10 ft. wide disc

Anonymous Poster · Apr 10, 2003

Hey fellas, I was wondering whether or not I could pull a 10ft. wide disc with my L3710 HST. The neighbor just got one and said I could borrow it. Neither one of us knows jack about implements etc. He was going to borrow a tractor but if mine will pull it we'll use it. I figure the way it pulls that 6ft. box scraper it could do it. It has 2 rows of discs, 18 in the front and 18 in the rear. I'd be pulling it in a mowed pasture for overseeding purposes.
How do you know when you're workin the tractor too hard? I run the heck out of the old 47 farmall cub but it won't bother me if I hurt it. The Kubota on the other hand is a different story.
Thanks,
Kevin

Ok, after some hunting I think that's about twice as much disc harrow than I should expect this tractor to pull. Maybe I'll drop the Bronco into low 4x4 and give it a whack /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anonymous Poster · Apr 11, 2003

well I couldn't resist. I pulled the disc harrow around the hayfield/pasture a couple times. It didn't seem like the tractor was laboring much. It never got over the 1st line on the temp gauge. I had to engage the front wheels because the R4 tires were slipping on the grass.

So... How DO you know when a load you're pulling is too much for your tractor?

Kevin

rbargeron · Apr 11, 2003

You know you are overloading your tractor if the exhaust stack puts out BLACK SMOKE. For any steady-speed tractor work, your exhaust should be CLEAR. If it begins to include wisps of black smoke you are on the edge of asking too much from it.

Disk harrow drag varies a lot with soil conditions. Run your engine somewhere in the mid 2500 rpm range and watch your stack - if it starts including black puffs (if you can see any smoke), shift to a lower gear.

The diesel pump tries to maintain engine rpm by injecting more fuel - but if the load is too high, the engine bogs down and unburned fuel goes up the stack. Running this way will eventually wreck your engine.

Hope this helps.

equipman · Apr 11, 2003

NoTresspassing
Rbargeron is absolutely correct, black smoke is the best indication that your tractor is working hard. It is hard to size discs due to such factors as weight of the disc and soil types. Just watch your stack and temp gauge. The R4's will probably loose traction before the tractor runs out of power. I'll bet on the Kubota lasting longer than the Bronco pulling that disc.
Lewis

Anonymous Poster · Apr 11, 2003

Well I put some hours on the L3710 today. I actually used the 6ft woods box scraper to rip up the horse lot. There was almost no grass in it so I dropped the tines all the way down, tilted the box forward and let er rip. It did a real nice job breaking up the soil. After that we spread seed and then rolled it with a 1,500# x 4ft roller. If that seed isn't making ground contact now it never will. Now all I need is some rain!

Thanks for the feedback on how to know when your workin it too hard. I don't think I'm hurtin it, but rippin with that boxblade was a workout. It never belched any smoke or got hot though. So far I love that tractor! It's a real worker.
Kevin