Towed Cultipacker Vs. 3-Pt. Lift Cultipacker - Advantages / Disadvantages?

[HCJtractor]

That is one nice packer!!! When do you use it in the discing/planting sequence?? I expect after you disc and again after you broadcast seed (unless you use a drill). My planned build will be similar except with only one set of rollers. Who makes that? I am sure it cost thousands, but is the best looking one I have ever seen. Are you comfortable pulling it down the highway for short trips?

 

[sixdogs]

It's is a 1960's Brillion and is still made pretty much the same but are very expensive new. Used ones are much cheaper with the smaller ones actually costing more than a bigger size. It is a secondary tillage tool in that after the ground is initially worked it is used to bring things down to a seedbed basis. Then I use a seeding packer to put down the seed. Fields come out looking like a pancake if you do it right. I'll try to get a pic over the next few days.
No problem pulling it down the road since it's only maybe 9 ft wide. I'm only on back roads and have the pulling vehicle is followed by another and both have flashers on.

 

[jeff9366]

SIXDOGS:

It looks like the Loch Ness monster, Nessie.

SOME RIG !

You know of what you write.

 

[jeff9366]

I visited the Brillion web site for the first time.
Looked at the Brillion "Pulverizer" Model PP.
Model PP web page states: "floating three point hitch linkage" Unfortunately, no detailed photo.
Available in both 3-Point and Towed models.
If Brillion displays at the Sunbelt Ag Expo I will check out floating hitch linkage on 3-Pt. model.

I am going to the Sunbelt Ag Expo to GET SMARTER.....

 

[sweettractors]

I am going to the Sunbelt Ag. Expo in Moultrie, Georgia October 16-17-18, 2012. I will be there one of the three days.

At top of my shopping list is a CULTIPACKER.

There are a lot of TBN posts on Cultipackers but none comparing efficiency/effectiveness of Towed Cultipackers against 3-Pt. Lift Cultipackers.

It is evident most of the older Cultipackers were towed but a lot of the current offerings are designed for the 3-Point Hitch. Why this change in emphasis?

I am in North Florida. Sandy-Loam, only rocks soft limerock. My tractor is a Kubota B3300SU 33-hp / 1,800 pounds.

Using my 'Bush Hog' Rollover Box Blade there are some issues with the tool going UP when the tractor wheels encounter a LOW spot or a hole; and vice versa. Same issue probable with a 3-Pt. Lift Cultipacker?

(Ken? Ted? Are you out there?)

PLEASE MAKE ME SMARTER. ( Starting low; should not be too difficult.)

The towed cultipacker will follow the ground better and not be jerked around by the tractor 3 point hitch. If you need to move down the highway to different food plots, a 3 point would be the best. Ken Sweet

 

[sixdogs]

I visited the Brillion web site for the first time.
Looked at the Brillion "Pulverizer" Model PP.
Model PP web page states: "floating three point hitch linkage" Unfortunately, no detailed photo.
Available in both 3-Point and Towed models.
If Brillion will be at the Sunbelt Ag Expo I will check out this implement. Available in 5' model for my tractor....likely $$$$.

I am going to the Sunbelt Ag Expo to LEARN.....

You likely won't see any floating hitch anything. Best bet is to look at the website and learn how to make a connecting link yourself. Buy a standard packer and roll your own. Better bet is to buy a pull-type packer and find a picture of that pull type with a 3-pt hitch welded on to it. It's on the TBN somewhere and you can have the best of both.
It's not hard to spend $5,000 to $10,000 on anything Brillion and even that won't buy much. Their six ft overseeder is $24,000 and cultimulchers start at $13,000 and go to infinity. You'll be learning, allright and lesson one is don't give up the day job.

 

[sweettractors]

Used 6 ft Pull Type Cultipacker, CAN SHIP CHEAP items in Sweetfarmequipment store on eBay!

Above are several of our reworked Brillion cultipackers priced at a fraction of what a new one costs. Ken Sweet

 

[sixdogs]

This is not exactly the photo I wanted but shows how to add a 3 pt hitch to an older packer. In this photo the front hitch had been removed but an earlier photo I saw had the front tongue left on. You could shorten the tongue or make it hingable or detachable and you then have a way to transport the packer and yet use it as a pull-type when you get where you are going.

 

[sweettractors]

This is not exactly the photo I wanted but shows how to add a 3 pt hitch to an older packer. In this photo the front hitch had been removed but an earlier photo I saw had the front tongue left on. You could shorten the tongue or make it hingable or detachable and you then have a way to transport the packer and yet use it as a pull-type when you get where you are going.

That is one of our Brillion's that we have added a three point hitch to. We do leave the factory pull hitch on, if the customer requests. The Combo hitch gives you both ways to pull a cultipacker. Ken Sweet

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

Ken Sweet, can a double axle 8' Brillion be converted to a three point hitch - if so, picture, please - or have an axle with wheels mounted up top to flip over (too heavy?)

PLUS, where do you get Brillion parts these days?

Thanks.

 

[sweettractors]

Ken Sweet, can a double axle 8' Brillion be converted to a three point hitch - if so, picture, please - or have an axle with wheels mounted up top to flip over (too heavy?)

PLUS, where do you get Brillion parts these days?

Thanks.

It is difficult to put a 3 point on a double because of the way they were engineered when built. If you have the Brillion part # we can get the part for you, if it has not been retired? Thanks, Ken

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

Ken Sweet, what about mounting an axle/wheels on top to flip over? Thanks.

 

[sweettractors]

Ken Sweet, what about mounting an axle/wheels on top to flip over? Thanks.

