Disc for JD 5303

[deere5105]

Have been considering purchasing a new disc to use with my JD 5303 MFWD w/FEL. Just purchased a new 82"W X 22'L 12K equipment trailer to be able to transport to our hunting lease. There seem to be many options to consider. My primary uses will be preparing food plots and garden spot. I am looking for something that will cut through grass in the food plots from the previous year. I can utilize a harrow to smooth out the garden spot so a smooth finish is not critical. Thinking I need to stay around 6'6" to 6'8" to fit better on the trailer. We have an 8' unit and may try hooking to it to see how it fits on the trailer. I think the fenders are far enough forward I could load and let the disc hang over the sides and off the back some. If off the back, would have to remove stand up ramps after loading. Soil conditions vary from sandy loam to clay in some places. Have been looking at Howse and Frontier units. So the question is 18", 20" or 22" blades? 7.5" or 9" spacing? Gut feeling is the 22" blades on 9" spacing to give the best cut. Any thoughts or suggestions on what has worked best for you?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

22" blades with 9" spacing works good for me. Serrated blades seem to cut through junk in and on the ground better. You might be able to chain your ramps up to the disk instead of removing them. Just a thought.

 

[deere5105]

22" blades with 9" spacing works good for me. Serrated blades seem to cut through junk in and on the ground better. You might be able to chain your ramps up to the disk instead of removing them. Just a thought.

What width is this disc? What are you pulling it with? 2WD or 4WD? 3 PT or pull type? Ramps have the "legs" under them to keep from lifting the tow vehicle. Not sure if adequate clearance, but a good idea and something to look into.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

What width is this disc? What are you pulling it with? 2WD or 4WD? 3 PT or pull type? Ramps have the "legs" under them to keep from lifting the tow vehicle. Not sure if adequate clearance, but a good idea and something to look into.

Actually we have a 6 footer, an 8 footer and a 12 footer. All offset John Deere/Kilfer pull disks. the old kind, no transport wheels. The 8 and 12 have the 22" serrated blades. I typically pull the 8 with my Mahindra 7520 4x4. It is a 75hp 10,000lb machine. The 12 gets pulled with our old D6. I can pull the 12 with the 7520, but only on pretty much flat ground.

The ramp idea may be a problem since the ramps have support legs on them. Here are few pics.

 

[jenkinsph]

deere5105,

I would think a heavy duty 6' to 6 1/2' offset disk would be a good match for your tractor. I prefer the 9" spacing with notched blades in 22" also.

My preference and suggestion would be to buy a 681 Deere tiller, something you could pull between 1.5 to 2.0 mph. This is much better for a garden and would work well for the food plots too.

 

[deere5105]

I am not familiar with the offset disc. I have seen them, but have no experience using one. I feel like I need to stay with a 3 PT type due to transport needs and feel like the 6' to 6.5' range is where I need to be to fit on trailer. Would the tiller bog/clog up in grass/debris left over from the annual planting of the food plots? We typically run through the plots with a rotary cutter several weeks before discing, but there is still cut material left to disc through. What are the advantages of the offset disc versus a standard disc set to an aggressive setting?

 

[jenkinsph]

An offset disk is a heavy disk for new ground, it has more weight per blade usually. I used to have an Amco 6' offset disk that I used in Pike County MS. years ago that was old established pasture with heavy clay soil. These offset disks will cut through the soil with fewer passes but are a load to pull.

Tillers are much more compact by design and easier to trailer. I use them all the time to put in new lawns, I never have a problem with them cutting through the sod and grinding everything up. A plus with tillers is that they start tilling at full depth from the start, whereas a disk needs to be pulled far enough to get it set to it running depth (approximately 20 to 30 ft). A Deere 673 or 681 tiller should work well for you, I have a 673 and feel I could have gone a little larger.

Don't know where you are in MS. but I would think a tiller would work well for you because using a tiller with forward rotation doesn't require traction to pull it. The tractor is actually holding the tiller back, this means you can till a wet field earlier with a tiller than you can with a disk. One trip across the field with a tiller is equivalent to three or four passes with a 3 pt disk.

I used disks for many years and about 6 years ago finally tried a tiller, now I don't own any disks just tillers.

 

[deere5105]

An offset disk is a heavy disk for new ground, it has more weight per blade usually. I used to have an Amco 6' offset disk that I used in Pike County MS. years ago that was old established pasture with heavy clay soil. These offset disks will cut through the soil with fewer passes but are a load to pull.

