How wide of a disc can I pull?

[SCDolphin]

I just bought a 6' 16 x 22" disc (Tuff Line) all scalloped and pulling with the tractor listed in my profile. I have loaded tires with 400lb of wheel weights. I just got the disc so don't have a lot of data yet but pulled easily in med gear on the turtle mode (hst) about 1900 rpm @ 3.6 mph. The front disc set at most aggressive angle and rear the least aggressive. Both front and rear set level. I was also in 4wd. I could got up on gearing but I also had to up the power. The ground here is really dry. I have sand-loam and some patches of clay. I finially had to quit because of the dust. I cant imagine pull this heavy duty 6.6 foot disc with a 30hp unless you were really geared down and the dust would kill you.
I would stay with hd 5" or light duty 6 foot. I really think pulling faster and smaller is better than slow and big from my 1 day experiance. In any case you can outrun the dust!

 

[andrewj]

Sounds like you talked me into about a 6' I've seen a few in the paper near me lately, guess I need to start calling and see what kind of shape they are in. Guess I need to look at all the bearings and scrapers if they have them.

Another question on topic, someone mentioned the angle of the discs? Do some of these have angles on the cutters that can be adjusted? If so, is that a really good feature to look for? How exactly will having the angle adjusted work better for breaking up the soil?

Sorry for the newbie questions. Have not done a lot of farming, but enjoying what I'm doing!

To answer the other poster, I probably eventually need to do about 5 acres, but I can work on it a little bit at a time. No need to do the entire thing at once.

Dave

disc will only "break up soil" that has been bottom plowed in years past. You are going to be dissappointed if you try that on new ground, itwon't break up anything. Once your discs are actively working loose dirt, no 9 foot will make you sit there and spin 4 wheels.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

no 9 foot will make you sit there and spin 4 wheels.

I think that it is better to not use absolutes here at TBN, there are exceptions to most everything.

 

[troweller]

4 or 5 foot offset drag disc is what you need, everything else will be a dissapointment.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

dweitzel, if you have a 9' disk, why don't you just try it out? You will find out fast enough if your tractor will pull it or not. If it pulls it, great and if it won't then start looking at a smaller one. No one here knows your conditions, so all the advice while good is mostly based on their own conditions and those may not be yours. If you are looking for a sure fire answer, well I can't help you. Ask around in your area and your local dealers what size they sell for your size tractor, that way when the 9 footer doesn't work, you don't go and get a 8' or 7' and it sill doesn't work.

Just some more free advice

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

For my clay soils, I like to wait 2-3 days after a soaking rain to soften the dirt. I think a 6-7 footer is best. Get a square tube model. The angle iron style give out if you try to work them too hard with extra weight.

Use the 4wd, fill the FEL to give extra traction to the front wheels. Make sure the front tires are aired up so the rim won't spin and deflate.

 

[Soundguy]

He can always remove a couple discs from the outside efges and make it a smaller disc.. etc..

Soundguy

dweitzel, if you have a 9' disk, why don't you just try it out? You will find out fast enough if your tractor will pull it or not. If it pulls it, great and if it won't then start looking at a smaller one. No one here knows your conditions, so all the advice while good is mostly based on their own conditions and those may not be yours. If you are looking for a sure fire answer, well I can't help you. Ask around in your area and your local dealers what size they sell for your size tractor, that way when the 9 footer doesn't work, you don't go and get a 8' or 7' and it sill doesn't work.

Just some more free advice

 

[Farmwithjunk]

He can always remove a couple discs from the outside efges and make it a smaller disc.. etc..

Soundguy

Yep....

MF #25 disc. I bought it as an 8'-10" model. I pulled all 4 axles, cut them down, and re-assembled with 1 less disc, one less spool per axle. Also I had to cut down the scraper assembly by one blade. That gave me a 7'-6" model. The tractor handled the 8'-10" version, but it wasn't legal to haul on the road. I replaced the disc blades on the front gangs, but otherwise had $00.00 involved, and roughly 4 hours time. Wider models USUALLY sell cheaper. Not nearly as much demand these days. Same disc can be reduced to a 6'er by eliminating another blade per gang.

First 2 pictures are the original, 2nd pair is cut down version.

 

[Soundguy]

Clean work.

Soundguy

Yep....

MF #25 disc. I bought it as an 8'-10" model. I pulled all 4 axles, cut them down, and re-assembled with 1 less disc, one less spool per axle. Also I had to cut down the scraper assembly by one blade. That gave me a 7'-6" model. The tractor handled the 8'-10" version, but it wasn't legal to haul on the road. I replaced the disc blades on the front gangs, but otherwise had $00.00 involved, and roughly 4 hours time. Wider models USUALLY sell cheaper. Not nearly as much demand these days. Same disc can be reduced to a 6'er by eliminating another blade per gang.

First 2 pictures are the original, 2nd pair is cut down version.

 

[RollingsFarms]

i'm happy to know im not the only one whos a fan of older disks. they just dont build them the same today as they did 20-30 years ago.