anyone got an idea about this?

[RollingsFarms]

You said in your first post that the ground had been worked before so it sounds like loose soil. In loose soil you won't get the same traction as someone on hard packed soil. With your larger tires you have less compactation on the soil. With the thinner tires they will dig down more until they get to harder soil. IMO keep the same tires and use 4WD. And lastly sometimes we just have to compromise and go over our soil a couple of times to get the results we want. Also how many gangs does this disk have and does it have coultiers or anything else? I'll be disking soon and using a 6' disk but I don't expect any problems because my soil is hard, hard, and hard. In fact I'll be using a subsoiler before I disk so I can break up the soil/hardpan and I know I'll have to go over the soil a couple of times at diagonals to get the desired effect.

Good luck

yeah, no hard packed soil around here that's for sure! they dont call it the sandhills for nothing! just good ol' blackish/grey loose sandy soil. i have a field that's covered in 'floor cactus'(a cactus plant native to this area that grows along the ground and never grows vertically) if that tells you anything. the disk i was using had 20(5 on each gang) disks and i think they were 18" or 20". what size tires are on your 5103? is it 4wd?

 

[chh]

I'd be fence about changing the rears out(I probably wouldn't). It would probably help some though. I would sure load the tires and/or get the wheel weights. The dealers locally will not hardly sell a tractor(esp with a FEL) without loading the rears. I would suspect though that in sand you will always end up using the front assist when discing on previously worked ground.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

thanks Bill! i was hoping you'd stumble accross this thread. when i bouhgt my tractor i told the dealer what i'd be doing with it and that i wanted to go ahead and get the tires filled and throw on a set of 110 lb. wheel weights. he told me to just wait until i got my loader so i planned on doing that. this is the first time i've pulled a disk behind this tractor and i must admit, the lack of weight was the farthest thing from my mind being is the tractor came from the factory at 5044 lbs. i just didn't think it would pull so badly in 2wd. i was on the fence about getting 4wd as ive never owned a tractor with it and i figured i just wouldnt need it. today i was glad i had it! some questions i wanted to ask about your MF #25 and 150 as it is similar in weight and pto hp as my 5203. are the gangs set real aggressive in most of your uses? how does the tractor perform with it? much wheel spin? also, would you suggest going up to a 16.9 tire over the 14.9 i currently have? more fluid can be added to those and that equals to more weight, and i get a little better footprint, or should i be fine once i add fluid to my 14.9's? i've also been debating one set of rear wheel weights or two along with the fluid ballast. for my uses, the ballast i do add will never be removed as i never use the tractor on lawns or anything like that. i want to set it up strictly for field work and be able to get all the power i can to the ground. i estimated with filled tires, 2 sets of wheel weights and a loader(in the future) i'd be knocking on the door of around 7,000 lbs give or take.

In MOST cases, I set the angle of the front gangs one notch less than all the way as aggressive as they'll go, and rear gangs get one LESS than that. The only time I use full angle is when I'm discing in sod ground.

My 150 runs 13.6X28 rears and has proven to be enough tire. The Deere runs 16.9X30's.

For tillage work, I'd think 56hp would make good use of 7000lbs, but I'd be hesitant to go much heavier.

 

[chh]

Finishing up what I previously posted. Front weight or a FEL may help some also. I used a heavy 8' disc behind my 2wd MF4243 last year finishing a hayfield renovation/bermuda sprigging project. It would not pull the disc very well at all with the FEL off and pulled it great with it on. I needed the weight extra in front for balance and to aid steering.

 

[radioman]

what about getting dual rears, all chained up, liquid ballasted, add-on wheel wieghts if there is still slippage ? Still having slippage after all this ? upgrade to a heavier tractor with same config above.

 

[RollingsFarms]

thanks for all the suggestions! i did some figuring and if i add washer fluid(what my dealer uses) and 2 sets of rear wheel weights, plus the weight of the tractor, i'm looking at about 6,364 lbs. This is with 14.9x28 rear tires. If i decide to switch to 16.9x28 tires, i'm looking at around 6,629 lbs. Add on the front end loader i'm guessing is another 1,000 lbs. I won't be getting that for another couple of years though. check my math to see if my calculations are correct.

tractor's current weight- 5,044 lbs

a gallon of washer fluid weighs 8.3 lbs and a 14.9x28 tire holds 53 gallons so 106 gallons x 8.3= 879.8 lbs.

2 sets of rear wheel weights(each weighs 110 lbs)= 440

i'd love to load up the front with some weights to get me close to the 7,000 lbs. mark but if i'm going to eventually get a loader this won't be cost effective.

these numbers look right?

 

[jmc]

You seem hopefully that a FEL will help with traction but if your goal is to disk in 2WD, the FEL will actually reduce your traction since it takes weight off the rear tires (and adds weight to the undriven, front tires)

John

 

[MikeInEburg]

a gallon of washer fluid weighs 8.3 lbs and a 14.9x28 tire holds 53 gallons so 106 gallons x 8.3= 879.8 lbs.

While I didn't check the math, just remember that you generally don't fill the tire to capacity with fluid. Rather you generally fill to just above the axle - allowing for some amount of air to remain in the tire.
Mike

 

[JB4310]

Just a thought based on zero experience with this particular application, but some experience with traction issues.
IMO the quickest/easiest way to gain some serious pulling traction would be to throw some weight on the front and get some use out of those big AG tires in 4WD. Being as light as your front is now, even with 4WD when your rears are grabbing traction it's lifting the front end and unloading that drive axle/tires. Suit case weights or front wheel weights if they're available would put those impressive looking front tires to work.

If your heart set on using only 2WD then you'll have to load up the rear as much as possible, but those big front tires will then be a detriment, trying to plow them through the ground, and with a future loader on there it would be worse (in just 2WD)

With the loader, a full bucket and 4WD there would be no traction issues

JB.

 

[firemen122]

You are wanting your tractor to pull a 6 ft disc set to full aggressive, burying the disc to the axle in soft previously worked sugar sand in 2wd. Thats a lot to ask of a tractor with no wheel weights and no fluid in the tires. Do you trailer your tractor alot? This would be my only reservation in loading the weight up on the tractor. If not load the tires get your weights and you should see a huge improvement. Do not be surprised if you still need 4x4 some. I have a 65 horse cab 4x4,loader, fluid in tires with 8 ft disc with 2 pieces of railroad iron on top. If I am in soft sugar sand with the disc buried it wants 4x4 to be comfortable. Head up a hill and hold on where did those 65 horses go..... No shame in using 4x4 thats what it is there for. Your tractor will handle an 8 ft set fine once set up right. It will most likely need 4x4 in sugar sand though......