Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Sears Tiller Depth Stake not working

I seem to be having a problem with my dad's tiller. The tiller seems to be jumping alot and not really getting deep into the dirt enough. I have tried adjusting the tires, stake etc but nothing seems to work. I'm not sure, but I don't know if I'm missing a piece on the depth stake. All I have is the stake with the pin, so that once you move it up or down, you set the pin and lock it in position. But as I'm tilling and moving forward, the stake doesn't stay in the ground, it just rides along the top of the dirt and not really doing anything. Any clue as to what is going on. By the way this is a Sears craftsman 5.5hp 4 years old front 24" tiller. Runs good and I just had the belt replaced last year by sears. Any help would be great. Thank you.

I'm pretty sure the main purpose of that stake is braking. It prevents the tiller from getting away from you. Front tine tillers will jump around on you on hard ground. My best advice is to take it slow. The good news is, once you break up the ground real good this year, it will be much easier in the years that follow.

Thanks for the info. Sorry didn't include all the details. The ground is already tilled from last year. It also seemed to work better last year as it dug pretty deep. The garden has been tilled for many years. I was just woundering though if a part is missing on the tiller. The depth stake use to stay in the ground vertically while tilling. This year it seems to ride horizontally across the tilled dirt not doing much of anything. Is that normal? or should it stick in the ground vertically as I'm tilling? Thanks for any advise.

You probably need to lower the stake a few slots to where the resistance of the dirt keeps it vertical. If I raise mine all the way, it will lay horizontal also.

It will help the bouncing some too.

Are any of the tines bent? They might need a little sharpening also.

Regardless of the depth position of the depth bar it should not move anywhere from the position you chose. If you have it installed correctly and the slot it threads into is not broken out then I can't picture why it would lay horizontally. As for the difficulty in breaking ground and digging in, have you possibly removed the tines recently and possibly have them on backwards? Post back with the chassis ID numbers so we can have a look at what you have, specifically.

I've seen a few that do that when you raise them to the top hole. They just become top heavy and lay back.

Well I had some time and looked at the depth stake and the tines and sure enough the tines were in backwards. I pulled them out and put them back in the correct order and now the tiller is digging deep, just like last year. Thanks for all your help everyone and I'm on my way.........

Glad you got it fixed! Good call Puey61!

Good news Warrior and thanks Cheese.