Craftsman  31cc* 2-Cycle Mini Tiller

After 2 uses of 4 hours each over 2 years, had to get new carb, pull cord and **** plastic pull cord related parts. The cord breaks because there is a plastic, spring-loaded roller assembly that wears through due to friction. The rollers freeze, the cord wears them down, even the plastic shaft inside, almost clean through.

We purchased this tiller for general light duty use. I have had it 2 years and its been serviced already. The pull cord has had to be replaced already. When things get stuck, like rocks they are very hard to clear. My next tiller will be a different brand.

Let?s start off by reminding you that it is a 2 stroke motor, which means you have to mix the fuel. They give you a small bottle to make 1 Gal for starters. This well be more than enough. It is really easy to start, once you prim it. May take a few pulls to get it going. This is NOT a heavy duty tiller as you can read by others, but I just have to say that it can do the job like the Big Boys. You just have to learn how it moves. It well go through small roots 1 1/2" round. Just have to run it easy so it can cut through. Long weeds will get bound up in the tines. It?s very easy to pull off from the tines and clean out, please turn it off when doing this. I'm so glad I bought this tiller, cut my work in half and works like a champ. It's much easier to use than the claw, to till your garden at first. Use the claw after, for easy weed removal. I hope this review helped you in your decision.

I bought this tiller because I didn't have the space to store a bigger one, and only needed it for a small garden. I was worried because I was going to be breaking new ground, and honestly I thought it would be cheaply made because of the price. I have owned this tiller for about a month now and couldn't be happier with it. I tilled up a 16ftx16ft garden and 8 flower beds and never had one issue. This product renewed my loyalty to Craftsman and I later purchased a chainsaw that had some bad reviews, because i figured if it was as good a product as this was people are just stupid!

I've had this machine for about 3 years now. First season, worked great. Second season, hard to start but got it running. This season, no go. Replaced fuel lines, cleaned spark plug, and used an entire can of carb cleaner trying to get it to run. Took the air filter off and used another can of carb cleaner directly in the carberator which made it run a little but it. This is a simple machine and there can only be 2 problems, fuel or fire. It has fire but not getting fuel. Parts to repair would be about $70 which is more than I want to spend on a sub $200 machine. I am going to throw this one out and get the attachment for my weed eater which is run more often and does not have the problems associated with a machine sitting most of the year. On a side note, I'm not an idiot who leaves fuel in a machine that is going to sit in my garage 10 months out of the year. I always use stabil in my fuels, drain my fuel before storage and run them completely out of fuel before storage. I know there are more things I could do to prevent gumming up the fuel system but I feel this should be all I should have to do. Heck, I have a blower I found with fuel in it that sat for years and it started on the 3rd pull.

Very good item and very valious price . vWork in the way i was expecting

First of all, it is a 2 stroke motor, which means fuel must be mixed precisely. It is really easy to start. It has some sort of easy pull mechanism. This is NOT a heavy duty tiller, really only for small gardens and flower beds. I did notice that big rock and long weeds will get bound up in the tines, but its easy to pull off the tines and clean out. I am glad I bought this tiller with no regrets and works like a champ. Seems like this tiller has a bigger engine compared to the mantis tiller (31cc v. 21cc) and is considerably cheaper, especially when it goes on sale. It is much easier to use this tiller than pulling weeds by hand. Just as a ROUGH estimate about 17cc = 1 hp.

This tiller is ok for small jobs but when tilling hard/very dry soil it shakes a lot. Also you have to be careful if roots get tangle in the blade it is hard to take off to the point that sometimes you need to take off the blades.

I purchased this product to handle smaller tilling jobs for above-ground gardens and my wife's wildflower garden which is on a slope and important to maintain that incline. It has far surpassed my expectations. The only glitch I have had is a little flooding problem once. The tines remove easily for clearing and reforming, if necessary. The start-up is usually one or two pulls (except for that one flooding issue). I did find that it can chop bamboo roots which are pretty thick. I was pleased with that because there was some bamboo trying to grow in from my neighbors yard under our fence. I don't know how useful this review will be, as I was told by the sales associate that this model was being discontinued and he sold me the floor model. Perhaps it is similar to the Craftsman replacement unit that they plan and this will apply.

I just bought this with the intention of tilling already prepared garden beds for spring planting. ( It's my understanding that for breaking new gound this type of tiller is not appropriate.) I got it home, gassed it up and it started right up. The unit is lightweight and easy to operate. Some have complained about the balance (it doesn't like to stand up on its own). another way to look at that is, during operation, the weight is centered back away from the tine end of the machine making it easier to manuver in the garden. I did a good job of breaking the soil and even removed a lot of roots. I had to pull them out of the tines a few times but this is fine as I want as much of that out of the garden as possible. One tip: It's a small engine so it's important to get the revs up before getting the tines into the earth otherwise the motor will stall. All in all I'd say this was a good buy especially since I got it on sale. It is a two stroke and they can be tempermental but the price of 4-stoke models is still out of my range and the electrics wouldn't work for me as my gardens are too far frome an electric souce.