterbug]

There's a group called Borrowme.com that you may want to check out, Also, here's a recent post from a yahoo group called Cafe Sonoma:

Sonoma County Cafe
Messages In This Digest (1 Message)

Re: lending/borrowing to save the environment
Posted by: "Pati McDermott" [email protected] pmicd
Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:28 am (PST)

Can we use THIS group for exchanging loaned items?
I have loaned many items to people over the years using various local
announcement boards and it has always worked out great.

--- In [email protected], "siliconsmith42"
<siliconsmith42@...> wrote:
>
> I know freecycle doesn't allow lending/borrowing but does anyone here
> in the cafe want to try it? I find it a great way to utilize stuff
> sitting idle but that I am not quite ready to part with.
>
> I found a great sharing site called SocialWay
> (https://www.socialway.com) that makes it easy to lend and borrow. Try
> it. It even lets you measure how much CO2 you have saved!
>



</siliconsmith42@...>

[Si'paz]

hi we re trying to start a large shared garden at the boogie room on stony point road, can we borrow your rototiller? that is if it is the rear tilling kind not the front kind it is tough ground whatever that means, thanks

[Vet-To-Pet]

I think it's a very generous offer, to suugest that your rototiller be shared by our community. I certainly would be interested in borrowing it. Maybe there could be a sign-up sheet (or something online) for those who want to use it, with a time-limit (a week? two weeks?) for that particular user, and then the next person in line would be responsible for picking it up for their turn? It might not be a bad idea to have a small ($5?) "co-op fee", which could be used towards getting it tuned up, sharpened, serviced---whatever rototillers need from time to time. Maybe we could even get it so that it doesn't need the "screwdriver adjustment"...? Anyway, I'll be watching to see how this pans out, but I'd like to be on the list (if there is one).
Smiles,
Paula
Vet-To-Pet

hi we re trying to start a large shared garden at the boogie room on stony point road, can we borrow your rototiller? that is if it is the rear tilling kind not the front kind it is tough ground whatever that means, thanks

[jay]

I think it is a great idea! I have wished I had a friend who had a rototiller I could use! The logistics might be a little difficult. Maybe you could think of it as a library book. Someone comes over, signs it out and returns it within the time period according to his/her need.

- juliana



I have a well-used rototiller that I'd been planning to put up for sale on Craig's List. I have a larger one we use here, so this old one doesn't get used much. But I wouldn't get much for it, so I got to thinking about sharing it around for people to use on their home gardens - sort of a rototiller co-op, if you will. ...

[Tars]

I think it is a great idea! I have wished I had a friend who had a rototiller I could use!

As someone mentioned early in this thread, the rototiller I have available is in potentially hazardous operating condition. At this time I don't feel comfortable loaning it out due to possible user injury, and, frankly, I want to avoidany chance of litigation.

I'm going to try to locate the part that will solve the problem. I hope to make it available next year.

Regrets -

Tars