I have seen that done, however, the flip over is heavy. Ken Sweet

 

[sixdogs]

Ken Sweet, can a double axle 8' Brillion be converted to a three point hitch - if so, picture, please - or have an axle with wheels mounted up top to flip over (too heavy?)

PLUS, where do you get Brillion parts these days?

Thanks.

I'm not Ken but I know the answer. See the picture a few posts earlier #28-- and that's how you make it a 3-pt hitch. Cut the hitch off and build as shown. It'll be heavy so be able to lift it..

Brillion parts are available from any dealer--and only any dealer--of their stuff. Go to their website and find something close to your model for the parts numbers. Yours will likely be under "archive". Some places sell over the net and prices vary.

I'm pretty sure Ken Sweet is a dealer and better to do biz with someone like him that we already know.

Just my two cents.

 

[jeff9366]

I am going to the Sunbelt Ag. Expo in Moultrie, Georgia October 16-17-18, 2012. I will be there one of the three days.

At top of my shopping list is a CULTIPACKER.

I am in North Florida. Sandy-Loam, only rocks soft limerock.

My tractor is a Kubota B3300SU 33-hp / 1,800 pounds.

O P - F O L L O W U P --> J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 3​

I did attend the Sunbelt Ag. Expo in October. I sought all Cultipackers and Rollers in the show. Of the Cultipackers those from Brillion and Everything Attachements were interesting.

Brillion displayed huge Cultipackers, which Brillion chooses to market as "Pulverizers", for ag tractors. However, the salesman did discuss Brillion's compact tractor PP models in 5'-6'-7'-8' widths, in 3-Pt. or pull type. He put a Brillion catalog in my hand. The Brillion PP model, five feet wide, cost $2000-$2200 from a Florida dealer, depending on roller wheels selected.

Everything Attachments displayed ETA 7' width / 3-Pt. Cultipacker. Looked solid. The 5' width, delivered to Florida, is $1400 / residential delivery.

The 5' Brillion and 5' ETA equipments each weigh approximately 700 pounds. (Actual weight shown on freight manifest 722 pounds including pallet.)

After mulling over thread comments for three months I decided I wanted a 5' X 3-Pt. Lift Cultipacker from Everything Attachments. A Brillion, the "classic" brand in Cultipackers, would have been nice but $600-800 + Florida Sales Tax premium? For rolling dirt? Would dirt appreciate the difference?

Yellow Freight delivered 5' ETA Cultipacker today. I told the driver I had hoped Santa would bring the Cultipacker at Christmas.... but better late than never. He told me Santa Claus brought him a shining new Harley-Davidson for Christmas; SO THERE, CULTIPACKER MAN.

Another post after I roll around the world.

 

[jeff9366]

A few pictures from today, February 16, 2013.

 

[jeff9366]

If the ground is soft, say tilled or whatever, a 3-pt packer will often leave tire tracks and tire impressions showing when done packing. With a pull-type packer you can see the bar marks from the tires but almost never the settled-in tire impressions. In other words, the pull type does a smoother job. I believe it's the weight transfer issue. Most often I'll use a pull type if there are not many obstacles to dodge and weave around.

I have finished reading two informative tractor books, both about Harry Ferguson, the Anglo-Irishman who invented the 3-Pt. Hitch, (patented February 1926) Draft Control, Position Control and many implements:

Harry Ferguson, Inventor & Pioneer by Colin Fraser

The Ferguson Tractor Story by Stuart Gibbard
​

From Gibbard: "The three-point linkage both pulled and carried the implement in work, transferring its weight onto the tractor's rear wheels. This meant Ferguson could build a lighter, more economical and cheaper machine, making his tractor more maneuverable and more versatile".

"Another advantage of the Ferguson system was that the line of pull of the implement at its working depth extended through the converging links of the three-point hitch to a theroretical point just behind the tractor's front axle. This was known as the 'virtual hitch point' and meant that the natural foreces affecting the implement in work were converted into a strong forward and downward thrust that held the tractor's front wheels down".

This explains why pulled Cultipackers do a marginally smoother job than 3-Pt. lift Cultipackers.
More weight on the rollers.

No tractor traction issues pulling a Cultipacker. The Cultipacker is just iron wheels, rolling.

 

[462]

Reviving this old thread just to say Thanks to all who contributed to it.

Reading from start to finish gives a good understanding of which type cultipacker to consider. Depending on your individual circumstances there is no right answer for all.

 

[jeff9366]

Reviving this old thread just to say Thanks to all who contributed to it.

Thank you.

 

[3gunr]

My plan is to build one with all the features I want. It will be an 8' pull type but with hydraulic lift wheels like on an offset harrow. The hitch will be interchangeable so I can use a Clevis or ball, so I can pull it with a tractor but more likely with a truck. This way someone can be disking or broadcasting while another drives around cultipacking from the comfort of a truck. The hydraulics will be driven with a 12 V hydraulic pump. It will be highway transportable by towing for short distances, like I transport my harrow behind my truck. I have gathered all the parts except the packer wheels (will get them from Everything Attachments) and plan to build it this winter. For my needs, that's the ideal packer. And I do think a pull type is more effective than a 3 point, unless you are in tight places or need to transport it, so it is a trade off. We try to make turn arounds at the end of all our plots so the harrow and packer can be turned without doing a 3 point turn.

I like my pull type for some of these reasons . someone can pull the packer with an atv or utv while i can still be working the tractor on something else, it doesnt take much to pull one. i have an old 8ft one that i replaced the old wood bearings with real greasable ones, Used it last weekend planting an acre of buckwheat, If i need to move it a long ways i pick it up with the loaderand carry it,