3 pt. Disc harrow axle nut

[Couple of Achers]

After discing for awhile today I noticed between two of the disc blades I was plugged up. After clearing the mess I noticed that the disc blades are now loose on the axle. There are two nuts on the ended of the axle. I loosened the lock nut and attempted to tighten the inner nut. It seems tight. Plus I can't seem to figure out how to hold the axle and tighten the nut. The axle seems to be inside some spacers. I had a pipe wrench on one of the spacers and tightened the nut as tight as I could and the discs are still loose. Any ideas on how to hold the axle from turning so I can jump on the wrench to try to tighten the nut tighter? It was getting dark so I couldn't see exactly what I am up against. Is it possible that I've bottomed out on the threads and need to put a washer on for a spacer?
I suppose I could lower the entire disc down on a block of wood under one of the disc plates on that axle to see if that would keep it from turning while I attempt to tighten the nut.

 

[Mace Canute]

Yes, you may have ran out of thread and need a spacer. Drop the disc down completely and the friction between the ground and the discs should be more than enough to keep it from rotating. I'd back the nut off completely to inspect the threads, they may need a tad of touch up with a triangular file.

 

[rdln]

Just consider yourself lucky you are not trying tighten a round axle like my leinbach disk had

 

[emmy71]

I fought this exact same problem last Saturday except with a round shaft that kept turning inside the discs. I finally tack welded the end of the shaft to the disc and wedged a pipe in the disc to keep it form spinning. Dropping it on the ground did not work because I had a pipe wrench with a pipe on the end for leverage and it just spun the disc sitting on the ground. Finally got everything tightened up and hit the tack welds with the grinder. If yours has a square shaft I would think you should be able to wedge a pipe or something in the discs to keep them from spinning. This is all assuming you have some threads left to tighten.

Terry

 

[Ford850]

I have a round shaft disk and used a pipe wrench between the disks to hold it while tightening as you described. Lowering it onto wood blocks did not hold mine since the round shaft still turns inside the bearings. Yours does look like it has quite a bit of exposed threads so you might be right about needing a spacer. When I tightened mine last time, I removed the nuts and washers and coated the threads with never-seize. That made it easier to tighten them up snug.

 

[Couple of Achers]

Thanks everybody. Problem solved. I was at the end of the threads on the axle. I put a couple of 1" washers on first, then the nut. It tightened right up. I have to believe it was probably never snugged up properly from day one and that is why that gang loosened up and the other three have not. I wish all the fixes where that easy.