Tillers are much more compact by design and easier to trailer. I use them all the time to put in new lawns, I never have a problem with them cutting through the sod and grinding everything up. A plus with tillers is that they start tilling at full depth from the start, whereas a disk needs to be pulled far enough to get it set to it running depth (approximately 20 to 30 ft). A Deere 673 or 681 tiller should work well for you, I have a 673 and feel I could have gone a little larger.

Don't know where you are in MS. but I would think a tiller would work well for you because using a tiller with forward rotation doesn't require traction to pull it. The tractor is actually holding the tiller back, this means you can till a wet field earlier with a tiller than you can with a disk. One trip across the field with a tiller is equivalent to three or four passes with a 3 pt disk.

I used disks for many years and about 6 years ago finally tried a tiller, now I don't own any disks just tillers.

In previous posts I dealt with traction issues with my previous 2WD 5105. I think I have resolved those issues with the 5303 4WD.

A typical use of the disk for me is to break up garden spots for spring and fall gardens and break up several acres of food plots scattered over several hundred acres. In dealing with the food plots they are typically broken up once or twice annually. We have been renting a spreader buggy to spread seed and fertilizer all in one pass. We then lightly cover the seed with the disk. In these situations it is not necessary for us to maintain a perfectly smooth surface and have found that trying to cover with a drag harrow creates more problems due to grass/debris issues. Would the disk work better in these situations than the tiller? Can you cover with the tiller or have to swap implements? How would an offset disk work for light covering? I am in Hattiesburg which is about 80 miles north of the coast line. We have a mixture of hard clay in some spots and sandy loam in others. Overall we can typically use a couple of tractors and get the initial disking, planting and covering done in one 12 to 14 hour day.

 

[deere5105]

Actually we have a 6 footer, an 8 footer and a 12 footer. All offset John Deere/Kilfer pull disks. the old kind, no transport wheels. The 8 and 12 have the 22" serrated blades. I typically pull the 8 with my Mahindra 7520 4x4. It is a 75hp 10,000lb machine. The 12 gets pulled with our old D6. I can pull the 12 with the 7520, but only on pretty much flat ground.

The ramp idea may be a problem since the ramps have support legs on them. Here are few pics.

Those look like they would be a pretty high draft load. My 5303 I figure is going to be somewhere around 6500 lbs as it is set up. For the majority of what I do, the biggest areas being turned under are around 2 to 3 acres at one time. Most of our fields have been planted in trees over the years. The 8' disk seems like a good fit for the tractor, but seems like the 6.5' would be the most practical for work being done and transport. Jenkins recommends the tiller and that is something I have not considered. My initial thoughts go back to a 6.5' 3PT unit with 22" serrated blades. I have used an old 6' 3PT unit with smaller diameter blades that seems to cut better than a heavier, larger diameter blade 8' 3PT unit we have. The 6' unit is probably 50 years old and I am concerned that its light construction may not hold up under frequent use with the 5303.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Those look like they would be a pretty high draft load. My 5303 I figure is going to be somewhere around 6500 lbs as it is set up. For the majority of what I do, the biggest areas being turned under are around 2 to 3 acres at one time. Most of our fields have been planted in trees over the years. The 8' disk seems like a good fit for the tractor, but seems like the 6.5' would be the most practical for work being done and transport. Jenkins recommends the tiller and that is something I have not considered. My initial thoughts go back to a 6.5' 3PT unit with 22" serrated blades. I have used an old 6' 3PT unit with smaller diameter blades that seems to cut better than a heavier, larger diameter blade 8' 3PT unit we have. The 6' unit is probably 50 years old and I am concerned that its light construction may not hold up under frequent use with the 5303.

If the 6' with smaller dia blades is cutting better than the 8' then I would say that the angle that the gangs are set at are not equal. As in the 6' is set at max angle and the 8' is much less. I don't think that anyone uses an offset disk for covering their seeded crop. An offset disk usually seems to cut deeper although that can be controlled with your position control and the angle of the gangs.

A tiller would give you the best seed bed I would think, but I don't know if that is really what you need. Steve (jenkinsph) is absolutely sold on tillers and I agree that a tiller does a wonderful job, just don't know if it needs to be that good for you.

If the areas that you are going to be doing are going to be done every year, I would go with a disk, the widest that you can comfortably move from point to point with your rig.

Good luck