New toys - Spike Harrow

[California]

I found this 8 ft harrow on Craigslist for $100. No 3-point, it was just dragged with a chain. I need a 3-point mount so I can lift it for tight turns in my orchard.

Just to try this out I slipped a piece of water pipe under its front frame tabs that point down, and added chains to lift the rear edge. My QuickHitch lifts the pipe and the chains. This worked fine in theory but the water pipe isn't stiff enough, I bent it when I snagged the pipe in a snarl of blackberry bushes.

Mount version #2 will be some kind of full-width toolbar strong enough to halt the tractor if I snag it on something, mounted lower and forward of the harrow chassis, and liftable by the quick hitch.

Has anyone built a mount like that? Any advice?

 

[phatgemi]

Interesting. I've never seen a 3pt harrow that could be lifted. Guess it can be done.

 

[dusty3030]

Farm King - Drag Harrow

I've got the 10' model of one of these. I don't have pics of mine handy, but thought this may help you with ideas on building a toolbar for yours. Hope it helps.
It is nice to be able to pic it up and make a tight turn.

 

[California]

Farm King - Drag Harrow...thought this may help you with ideas on building a toolbar for yours.

Very helpful! I see they float the harrow using 12" chains from the toolbar to the front of the harrow. I assume their rear chains are only to lift it, not to reduce its ground pressure.

I don't think I will try to suspend the back half of the harrow like that Farm King photo. My chains from the top of the Quick Hitch to the rear will be slack, then only under tension to lift the tail when I raise the 3-point. (like in my photo).

The neighbor - third generation farmer - looked at my harrow and advised the same thing I see in that photo. He said use plenty of chain between the toolbar and the harrow chassis so the harrow can flex. After seeing your photo plus my neighbor's advice I'll couple the harrow chassis to the toolbar with longer chains, limited only by the need to lift the front edge off the ground as the Quick Hitch raises.

I really appreciate these replies. Now I'm beginning to get a handle on how to set this up.

 

[Roonabeck]

Seems like if the front of the harrow is hanging by chains, you can't run a chain from the top of your quick hitch to the back to pick it up -- when you go to pick it up, the chain going to the back will just swing the front of the harrow forward on the front chains, instead of picking up the back of the harrow. I think that's why the farm king picture has the solid supports running to the back of the harrow, and suspends the back from those supports.

 

[Car Doc]

Well I just went thru something similar with a drag and Deepndirt suggested a cherry picker and that was the ticket the drag is hung on chains with clevis's and can be lifted off the ground it works great.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...y-carry-all-drag-build-dscf0131-1024x768-.jpg

I dont have any idea if this link works first time I tried to do this.

 

[California]

I may have to put a boom over the harrow but my trial run (in the photo) worked so well that I really want to rig it the same way if possible. There is a big advantage to keeping the overall length of the tractor and implement short. Going down an orchard row, some trees are at 15ft intervals and the tractor has to go out around the next tree (low hanging limbs) without swerving the implement into the tree I just passed.

I'm welding up a full-width toolbar from my scrap pile. Next I will weld four pull chains to it, to bolt to the harrow's four attachment points.

Hopefully, short chains will let the harrow flex enough. I'll make the chains longer than needed so I can bolt them to the harrow out at the end of each chain, or close-coupled. I should be able to find a chain length that floats over rough ground but also lifts sufficiently. I won't need to discard any of this if I eventually add a boom.


Added: Photos. The galvanized pipe in the first photo, is supporting the harrow in the second photo. (My drawbar will replace it.) It looks to me the harrow will still clear the ground even if it had 12" of chain from its mounts up to where the galvanized pipe is now.