What a beast...Good luck holding on to it. I have not had any of the issues reported by other customers, however having been a mechanic for decades "sometimes" certain issues are because people did not read the instructions. Now; The Tiller: This is a wonderful machine !!! It is a beast and the reversing rotation of the tines is a necessity in a rototiller (that's my honest opinion). I have rocky and extremely hard soil here in South Jordan, Utah. I watered a day or two ahead of tilling the ground and then went to work. Over the course of the week to 10 days I went from soil that has never been worked to almost ready to plant. From start to 8" deep. I dug up many large rocks that would be about the size of two fists held together. The machine stalled but I never broke the shear pins on the tines. This really is a beast of a machine. My only tip would be to not tighten the gas cap to tight and do not over fill the tank. This will be all...Happy Gardening and read the instructions...P.S. use a good grade of gasoline 88 octane or higher, personally I have been using premium because ****** only has a crappy grade of 85, and 92 octane...enough said, use good and fresh fuel, always !!!

After about an hour's use the transmission broke. Still under warranty so OK, right? Well, maybe. Took Sears about a month to replace the transmission. We're now ready to till. Unfortunately after about 10 minutes use the motor died. Still under warranty, but it was the end of the gardening season by the time the motor was replaced. (took over six weeks for the replacement to be received/installed) Used it a couple of times just to test it out and all seemed good. Next spring, ready to garden. Tilled my small garden twice and the transmission went out again. Still under warranty but I'd had enough of this tiller. Demanded they replace the tiller which they did. Was a very wet year and was only able to use the new one about four times. It ran fine until two weeks after the warranty expired when the motor died again. In slightly over two years this model tiller went through two transmissions and two motors. Absolute trash. I have a 1994 front tine Sears tiller that still runs like a top. This tiller is junk. Take your money, bury it in the garden, that would be a better use of your cash. Seriously, the metal castings of this tiller are of extremely poor quality. They will not hold up over the long haul. One of the techs who worked on the tiller told me the motors went out on them all the time, though he was a bit surprised by the transmission problems. My garden spot has been farmed for over sixty years. It is soft soil. There are not roots, rocks, absolutely no vaild reasons for this tiller to fail. Used to buy nothing but Sears small engine garden equipment. No more. This was my final purchase. They've cut too many corners. Buyer beware.