best disc harrow?

Ford850 · Jul 10, 2009

I have a King Kutter and it works fine for my needs. It would be better if the adjustments were easier, but I can live with that. One thing that you definitley need to consider is disk scrapers. The KK do not come with them. Disking dry dusty areas mid summer is not an issue. But early spring when there are wet areas, there is nothing more frustrating than plugging the disks with soil. It doesn't take much moisture to start a clod between disks and within a few yards it's packed solid. No matter how dry 95% of the field/plot/garden is, there always seems to be a few areas that plug the disk. Then it takes 5-10 minutes of intense shoveling and chipping to get hard packed clay cleared out. I'd bet since you are doing food plots you will be in some damp areas, so I would stick with a disk that has scrapers.
Good luck.

cj sudhop · Jul 11, 2009

Ford850 said:
I have a King Kutter and it works fine for my needs. It would be better if the adjustments were easier, but I can live with that. One thing that you definitley need to consider is disk scrapers. The KK do not come with them. Disking dry dusty areas mid summer is not an issue. But early spring when there are wet areas, there is nothing more frustrating than plugging the disks with soil. It doesn't take much moisture to start a clod between disks and within a few yards it's packed solid. No matter how dry 95% of the field/plot/garden is, there always seems to be a few areas that plug the disk. Then it takes 5-10 minutes of intense shoveling and chipping to get hard packed clay cleared out. I'd bet since you are doing food plots you will be in some damp areas, so I would stick with a disk that has scrapers.
Good luck.

Thanks for the tip on the scrapers. I've had that issue with my ATV disc, so I can appreciate the work saved by having them.

foggy1111 · Jul 11, 2009

Scrapers are largely dependent on soil types IMO. "Up North", where I have my land the soil is all sandy loam and scrapers wouldn't be worth two hoots in a tin can in any conditions. OTHOH, I live in southern MN.....and here scrapers can be of value in the spring and fall in heavy, sticky soils and wet conditions.

wolc123 · Jul 11, 2009

That is the only problem I had with that JD pull-type disc I found this spring. The scrapers on one of the sections does not work so well. Fixing it up will be be a good winter project. I am not sure why FWJ ignores the fact that I said this pull-type disc does MORE effective work on the soil than (2) 3 pt disks I have used (MF and Ford), and takes less passes to get the field worked as well. Also, the corn in the fields that I worked with the pull-type is growing as good or better than that in fields where I used only a 3 pt or transport disc, so much for the "compaction" argument. Again, that is a non-issue this far north of the mason dixon line. Up here, shallow tillage is the best way to go as it saves fuel and I only plow 4-6" deep. Maybe he had a bad experience with a pull-type when he was young, and has since lumped them all together saying they are no good for anyone for any reason wherever they may live. It appears that I struck a nerve with this issue. Usually he is on the mark with his advice, but he has missed the boat this time and appears to have sailed well off the deep end. How does that nice looking MF pull-type work for you Flusher? I suppose it may be possible that I am the only one who does well with a pull- type. This will be my last post on this thread, someone more knowledgeable than myself can go ahead and have the last word.

Farmwithjunk · Jul 11, 2009

wolc123 said:
That is the only problem I had with that JD pull-type disc I found this spring. The scrapers on one of the sections does not work so well. Fixing it up will be be a good winter project. I am not sure why FWJ ignores the fact that I said this pull-type disc does MORE effective work on the soil than (2) 3 pt disks I have used (MF and Ford), and takes less passes to get the field worked as well. Also, the corn in the fields that I worked with the pull-type is growing as good or better than that in fields where I used only a 3 pt or transport disc, so much for the "compaction" argument. Again, that is a non-issue this far north of the mason dixon line. Up here, shallow tillage is the best way to go as it saves fuel and I only plow 4-6" deep. Maybe he had a bad experience with a pull-type when he was young, and has since lumped them all together saying they are no good for anyone for any reason wherever they may live. It appears that I struck a nerve with this issue. Usually he is on the mark with his advice, but he has missed the boat this time and appears to have sailed well off the deep end. How does that nice looking MF pull-type work for you Flusher? I suppose it may be possible that I am the only one who does well with a pull- type. This will be my last post on this thread, someone more knowledgeable than myself can go ahead and have the last word.

