I believe the proper name for that plate on the front is "draft plate". The mower deck front draft arms attach to it. Not needed for the tiller but I like the look of it there. I took it off last year cause I didn't want to mess it up in the dirt. The tiller is unrestored. I used it on my SF '68 112 for several years before I bought this '67 RF.
Didn't mean to hijack your thread, but having seen a few restored RF's on WFM some years ago, made me want to redo this one. I think I bought it in '92 and didn't use or restore it until 2009. Put the tiller on in 2010 and used it ever since in the garden. It's been to the local machinery show several times, too.
tommyhawk