Disc Questions..

[DirtHauler]

So after getting several calls for discing and having to tell potential customers that I don't do discing (lost jobs), I've decided that I'm gonna have to invest in a set of 3pt lift discs (for ease of transport from job to job) to add to my collection.

Being how I've never done discing, what are the pros and cons? How wide a set can I pull with my 30 hp? The set I'm looking at has the adjustable axle angles, what's the benefit of this and what does the different angles do?

Any tips/info would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

So after getting several calls for discing and having to tell potential customers that I don't do discing (lost jobs), I've decided that I'm gonna have to invest in a set of 3pt lift discs (for ease of transport from job to job) to add to my collection.

Being how I've never done discing, what are the pros and cons? How wide a set can I pull with my 30 hp? The set I'm looking at has the adjustable axle angles, what's the benefit of this and what does the different angles do?

Any tips/info would greatly be appreciated.

30hp should handle a 6' disc, but it will be a handful in plowed ground. Most 3-point disc's in that size aren't heavy enough to do much in unplowed ground. Enough weight to make it dig will be a handful on your lift. N series Fords and early Fergusons were well under 30hp and handles 6' pick-up disc's in normal circumstances.

Gang angle makes a disc cut more (or less) aggressively. Lessening the angle creates a better "finish" up to a point.

 

[andrewj]

So after getting several calls for discing and having to tell potential customers that I don't do discing (lost jobs), I've decided that I'm gonna have to invest in a set of 3pt lift discs (for ease of transport from job to job) to add to my collection.

Being how I've never done discing, what are the pros and cons? How wide a set can I pull with my 30 hp? The set I'm looking at has the adjustable axle angles, what's the benefit of this and what does the different angles do?

Any tips/info would greatly be appreciated.

I imagine some folks will think they need it disked because someone suggested that to them. if they knew when ground needed disking, they would probably have a disk themselves. A light weight disk you could pull would not be suitable for primary tillage - you would have to either turn plow or chisel plow it.

let me suggest a mechanical tiller...(though it has shortcomings in hard packed ground as well) you will leave the ground in a soft powdery condition that folks will like.

 

[Sully2]

30hp should handle a 6' disc, but it will be a handful in plowed ground. Most 3-point disc's in that size aren't heavy enough to do much in unplowed ground. Enough weight to make it dig will be a handful on your lift. N series Fords and early Fergusons were well under 30hp and handles 6' pick-up disc's in normal circumstances.

Gang angle makes a disc cut more (or less) aggressively. Lessening the angle creates a better "finish" up to a point.

Agreed! I just had to re-use my little 5ft set of disc's this past week..to prep my "sheet steel clay" for a friend to roto till for me. We only had to cut about 3 inch depth ( for grass seeding) and Ive added 6 concrete blocks to my discs to get it to cut..as compared to sliding across the hard pan.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have 35 hp 4wd tractor and a set of 5ft disks. My soil is red clay with lots of bahia grass, plus all sorts of other plants and weeds. To disk my soil, I have to mow it down real short first. Then if I like to hit it with the rake on the dozer to break it up. Before I had the dozer, I tried the teeth on my box blade, but that wasn't very effective. It didn't save much time compared to not using the teeth first.

The disk is too light and small to get very much done at first. You just have to keep makeing pass after pass to break throught the grass and there roots. After awhile, it will break through the top crust and start doing a nice job. Then it's just a matter of more and more passes to get it nice and loose.

I wouldn't think you could run a 6 foot disk and be competitive to anybody with a bigger tractor and a full sized disk. It will just take you way too long to get anything done. I'd rather pass a job that I couldn't do well, then take it and do a poor job.

Eddie

 

[randy41]

it helps to run the disk 2 ways....disk going east/west and then north/south.
i pull a 6' disk with a big ole rock on it with my ford 1710 with no problem. 4wd helps.

 

[Z-Michigan]

The disk is too light and small to get very much done at first. You just have to keep makeing pass after pass to break throught the grass and there roots. After awhile, it will break through the top crust and start doing a nice job. Then it's just a matter of more and more passes to get it nice and loose.

I tried this approach in our garden plot before I had my new disc adjusted to work well. I made maybe 15 passes. The top 3" of soil were great, but my wife pointed out to me that below that I had compacted it quite hard. We actually won't be able to plant anything until I get our scarifier working again (a pin is bent) and can rip below the 3" level so plant roots can grow (or alternatively we take shovels and loosen it by hand).

Eddie, how do you deal with compaction below the disced layer?

I'm finding that with adjustments (lots of angle) my 846lb 6.5ft disc works quite well in just one or two passes, and hopefully that is few enough to avoid any compaction issues.

 

[Eric_Phillips]

I pull the 6.5' KK from TSC behind my 27hp tractor. I do add weight to it if I need it to cut in. In freshly plowed ground it starts to pull on the tractor a bit. My ground is not hardpan clay.

 

[Oleozz]

I am using a 10 ft transport disc with a steel beam sitting on the top for weight and my 45 hp Kioti pulls it with no problems. It is amazing what a disc that size will do in plowed ground. Like most have said I can't imagine a light disc doing much of a job without repeated passes.

 

[KaiB]

Eddie, how do you deal with compaction below the disced layer?

QUOTE]

Z, you'll have to know where the compacted layer is. In most cases, there is a definitive zone of compaction in the sub-surface, beneath which you may be blessed with friable soil.

If you'll carefully dig a hole, say two feet deep (by carefully, I mean being cautious not to burnish the sides with your shovel), you should be able to drag a pocket knife up along the sides and find the compacted zone.

Once this is done, you'll know exactly how deep (or shallow) you need to rip. You may very well need a sub-soiler to do this.