Disc harrow for chooping residue, 9" or 7.5", 18" or 20"

[dkhntr04]

I am going to be purchasing a disc harrow for a project I have going. I have land that was broken out of 25+ year sod and I need to chop up the remaining sod chunks. The land is fine sand soil and it has been worked twice with a heavy disc and twice with a field cultivator. Right now the majority of the surface is covered with textbook size sod chunks that are mostly free of soil. My main goal is to chop and pulverize these clods. Price is not a factor, I need the best performance.


I am considering purchasing:

Woods DHM6 7.5" spacing (20)18" notched blades 41# per disc

Landpride DH2572 7.5" spacing (20)20" notched blades 47# per disc

Frontier DH1276 9" spacing (16)20" notched blades 56# per disc

Frontier DH1280 7.5" spacing (20)20" notched blades 47" per disc

The Woods could equal the blade weights of the DH2572 and DH1280 with one 100# cast iron weight, however it has 1" axles while the others have 1.125". Would the 20" blades on the latter 3 perform better or less than the 18" on the Woods? Would the extra weight per blade on the Frontier DH1276 more than make up for the larger spacing and thus larger pieces, or would the 9" not matter. Will the 20" blades create an excessive load vs. the 18" for what I am trying to do? I will be pulling it with my 3720 that weighs in at around 5700# with me in it. Thanks

 

[jeff9366]

Fewer discs on a Disc Harrow will cut deeper because there is less float.

Your tractor should handle either 18" or 20" discs fine. Disc Harrows with 18" discs are fine with 1" axles. Disc Harrows with 20" discs usually come with 1-1/8" axles, which are twice as resistent to bending as 1" axles.

An 18" disc can cut about 8" deep before the hub contacts the soil. A 20" disc can cut about 9" deep before the hub contacts the soil. More important, a 20" disc will wear longer; discs have greater diameter and usually thicker discs.

Do not weight a Disc Harrow, buy one adequate for your needs with all the weight in the frame and discs. You weight 'em, you bust 'em.

If CUTTING and working DEEP will be important to you in the future, go with DH1276 16/20.

If SMOOTHING and FINE CHOPPING wil remain your primary functions go with DH1280 20/20.

If easy adjustment of the gang angles is important to you check out Everything Attachments screw adjustable Disc Harrows.

Picture shows my light Kubota B3300SU lifting a Howse 16/18" Disc Harrow 14"+. Your larger Deere 3720 will have no problem lifting 20" diameter discs.

LINK:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/275147-disc-harrow-primer-howse-disc.html

 

[wmonroe]

Can't help much with the choices you have so far but I have been looking at the everything attachments discs and they look very well built and heavy. Just another option to look at.

 

[6string]

Don't buy an angle iron frame disk, get the square tube frame. It will be heavier and easier to adjust the gangs on it. I learned the hard way.

 

[super55]

If the land has been disced twice and cultivated twice and you have clods of grass with no sand in them I think you are going to have issues breaking them up with any type of disc. I've had similar situations when tilling fallow ground and the disc just grabs and throws it to the side no broken up one bit. Usually its a tangle of roots and stems and such and it is best to just let it decompose and if you need to level out the field just to run a field drag over it.


Just out of curiosity what kind of project you doing?? Hay Field, lawn, ball diamond???

 

[dkhntr04]

Darn, I missed a "p" in my title, trying to do too much at one time.

I am breaking this land out to farm. Ideally I would take a Salford RTS or Summers Super Coulter to it, which I have done with this exact type of situation before with great success before. Due to time, distance, rental rates, and availability, that's not going to work. This I deem to be my best option right now.

I am looking not for the sod to break up from the rolling, but from the discs slicing through it as they roll over it. Probably going to run a fairly shallow disc angle to replicate the action of those tools.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Like Jeff said, the 7.5" spacing is going to cut/chop finer than 9".

If you want heavy, check out our Large Box Frame Harrows. The 20x20 weighs 1,150 pounds and has an 1 1/8" shaft.
You'll know it's back there though!

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here's what a customer from GA with a MX5100 said about our 24x20 Large Box Frame Harrow:

"This harrow does in one pass that my old angle iron harrow would take 3 passes. Just a fair warning to anyone wanting on of these new box framed harrows. These are harrows are HEAVY. Make sure you match them up correctly to your tractor. Also, for food plots, with the easy gang adjustments, I was able to easily make changes, to cover the seed we were putting out."