mini cultivators

Hi all,

I am not sure where to put this, hopefully this is ok. Likewise I did a search but I'm just hopeless with that.

I am considering buying a tiller/cultivator/rotary hoe. There seem to be 2 choices:

Skillmeister Gasoline Cultivator - 43cc - Power Tools - DealsDirect.com.au Australia

and

6.5hp Roto tiller - eBay Outdoor Power Equipment, Tools, Gear, Equipment, Gardening, Lawn Care, Home. (end time 06-Jan-10 17:46:53 AEDST)

There are plenty of the latter new on ebay if I miss this one.

Here is the deal. I've got an acre of hard clay soil (or brisbane tuff if you want to be technical, I believe it's degraded basalt reconstituted into a sedimentary rock). The block slopes pretty steeply from about 30' in. There is cats claw amongst other things down the back, and there is about 6" of loam over the clay on the slope, deposited over the years by the gums and my complete collection of declared weeds...

Ideally I'd like to rip up the front ploughing in the perspalin, and seed some grass, hopefully opening the structure long enough to get some water and roots happening. I'd also like to plough up the back ripping up the vines and chopping up the catsclaw tubers. Anyone who's had catsclaw knows it's the mother of weeds...

The bigger machine would do the front nicely, but it's probably too heavy for the steeply sloping back, while the smaller machine might be ok for tearing the weeds apart but may just bounce off the clay at the front.

I've read the online guides, but they aren't answering my question. I am pretty heavy and strong so a bouncing machine won't bother me, nor am I in any sort of hurry, but if the smaller machine won't cut the ground at all it'll be useless, especially if the weeds confound it also. Conversely I assume the larger machine won't work well on a steep slope.

Anyone with experience of walk behind tillers I would be most grateful for your thoughts.