How much weight can be added to disc

[Bearsixty7]

That is an awesome setup with the weight. Can't believe you was able to add so much. What size tractor do you pull that with? Hydraulic top link is new to me, you can control it up and down from a function? How much did that cost?

Those IH weights are about 108lbs each (I weighed them!), I bought them off Craigs list a few months back for this purpose. I was originally planning on 6 and made the bracket to hold 6 but 4 is enough.
I pull it with the MT240 in 4WD as my tires are not filled.
The Hydraulic top link and hoses came from TSC for $292.00 Could have saved 10% if I waited for a sale email but I didn't.

 

[Gee Ray]

Here is a 2 wheel drive Farmall Cub with about 10 hp pulling a 5 foot disk. I post this for several reasons. First the talk of what it takes to pull something requires a lot more information then most people provide in their questions. Second the answers provided by well meaning posters is often limited to their own experiences that may not be applicable. 3 point disk are not the best solution for soil prep, IMHO. If you watch the video you will see this disk flex and breaks up the soil in the high and low places where as a 3 point disk will pass over the areas when it is rough. Or the disk will follow the pitching of the tractor as it crosses rough ground. Also the aggressiveness of the gangs on the disk shown is adjustable from the tractor seat with no tools required.

Also there are built in holders to lay cement blocks if they are needed. We very rarely needed the extra blocks as we gardened the same plots for decades.

The draw back to this style of disk are two fold. First they are hard to find and second you need to load them onto a trailer for long hauls or crossing "pretty lawns or roads"

 

[bdog]

That’s a neat video but it doesn’t show him breaking virgin ground. For all we know that area was moldboarded before he hit it with the disc or he is on his fiftieth pass. Again I am not trying to be negative and I fully realize every location is different but every place I have sunk an implement in the earth that setup shown on the video would just float across the surface on virgin ground.

 

[Tx Jim]

While I am occasionally surprised by 'exceptions' on T-B-N, few disc harrows with pans of diameter 16" - 18" - 20" - 22" are available outfitted with anything but notched pans front and rear. All these relatively light discs struggle to cut unplowed ground and only the notches make cutting through feasible. (( Dirt Dog and Monroe Tufline offer discs with notched pans in front, smooth pans in the back. ))

Discs with 9" spacing between pans penetrate better than discs with 7" or 7-1/2" disc spacing. Less important than notched vs un-notched, but a factor. Less "float" with 9" pan spacing.

When pan diameter increase to 24" - 26" - 28" - 30" there is enough weight to cut through almost any grass. You need a Utility Class tractor (6,000 pounds bare weight) to pull these.

May I ask what brand disk harrow has 28''-30'' disks???? Maybe a disk designed for building a road base for a highway such as a Rhome but I've not seen 28''-30'' disk for a farming/gardening disk harrow.

In reality the larger diameter disk requires more "structural weight" to penetrate soil due to larger disk circumference having more ground contact area than a 18'' disk.

Notched disk all other things equal such as soil moisture %, frame structural weight, gang angles & disk spacing will penetrate soil deeper due to less disk circumference area touching soil at any given time, Notched disk will also handle trashy conditions better than spherical disk.

I'm stating this from many yrs experience custom farming having plowed many acres of different type soils with different type/brand disk harrows plus having been employed by a equip dealer for over 21 yrs. Shown below is a plowing tandem that I've plowed many acres with a 11'7'' wide similar unit & 26'' disk is the maximum diameter that was available when it was new.

 

[bdog]

I haven’t seen any discs that big except on construction sites or those huge discs they pull behind dozers to chop up brush. My disc has 24” discs and had the biggest ones I could see on the lot.

 

[bmaverick]

That’s a neat video but it doesn’t show him breaking virgin ground. For all we know that area was moldboarded before he hit it with the disc or he is on his fiftieth pass. Again I am not trying to be negative and I fully realize every location is different but every place I have sunk an implement in the earth that setup shown on the video would just float across the surface on virgin ground.

