Disc Repair help

kuschneider · Jun 11, 2017

This past weekend I was taking my first swing at legit food plotting using a tractor and 3 pt disc for the first time. One of the front gangs of the disc needs repair. A best I can see the bearings need to be replaced.

the first logical step seems to be removing this axle nut. Problems is I EVERYTHING on this axle turns freely and independently of the axle. The other end of the axle gives me nothing to grab onto in order to loosen the nut.

You can see the damaged bearing pack (Not even sure what it is called) in the last pic. This is a Leinbach Disc.

Any help on the parts that I need and getting this gang apart?

Lineman North Florida · Jun 11, 2017

Hopefully you haven't dropped the gang from the disc , all you need to do is get you a 2x4 and lay it on the ground to where the notches on the blades can bite into , take a long handled pipe wrench and get a length of pipe that will slide over the wrench handle, the longer the pipe the better, leverage will help you break the nut loose, I have done several of these and have had way better luck with the gang still attached to the harrow. Good luck. Charlie.

kuschneider · Jun 11, 2017

LNF.....Maybe I missing something, but the axle and the attached nut spin independent of the blades. Doesn't matter if I block the blades or not, the axle spins freely, the axle is round. Does that make sense?

kthompson · Jun 11, 2017

If your axle is turning free you probably will need friend with large pipe wrench holding the axle head. Some disk use blades with square holes in them and square axle. Some don't. I find a large impact wrench makes this a better job and you may need to soak with Liquid Wrench or such and even to heat the nut. On some nuts there is a piece of metal bent over them to prevent their loosening when working. Don't forget to be careful working with those disk blades when removing an axle, I would want the gang off the disk sitting on the ground so the blades are not suspended or with weight on them. When reassembly I find assembling them with nut on the axle installing them back to the mounts and doing the final tightening with disk raised and turning the axle while tightening with impact wrench.

kuschneider · Jun 11, 2017

kthompson....not sure what you mean by the axle head. The only thing to grab onto is the nut, the threaded stub of the axle protruding from the nut, and the flat flange on the other end, that is almost totally flat... I can't see anything to grab onto to turn against when I am loosening the nut.

I am being dense?

Mace Canute · Jun 11, 2017

If the axle is round with no head on it to hold, I think your best bet might be to try a good impact wrench. Tighten the nut up to take the slack out, then clean the threads and make sure they aren't deformed. Use a three corner file to bring them back into shape if necessary. Once that is done, lube the threads with a light oil and try the impact wrench again using full tank air pressure. (Don't worry, you won't damage the wrench using full pressure.) Hopefully that will work.

dougtrr2 · Jun 12, 2017

If you are lucky you should be able to get a grip on that square plate. It would be a two man job though. Two other options would be to weld a nut on the square plate or just split the old nut off.

Doug in SW IA

kuschneider · Jun 12, 2017

Yeah, I was thinking about a way to get a grip on the plate, or somehow wedging an object under it. Splitting the nut occurred to me, whats the best way to do that?

Lineman North Florida · Jun 12, 2017

kuschneider said:
LNF.....Maybe I missing something, but the axle and the attached nut spin independent of the blades. Doesn't matter if I block the blades or not, the axle spins freely, the axle is round. Does that make sense?

I haven't dealt with a round axle , but like someone else said if I couldn't do anything else I would weld a nut on the other end of the axle to hold so I could get the nut off, obviously the blades should not spin on the axle so as someone else mentioned try tightening it and then backing it back off, I'm still not convinced that a big pipe wrench won't bite on the square plate on the other end of the axle, after all they had to have something to hold it to get it tight during assembly. Good luck let us know how it turns out. Charlie.

jeff9366 · Jun 12, 2017

Disc Harrows from everytfhingattachments.com are clones of Leinbach Disc Harrows.

Best source of Disc Harrow parts is Agri Supply in Georgia-North Carolina-Virgina.

LINK: Disc Harrow Parts