Just finished tilling up my garden with the 1450 and the 1A tiller. I have never used my 1450 (or any other hydro cub), as I just bought it last year. I have a 126 that I've mowed with and that's it as far as my experience working with Cubs. Anyway, my assessment:
- The tiller doesn't seem to till as deep as I'd like. My walk behind seems to till deeper. If I loosen the knob (the one that lengthens the chains) any more, the lift will not raise the tiller up off the ground for transport. Seems I'm at about max depth.
- The tiller really seems to lug the engine down. I would have thought that as much TQ as these K series put out that the 14 hp would not struggle as much. I have to add though that the ground is pretty damp so that may have something to do with it. I'll get a better assessment when its really dry.
- The 1450......man I don't know about these hydros. It simply will NOT maintain speed. Yes, I've read the manual and FAQ's. I also did the "neutral" adjustment and still have to pull it down into "reverse" to get it to stop- so much for those ideas. I definitely see now why so many are fans of gear drives. I want to like the hydro as I also have a 1650 (engine is out right now) I'd like to put a loader on one day but man this is a pain. I hate to say this but I used to have a JD 140 and the hydro on that thing was always buttery smooth and I never touched it. I think all these crazy springs and linkages are just too much "banjo" work.
I will say this- It got dark when I was about halfway done. I turned on the lights and tilled for another 30 minutes or so. Those lights are really bright. I had no problem at all working with them. I could have tilled all night, and the tail lights give off just enough light to keep an eye on the tiller.
Anyway, that's my assessment of my first cub ground engaging project. The garden is tilled and tomorrow I'll row it up and plant it.