For virgin ground, it will take a bunch of passes with a compact tractor and a disc harrow. BUT, that is crazy to do when all you need it a single or double bottom plow to open that virgin land plot up. Then it makes sense to hit the area with the disc harrow about 2X, one in length of the bottom plow and the other perpendicular. This will make it super nice.

Compact tractors do get the job done, just not as fast. I love seeing those old 8N's going at it on the YT vids disc harrowing back in the day when NOTHING else was available to do it but a team of horses!

Just some examples making nice garden plots.
So first comes the bottom plow (shown with 8N)

After bottom plow comes the disc harrow 8N - would have been better done if in a lower gear. Not sure if the 3PT was lowered all the way. It tends too glide to high over the soil on the first pass. Top-link issue being too shortened maybe? Overall, it does turn out really nice.

AFTER the bottom plow, then comes the disc harrow. (shown with 2N) Yes, a 2N !
The tractor needs weight up front! and just a tad weight on the back would have made this much nicer.

 

[bmaverick]

Here is a 2 wheel drive Farmall Cub with about 10 hp pulling a 5 foot disk. I post this for several reasons. First the talk of what it takes to pull something requires a lot more information then most people provide in their questions. Second the answers provided by well meaning posters is often limited to their own experiences that may not be applicable. 3 point disk are not the best solution for soil prep, IMHO. If you watch the video you will see this disk flex and breaks up the soil in the high and low places where as a 3 point disk will pass over the areas when it is rough. Or the disk will follow the pitching of the tractor as it crosses rough ground. Also the aggressiveness of the gangs on the disk shown is adjustable from the tractor seat with no tools required.

Also there are built in holders to lay cement blocks if they are needed. We very rarely needed the extra blocks as we gardened the same plots for decades.

The draw back to this style of disk are two fold. First they are hard to find and second you need to load them onto a trailer for long hauls or crossing "pretty lawns or roads"

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

Nicely done. That soil looks healthy and rich. Not too deep to get that compost churned in really nice and even!

As for 3PT, it deals with how low can the lower arms go and how the top-link is extended further out to do the same as the Farmall Cub did.

 

[Bearsixty7]

My experience from decades ago on the farm, not with my current tractor and disc although probably still holds true, is if you go a little faster on the last few passes it spreads the dirt better and gives you a better, even surface.

 

[MatrixPC]

Amazon can be your friend with free shipping and all. Added 360 pounds to an angle iron disc harrow with 8ea. 45lb weight and two free weight wall hangers bolted to flat surface, center harrow (only 180 pound shown in pic). With free shipping, the cost was drastically reduced and weight can be adjusted as needed.

Harrow 560lbs as shipped, 360lbs weight added equals 46lbs per disc. Not optimal, but better than originally designed by KingKutter. Could probably add an another 90lbs to the stack(s) for 450lbs, but will see how this configuration works first.

 

[kthompson]

Interesting thread. I have always felt there is a point where weight added to a disk is placing extra wear on the bearings. I agree with someone who I think had concern on being able to overload the frame with added weight. In my experience seldom disked total virgin soil. It was said, use a plow such as a subsoiler only say 6 inches deep as that is more than you will be disking most likely. If you have a box blade with shank on it, drop the shanks and use it. They will break the ground or disturb the ground enough to make a big difference for your disk.

Hard ground I always used aggressive angle and ran slow speed so the disk would cut and not bounce. I only used notch blades front and back. Seldom here would see a disk that was not totally notched blades. Speed will help break up the clods and give smoother finish than slow disking will. Have only seen again here the solid blades on really heavy disks. The notch is designed for trash to not just get run over by a solid blade but to be caught by the notch and held in place, so it gets cut as the blade is rotating.

If virgin ground, try to catch it following rain which will help soften the dirt. May leave it clumpy but will you help your disk blade sink into the dirt. If I were disking hard dirt, I often overlapped by 50% of my disk. That way 50% is cutting hard ground and the other is in just disked ground. For ME, it was smoother operating the tractor.

Without a doubt disking is better with HORSE POWER and WEIGHT. However, with patience a low HP and light disk can do wonders. Remember, it use to be a pair of horses or mules and single gang disk. Try riding that all day!