I had a Super Bronco earlier this year and found the Âfree wheel to not be the easiest option. You have to lift each side of the tiller to slide the wheel and re-insert the pin. Granted you donÂt have to lift it much but still required getting down on your knees to lift the tiller, slide the wheel, locate the pin hole again and insert the pin at the same time. No other option for transport because whenever the drive is engaged the tines turn! Having the tines operating is not the safest of procedures for transport or walking behind while holding the business end up off the ground.

My yard is on a slight slope and not near as dip/hole free as I would like. It was heavy and difficult to push or pull the tiller in free wheel and I have to admit I used the drive option to transport.

I would recommend looking for a machine that does have the option of drive w/out the tines spinning. Your father should be much happier in the long run.

I owned a Bronco model for about 4-5 years and just upgraded this past year. I did not really like it that much. I agree with the other poster in that the freewheel mode is cumbersome to use. I did it a couple times, but found it easier to just fire it up and let it walk with the tines moving to where I was going. Not really a good way to do it, but beat moving the pins on the wheels. Also, the machine just did not have enough weight or power to really till well. It had the hop hop hop effect even on the least amount of depth settings. My soil is heavy clay though, so if you have an easier to till soil it may work better for you. If you are wanting to till well, you will need a forward rotating tine machine. The counter rotating tine machines do not till as well, but are better for breaking up hard backed soil or starting a new bed.

My new model is a Large BCS and the difference is night and day. A model that you may want to look at is the Snapper tiller. It has both forward and counter rotating tine operation. Not sure if it has a freewheel mode, but looks like a lot of machine for the money.

Troy Bilt is not quite what it used to be in my mind. They have some ok larger machines, but I have not been that impressed with the smaller machines. Maybe it is the MTD influence, or maybe not, but I think you can find better tillers elsewhere anymore.

Also, I believe the Tuffy model is about the same as the Bronco model I had. The model I had was a standard rotating tine tiller (not counter) with a 5.5 hp Briggs Intek. The engine never gave me a bit of problem. Always fired right up with minimal effort and had decent power. The machine in general, though just did not have enough weight or was not balanced right and just wanted to hop around on me. I renamed mine a "bucking Bronco" instead of just Bronco as all it wanted to do was either hop around or run away from me.

Troy-Bilt use to manufacture real good products many years ago, but they went bankrupt 4-6 years ago, it seems that the rights to the name where purchased by MTD, that is not exactly synonymous with quality and quality products.
The best part would have to be the Briggs power. Their are lots of better machines available on the market, just do a search here to get more opinions and views.

I will second the BCS recommendation. I traded the Bronco in for a BCS 718 this spring and could not be happier with the machine! What an absolute pleasure to use and does a fantastic job. So much fun to use that I had to install a new set of tines already. This NC clay and granite in virgin soil ground them down to nubs with 40 or 50 hours of use.

Don't know your budget but if your dad is older and needs something easier to handle I'd at least look at the BCS 732. It has a differential and reverse to make turning much easier. It is a fairly heavy machine, no sheet metal all rolled steel, but I find it smooth to operate.

I looked at the White tiller with FRT and CRT option at the local dealer. Best of both worlds I thought! He had several with blown gear housings, in the middle of the tines. He told me the older models were made of cast and did great. Newer ones were pressed metal and cannot take the stress. He is not carrying them for this year due to the amount of returns for repair; I saw three in his yard with this issue. Just a thought from the dealer who fixes all the tillers and mowers sold at LoweÂs, Home Depot and such.

I had heard of BCS but these guys were the ones that actually sold me on them. The shop guys told me that they had sold many and only seen one come back. It was 10 - 15 years old and was not shifting correctly. They changed the transmission fluid, adjusted the cables, fired it up and sent it home in working order. - Woody

To break new ground with the Tuffy or it's small Troy Bilt cousins bolt a 12 inch piece of perforated angle iron to the base of the depth lever. Bolt a 2 1/2 foot square of plywood the trailing end of the angle iron and stand on it while letting the tines dig the new earth. This keeps the tiller from running away from you. If you are too light weight to keep the tiller from lurching forward you could try adding a few bolts to the sled that will dig into the ground under your weight. Once you have gone to full depth move the tiller forward about 6 inches and repeat. Don't use chain or rope to attach the "sled" as it will inevitably hook on the tines and injure you. Keep the bolt to the bottom of the depth lever tight as it will loosen from vibration from time to time. To increase the turning angle at the end of the row trim the plywood piece to an inverted V so the tines won't hook on it as you turn the tiller. This has worked very well for me whereas I previously believed I had wasted my money on an unusable machine. The Tuffy has plenty of power to perform under this method.