hp requirements for disking

[sweettractors]

I have had a John Deere 12 ft AW wheel disc for 20 years and have pulled it with a 46 HP Farmall 460 easily and a 90 HP Massey Fergoson easily in the same tobacco fields. I think it has a lot to do with tire diameter, weight of the tractor, torque and gear ratios. Ken Sweet

 

[Egon]

ALL of these things make a HUGE difference in what a tractor can and cannot do.

You betcha!:thumbsup:

 

[jenkinsph]

JCB,
What I meant was that most of the little tractors cannot handle a disk heavy enough to breakground in a single pass. To get down deep with a 16" to 20" disc takes several passes compared to one pass with a tiller. By the time you add up all the trips with a small disk it isn't much faster.

I'm not saying a tiller is as fast as using a good disk but many of the folks on TBN don't have a tractor big enough or with enough tractive force to work with. For these people I think a tiller is a better answer, since a forward tine tiller will actually push the tractor forward.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have had a John Deere 12 ft AW wheel disc for 20 years and have pulled it with a 46 HP Farmall 460 easily and a 90 HP Massey Fergoson easily in the same tobacco fields. I think it has a lot to do with tire diameter, weight of the tractor, torque and gear ratios. Ken Sweet

Ken,
Glad you have had good luck with the Farmall 460, my dad had one (gas) in the late 60's with the lever on the tranny I think it was called a torque amplifier. This was by far the worst tractor we ever had, burned too much fuel, too much weight forward, hydraulics leaked like a sieve.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have had a John Deere 12 ft AW wheel disc for 20 years and have pulled it with a 46 HP Farmall 460 easily and a 90 HP Massey Fergoson easily in the same tobacco fields. I think it has a lot to do with tire diameter, weight of the tractor, torque and gear ratios. Ken Sweet

Ken, any pictures? I would say that most people here on TBN have no idea what exactly a John Deere 12 ft AW wheel disk is. I know that I don't.:ashamed: So some one reads your post and sees that your pulling a 12 foot disk with a 46 hp tractor, and thinks, hey here's a dealer and he pulls his 12 foot disk with a 46hp tractor, I'll find a 12' disk and I'll do the same thing.

I doubt that your 460 would pull our Kielfer 12' offset disk with 22" blades.

 

[JCB]

JCB,
What I meant was that most of the little tractors cannot handle a disk heavy enough to breakground in a single pass. To get down deep with a 16" to 20" disc takes several passes compared to one pass with a tiller. By the time you add up all the trips with a small disk it isn't much faster.

I'm not saying a tiller is as fast as using a good disk but many of the folks on TBN don't have a tractor big enough or with enough tractive force to work with. For these people I think a tiller is a better answer, since a forward tine tiller will actually push the tractor forward.

Thanks Steve,

That makes a lot of sense now.

 

[jenkinsph]

Ken, any pictures? I would say that most people here on TBN have no idea what exactly a John Deere 12 ft AW wheel disk is. I know that I don't.:ashamed: So some one reads your post and sees that your pulling a 12 foot disk with a 46 hp tractor, and thinks, hey here's a dealer and he pulls his 12 foot disk with a 46hp tractor, I'll find a 12' disk and I'll do the same thing.

I doubt that your 460 would pull our Kielfer 12' offset disk with 22" blades.

I know it won't pull it unless the wheels are all the way down. Matter of fact our 460 wouldn't pull a 6' Amco offset disk but our older less powerful Case SC would but it couldn't pull it fast enough.:laughing:

About that time I made the major purchase of a 3020 diesel and our problems were over. My dad bought a 4020 and we were in business.:thumbsup:

 

[JCB]

About that time I made the major purchase of a 3020 diesel and our problems were over. My dad bought a 4020 and we were in business.:thumbsup:

Funny you mentioned those machines. I was looking at MtnViews pictures and thinking of those same two tractors. I always liked the 3020 better, because the 4020 felt like you needed a ladder to get down from. All things considered, the soil looks fairly light and I was trying to make up in my mind what the 4020 would do with that disk.

 

[sweettractors]

Ken,
Glad you have had good luck with the Farmall 460, my dad had one (gas) in the late 60's with the lever on the tranny I think it was called a torque amplifier. This was by far the worst tractor we ever had, burned too much fuel, too much weight forward, hydraulics leaked like a sieve.

We had no problems with that old Farmall 460 tractor. Bought it at a Local farm auction for $1500, where a dairy was going out of business. Kept it 3-4 years and it gave us such good service that 2 years ago my yongest son, that is 36 now, fondly remembered the old tractor and bought him one just like it and restored it, We use it on the farm about every day in the summer. Mostly tedding hay, Brush Hogging, spraying knockdown chemicals for the corn fields etc. It does like gas, But that old 6 cylinder sure sounds mean when it moans. Ken Sweet