The reason why I "ignore" it is because I KNOW better......

One more time....Why do you suppose pull type disc's went obsolete and out of production more than half a century ago? Answer.....They just don't do as good of a job as several other better options, all things considered.

You didn't stike any nerve, so don't break your arm patting yourself on the back while making up your "facts" as you go along. It's quite simple really.... I just have an aversion to misleading, inaccurate, and/or false information being posted and represented as fact.

MtnViewRanch · Jul 11, 2009

I'm going to put my 2 cents in here. Now I have about zero experience with tandem disks, but since the pull type tandem disk seems like they would be a pain to move around and not make a mess of the ground where you don't want to till, so transport is a problem. Disking in tight areas and or corners can be a problem. Thus hydraulic wheeled disk is invented to make transport much more convenient and not have as bad of a problem at corners.

Now as far as offset pull disks go, they work quite well, no ridges from turning, no problem transporting as long as your on the same piece of property. We have a 6' that needs some repair, an 8' and 12' that have been rebuilt and turn our ground quit well. No good reason for us to get wheeled transport disks, would serve no purpose for us.

Farmwithjunk · Jul 12, 2009

MtnViewRanch said:
I'm going to put my 2 cents in here. Now I have about zero experience with tandem disks, but since the pull type tandem disk seems like they would be a pain to move around and not make a mess of the ground where you don't want to till, so transport is a problem. Disking in tight areas and or corners can be a problem. Thus hydraulic wheeled disk is invented to make transport much more convenient and not have as bad of a problem at corners.

Now as far as offset pull disks go, they work quite well, no ridges from turning, no problem transporting as long as your on the same piece of property. We have a 6' that needs some repair, an 8' and 12' that have been rebuilt and turn our ground quit well. No good reason for us to get wheeled transport disks, would serve no purpose for us.

Hopefully no one (well, only one person anyway) took my opinion wrong. Pull type disc's aren't a "bad thing" in and of themselves. My disagreement was with the opinion they're across the board BETTER than 3-point or wheel disc's. EVERYTHING has it's assets and liabilities. And there are dozens (hundreds?) of makes, models, and designs of each. There are good designs and bad designs of each type.

The reasoning I was given was largely based on the theory that 3-point disc's burn more fuel because of the tractor having a "hydraulic load". Also, I was told a pull type "pulls easier". Simply not the case. A disc of any description, with good blades, working at a given depth and a given number of blades will pull equally with another disc of same size/width/working depth/ect, type being irrelevent. A pull type disc of any description (ie tandem, offset, ect...) CAN be a good disc under limited circumstances. But they need to be in GOOD shape. Wher the lack of equality comes in to play is MOSTLY with transportability.

MtnViewRanch · Jul 12, 2009

Farmwithjunk said:
Wher the lack of equality comes in to play is MOSTLY with transportability.[/quote]

I have to agree 100%. Anybody that has a pull disk and has to transport it from one site to another is wasting time and energy in my opinion. There are more productive ways to spend your time, that's for sure.

NonTypicalCPA · Jul 17, 2009

I too have been looking for a 6' or 7' disk for my Kubota and have the same question as to what disk to buy. One question that I have that I didn't find an answer to is how much weight per disk is recommended? An earlier post mentioned his landpride disk - their model 2572 (6ft) carries 59lbs per disk, while their lighter and less expensive model 1572 carries only 34lbs per disk.

cj sudhop · Jul 18, 2009

Obviously, I'm no expert here - or I wouldn't have asked the question initially, but someone said that weight of the unit should be 45lbs per disc or greater.