Cultipacker

[TexasDefender]

For those of you that might be interested I built my own cultipacker to help with my food plotting. I got the idea off of the qdma forum and expanded it to fit my needs.

I figured nine feet would be a good frame width for mine. I have a disc that is a little over 8 feet and that is just wider than my tractor. The one on qdma was a flip over design utilizing caster wheels. Since I will be towing mine several miles over rough ranch roads and with it being so large, flip over was out of the question, and I would need to beef up the wheels.



I wanted it to be fairly easy to trailer so I decided to make half of the drawbar removeable. I also mounted a trailer jack on the drawbar to help in hitching up.



I used boat trailer axles to mount the tires on, I designed them to be able to slide out and slip back in upside down when in use.



I mounted a third pillow block bearing to prevent the packer from bowing out while in use and binding up. I used heavy duty bearings, instead of standard duty.



This is how I hook it up to my tractor, this would be dependent on how you intend to use it and how your tractor is set up.



This is a picture showing it hooked up after towing it to my field.



The only problem I had was with my trailer jack, I planned to also use it to lift the cultipacker when hooked to my tractor so I could flip the tires around. This worked but the problem I ran into was I mounted the jack on the side of the drawbar. This was only a minor inconvenience, but I do plan on mounting a jack on the back frame in the center.



Ready to work!



If you have any questions on what I used or where I got it ask away.

[RancherSam]

this looks great. Can you take a picture of the bearings that attach to the cultipacker wheels? Also, did you get those bearings online?

[john_bud]

how heavy and where did you get the packer wheels?

Anything you would change after using it for a while?

jb

[TexasDefender]

The only thing I would change is add another trailer jack, I would still keep the one though...

I got the wheels off of CULTIPACKER WHEEL - Agri Supply They were $10.99 when I bought them Shipping is included which is nice.

I have a heavy duty truck parts store so I was able to get the bearings through one of our suppliers. A guy off qdma used china made bearings and his axle slid out and his bearing cracked in half....

I don't have a good picture of the bearing on the axle, here is a cropped view.



The whole thing weighs a TON, I'm guessing every bit of 800lbs maybe closer to 1,000.

[RancherSam]

TexasDefender, what is the lower piece called under the swinging drawbar that your hitch pin slides through (on the bottom hole). I seem to be missing that and I see it would be quite useful in preventing movement of the implement arm.

[TexasDefender]

Originally Posted by RancherSam

TexasDefender, what is the lower piece called under the swinging drawbar that your hitch pin slides through (on the bottom hole). I seem to be missing that and I see it would be quite useful in preventing movement of the implement arm.

I'm not exactly sure what your asking, on the tractor? Part of the 3 point arms, or where I have the cultipacker hooked up to the tractor?

Here is an online source for bearings Pillow Block Bearing Heavy Duty Pillow Block Bearings Roller Chain Sprocket also check on ebay for better prices. Set screws are extremely important, it would also be a good idea to get heavy duty bearings if you are building a large packer.

[SCOOBY14B]

Can you show some results of how the ground looks after using?

[TexasDefender]

Originally Posted by SCOOBY14B

Can you show some results of how the ground looks after using?

I forgot to take pictures of the field after I was done but here is what it looks like after a month and 4.5 inches of rain last weekend







I rushed this planting and only packed after I disced and then pulled the packer while I was broadcasting seed. It did a great job of smoothing out the whole field after my disc, and then covering my tracks. In the fall I will disc, pack, broadcast, pack.